SketchDeck gives structural steel fabricators and erectors accurate takeoffs, connection material, change orders and bid tracking in one place, so you can make material and commercial decisions earlier.
“Forty years in the business and we’re still finding new ways to work smarter. Since bringing [SketchDeck] into our takeoff process, we’ve more than tripled our throughput. What used to take us days now takes a fraction of the time.”
Jordan EngelkingEstimating Manager, Steelworks of the CarolinasJoin 500+ estimators. See it on your own drawings.
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What SketchDeck does
Your estimators keep the judgment. SketchDeck takes the counting, measuring and re-checking off their plate, from the first takeoff to the last revision.
The most accurate model for structural steel.
Upload a drawing set and SketchDeck finds the beams, columns and bracing, sizes and measures them, and builds your bill of materials in minutes. It shows what it found and what it didn’t, so your team checks the takeoff instead of redoing it.
How automated takeoffs workCatch every change in a revised set.
Load the new drawings, line them up and see every add, deduct and change, member by member, ready for your change order.
Explore revision managementColumns, top to bottom. Chase a column through every level with the column schedule beside the plan.
See your takeoff in 3D. Turn your 2D takeoff into an interactive 3D model of the job. In Beta and ready to try on your own drawings.
New in SketchDeck 3.0
Rebuilt from the ground up to finish more of the job in SketchDeck.
In Beta: column automation, 3D modeling, page stitching and parametric connection material.
How it works
Bring a drawing set. We run it live on a 30-minute call.
Bill of materialsCapital.pdf
Export
PowerFab
ExcelIn their words
Fabricators and erectors across North America run their takeoffs on SketchDeck, on everything from hospitals and stadiums to data centers.
“We thought this was too good to be true, so we checked everything. If the drawing has a hundred beams on it, there’s probably less than five that I’m tweaking, a minute or two each. Compared to spending a week on handwritten takeoffs, it’s a no-brainer.”
Matt ChanceEstimating, NAFCO“[SketchDeck] has dramatically improved both my speed and efficiency. I’m easily 50% faster now, and on my biggest job, a 600-ton project, it saved me 75% of my time.”
Dawn HargravesEstimator, Maccabee Industrial“What used to take (an estimator) two days to do, it does it within a few minutes. I’ve been amazed at every step of the process.”
Nathan WhitleyChief Estimator, FabArc Steel Supply“A project that used to take me a day and a half to get done manually, I got it done in about two hours with [SketchDeck]. The software saves a tremendous amount of time, especially on beam-heavy takeoffs.”
Tim AllenEstimator, S&H Steel“[SketchDeck] accelerates our entire workflow. We quickly get beam counts, column counts, and everything we need.”
Alan HenryVP of Sales, ASPE-South“For a large 13,000 ton project, I could get all my floor plans done with [SketchDeck] in a single day.”
Blake ArkwoodErector, Ideal ContractingCustomer stories
SketchDeck is a steel estimating platform from SketchDeck.ai. It automates steel takeoffs from PDF drawings and brings more of each job into one place, so estimators at structural steel fabricators and erectors can bid more work with the same team.
SketchDeck runs on a detection model built only for structural steel drawings. It shows what it found and what it didn’t, so anything it missed is easy to check, and your estimators keep the final say on every number.
SketchDeck 3.0 is rebuilt from the ground up. It adds connection material, new markup tools (areas, polylines, counts and annotations), automations for sheet matching, schedules and scale, section-cut linking, and bid tracking with roles and permissions. See everything on the Meet SketchDeck 3.0 page.
In Beta features are ones customers can try now while we finish them: column automation, 3D modeling, page stitching and parametric connection material. Ask about them on your demo.
Yes. Export your takeoff to Tekla PowerFab, STRUMIS, FabTrol, E.J.E., Excel and more, in the format your team already uses.
A 30-minute video call. Bring a drawing set from a current bid and we run the takeoff on it live, estimate the hours it would save your team, walk you through plans and pricing, and set up a free trial if it’s a good fit.
Yes. Shops with one estimator and teams with dozens both use SketchDeck. It scales with the number of bids you take on, not the size of your team.
LIFT is now called SketchDeck. It is the same steel takeoff software from the same team; the product now carries the company name.
