Steel Specialties cut a days-long takeoff to half a day
A family-owned El Paso fabricator went from pen-and-paper takeoffs to half-day takeoffs, hired a new estimator who stayed, and is calling its crew back.
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Impact
2x
Bid volume pace this year
12 hours
Raw takeoff on a 20,000-ton, 7-building bid
0.3%
Variance from the EOR's BOM on a 40,000+ ton project
“We’re on pace to submit more proposals this year with half the staff in the estimating department. Having this tool in our back pocket has doubled our bidding volume compared to previous years.”
Dennis Scheibe, Vice President of Sales & Estimating, National Steel City
Hear it from Dennis
Background: a small erector that does big work
National Steel City (NSC) is a Plymouth, Michigan steel erector that wins work on how it plans to build the job. Dennis calls it “a small company that does big work.” In early 2025, Dennis and his estimating team, with Project Estimator Daniel Ramirez leading the way, brought their takeoffs in-house. A little over a year later, they’re bidding more than ever while keeping a comfortable pace, and as Dennis puts it, doing it “with half the staff.”
The challenge: outdated takeoff methods took too long to plan the job
NSC is a structural steel erector, and it wins on the plan: how many cranes, how to split the crane paths, and how to hit the client’s critical path.
- Taking off a complex project sometimes took weeks and didn’t allow the estimator to plan the work out
- Late numbers meant rushed bids. “It’s more stress and not feeling 100% confident about the work product,” Dennis said
- There was no time to sit on an estimate and ask, in Dennis’s words, “is this the best way to build this?”
The solution: automated takeoffs with SketchDeck
- Found SketchDeck.ai on the NASCC exhibit floor in 2024, on a fabricator client’s recommendation, and got serious in early 2025
- Daniel took the lead. He was oriented in about a day and running takeoffs within a week
- A new estimator who already knew SketchDeck jumped right in
- The team uses it the way an erector needs: fast piece counts, decking and perimeter in one tool, and the overlay to catch changes on revised drawings for change orders
“The takeoff is a tedious part of the estimating process and we don’t want to waste more time than necessary on that work. We want to minimize it to provide more time to plan the most efficient way to build the job. [SketchDeck] is an extremely helpful tool in helping us accomplish this goal.”
Daniel Ramirez, Project Estimator, National Steel City
The results: twice the bids at a comfortable pace
- More proposals than any of the last three years, while keeping a comfortable pace
- 12 hours to a raw takeoff on a 20,000-ton, seven-building bid
- Five business days at most on a complex takeoff, down from 2 to 3 weeks
- 24 hours, 24 hours, half a day for three buildings on an RFQ the team wasn’t expecting
- Within 0.3% of the EOR’s BOM on a 40,000+ ton project. NSC won that job on a hand takeoff, then checked it in SketchDeck
“Our real champion is the variance in the EOR’s BOM. We were within 0.3% on a 40,000-ton project, within 50 pieces or something like that. That was pretty powerful.”
Dennis Scheibe, Vice President of Sales & Estimating, National Steel City
Asked what he’d tell a colleague on the fence, Dennis didn’t hesitate.
“I’d just tell them to do it. It’s paid for itself.”
Dennis Scheibe, Vice President of Sales & Estimating, National Steel City
About SketchDeck.ai
SketchDeck.ai makes SketchDeck, software that uses AI to automate structural steel takeoffs for fabricators and erectors across North America. Trusted by 500+ estimators. See it on your own drawings: book a demo.
