Spend hours on manual takeoffs
- Limited time for more bids stops you from winning more work.
- Manual counting steel is time-consuming.
- Missing steel on estimates can be a costly mistake.
- Inconsistent workflows leave room for human error.
AI steel takeoff software
Complete your steel takeoffs
in minutes, not hours.
We help structural steel estimating teams save time, reduce errors and bid more work by automating manual, repetitive takeoffs. SketchDeck is AI-powered, cloud-based takeoff software built for steel estimators.
Trusted by 500+ estimators at fabricators and erectors across North America
- estimators use SketchDeck
- 500+
- to detect and count the steel on a drawing set
- Minutes
- to a productive team
- 2–4 weeks
“We are pen and paper people... We’re literally going from 1980 to 2025. That’s a 50-year technology jump.”
The problem
Your team is spending thousands of hours on manual takeoffs.
You're losing time you could be spending on more bids.
You're swamped with bids and often have to sacrifice accuracy for speed.
Your estimators don't always have time to dig into the details.
The solution
SketchDeck is the steel takeoff software that does the manual work for you, so you can complete more takeoffs, focus on the details, win more jobs and grow your business.
Automate your takeoffs with SketchDeck
- Automated. SketchDeck quantifies main members in minutes, not hours.
- Accurate. Detection your estimators check instead of redo, with anything unclear flagged for review.
- Streamlined. SketchDeck makes your workflows fast, efficient and consistent.
- Scalable. SketchDeck lets you complete more bids in less time.
See SketchDeck run the takeoff on your own drawings.
Book a demo
How it works
Six steps from PDF to your fabrication system.
Every step happens in SketchDeck, and your estimators check and approve each one.
01Upload the drawing set
Setup takes minutes, even on big jobs.
Drop in the full PDF set, including jobs with hundreds of sheets. SketchDeck sorts the sheets, labels each one and reads its scale, so your estimators start on the takeoff instead of the setup.
- Sheets classified and labeled for you
- Scale identified on every sheet
- Scanned drawing sets read too
- Tabular schedules pulled straight off the sheet
Sheets
- Framing plans
- Schedules
- Sections
- Details
Scale read on every sheet
02Detect and measure every member
The most accurate model for structural steel.
Beams, columns, braces and joists are found, sized and measured. SketchDeck reads the labels for shape, size, length, stud counts, camber and piece marks, and calculates the weights. Anything unclear is flagged for your review, not guessed.
- Column heights from top and bottom of steel
- Graphical and tabular column schedules, tabular beam schedules
- Every line in the BOM traces back to its highlight on the sheet
- Built only for structural steel drawings
03Finish the takeoff in one place
No more bouncing between tools.
Count anything on the drawing, mark up areas and polylines, follow a callout straight to its section, and add connection material, all without leaving SketchDeck. Quantities update as you go.
- Counts, areas, polylines and annotations
- Section-cut linking from callout to section
- Connection material added in the takeoff
- Bid tracking, roles and permissions for the team
04Connections and labor codes
Labor rules that come out with the count.
SketchDeck analyzes every connection: framing conditions, moments, copes and holes. Each beam end gets a framing code, beam to beam, beam to column flange, skewed or HSS, which you map to your own labor codes and man-hours.
- Connection analysis across every page
- Your labor codes and man-hour rules
- Flows into PowerFab labor codes or your own spreadsheet
- SketchDeck doesn't price your labor: your numbers stay yours
MarkSizeEnd AEnd BLabor codeHrsB-14W18x35BFBBSP-021.5B-15W18x35WBBSP-021.5B-22W16x31BBSSK-152.25G-03W21x44BFBFMC-013.0Mapped to your labor codesSend to PowerFab05Revision management
Get all the changes for your change order.
Load the revised set and SketchDeck lines up the sheets, reads them again and shows every member added, changed or deducted, with the weight difference. Your markups carry over to the new version.
- BOM delta report: added, changed, deducted, weight
- Colour-coded PDF for the record
- Delta exports for PowerFab, STRUMIS and FabTrol
- Maccabee Industrial ran 7 addenda in under an hour
06Export to your system
Your format, your template.
Send the bill of materials to Tekla PowerFab, STRUMIS, E.J.E., FabTrol, Excel or your own BOM template, with a marked-up PDF as the audit trail. We map the export to your import file before you start, and Bluebeam stays for markup.
- Tekla PowerFab, STRUMIS, E.J.E., FabTrol, Excel
- Your own BOM template
- Marked-up PDF export
- Runs in the browser on standard office computers
Bill of materialsCapital.pdf
MemberQtyW14×17624W12×2648W8×1036HSS8×8×3/816L4×4×1/260C10×2012Export
PowerFab
Excel
Bring a drawing set. We run the takeoff live on the call.
Book a demoWho it's for
Built for the people who bid steel.
Structural steel fabricators and erectors across North America, from the estimator doing the takeoff to the owner signing off on the bid.
Estimators
Review the takeoff instead of building it.
Detection handles the counting, so your time goes into the details that win the job. You review, edit and approve every member, and the estimate stays yours.
“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].”
Chief estimators and estimating managers
More bids from the team you have.
See where every bid stands, assign the work and set who can see and change what. Your shop's method lives in the system, not in one person's binder.
“What would have taken me four to five days as a manual takeoff, with [SketchDeck], I’m able to complete the takeoff in two days.”
Owners and executives
Grow bid volume without matching headcount.
Compare SketchDeck with a new hire, not a seat price. Hiring and training an estimator takes months; teams are productive on SketchDeck in two to four weeks.
“[SketchDeck] accelerates our entire workflow. We quickly get beam counts, column counts, and everything we need.”
Erectors
Piece counts and weights for erection bids.
Beams, columns, joists, bracing and studs counted from the drawings, so your crew and crane planning starts from real quantities.
“For a large 13,000 ton project, I could get all my floor plans done with [SketchDeck] in a single day.”
Where SketchDeck fits best
- Structural steel fabricators and erectors
- Commercial and industrial work: data centers, warehouses, hospitals, hotels
- Bids that start from 2D PDF drawings
- North American drawing standards
Not our focus today
- Misc and ornamental metals such as stairs and handrails
- Residential and mixed-material buildings
- Jobs that only arrive as 3D models
See how SketchDeck fits your team.
Book a demoWhy estimators trust it
Your estimators stay in charge.
It shows what it found, and what it didn't
Unclear or unlabeled items are flagged for your review. SketchDeck doesn't guess, and it doesn't hide what it missed.
Every number traces back to the sheet
Click any line in the bill of materials and see its highlight on the drawing, piece by piece.
Built only for structural steel
Computer-vision models trained on engineering drawings, not a general chatbot, built by a team led by a structural engineer.
Nothing new to install
Runs in the browser on standard office computers. No detailing platform needed, and security documents are available on request.
“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.”
Matt ChanceEstimating, NAFCOCompared with the usual way
Three ways to take off a steel job.
| Task | By hand | PDF markup tools | SketchDeck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find and count members | Count every piece yourself | Click each piece to count it | Detected and counted for you |
| Sizes, lengths and weights | Read and calculate by hand | Measure tools, typed-in sizes | Read from the labels, weights calculated |
| Connections and labor codes | By hand | Not covered | Framing codes mapped to your labor codes |
| Revised drawing sets | Start over | An overlay shows what moved on the page | Shows which members changed, by how much |
| Into your fabrication system | Retype it | Export the markups | Exported in your system's format |
The fair test: run the same drawing set through each one and time the cleanup, not the demo.
Run the fair test on your next bid.
Book a demoWhat drawings does SketchDeck work best on?
PDF drawing sets for commercial and industrial structural steel, drawn to North American standards: data centers, warehouses, hospitals, hotels and similar jobs. Scanned PDFs work too. Misc metals, residential mixed-material work and renovations aren’t our focus today.
What does SketchDeck detect?
Beams, columns, braces and joists, with shape, size, length, stud counts, camber and piece marks read from the labels, and weights calculated. It reads graphical and tabular column schedules and tabular beam schedules, and analyzes connections: framing conditions, moments, copes and holes.
What happens if it misses something?
Anything unclear or unlabeled is flagged for your review instead of guessed, and every line in the bill of materials traces back to its highlight on the sheet. Your estimators review, edit and approve every member before anything is exported.
Does it work with our fabrication and estimating software?
Yes. SketchDeck exports to Tekla PowerFab, STRUMIS, E.J.E., FabTrol, Excel and your own BOM template, plus a marked-up PDF. We map the export to your import file before you start. Bluebeam stays for markup.
Is SketchDeck software or a takeoff service?
Software. Your team runs the takeoff in SketchDeck. No drawings are sent out and there is no turnaround queue.
Will SketchDeck replace our estimators?
No. It’s built to speed up estimators, not replace them. SketchDeck handles the counting; your team handles the judgment, the strategy and the pricing. Shops use it to bid more work with the team they have.
How long until our team is productive?
Most teams are productive in two to four weeks, with onboarding from our customer success team. In-app support and a help center with articles and videos are there from day one.
Do we need new computers or software?
No. SketchDeck runs in the browser on standard office computers, and you don’t need a detailing platform.
What does In Beta mean?
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.