The short version
Send us your plans and you get a bill of quantities back, sorted by trade, using the AI take-off system that lifted tender and take-off submissions 400% at Daniel’s own Sydney firm, AKA Acoustics Pty Ltd. See the case study › Your estimator still reviews and prices every line. The AI take-off system does the measuring-up, so your business can put more tenders out the door without hiring another estimator.
What is it actually doing with my drawings?
In plain words: it reads the drawings you’d hand an estimator, measures up every trade the same way a person would, sheet by sheet, and hands the numbers back as a bill of quantities, sorted by trade: board, stud, doors, floor areas, the lot. Your estimator opens that, checks it against the drawings, and prices the job. Nobody hands a customer a number the AI take-off system wrote on its own; your estimator’s still the one who prices it and puts their name to it. If you want the plain-English rundown of what a take-off actually is, there’s a guide for that ›.
Is this proven anywhere real?
Yes, and it’s the reason FKD can talk about it with a straight face. This isn’t a demo built to sell you something. It’s the take-off tool Daniel Natoli built and runs inside his own Sydney firm, AKA Acoustics Pty Ltd, on live jobs with money on them. Read the full case study ›
Measured by AKA Acoustics: tender and take-off submissions after the AI take-off system went in versus before, same team, same drawings, 2026. Last reviewed July 2026.
It’s not a chatbot with a clever question typed into it. It’s an internal “second brain” built on Claude, wired together with a handful of custom tools, so it pulls exactly the right information for every job. See how it’s built ›
How much estimating time does it save?
For AKA Acoustics, enough to turn a whole afternoon of measuring into thirty minutes of checking. FKD won’t hand you their number and call it yours: a typical estimate is 3–8 hours saved per quote, depending on how big your drawing sets are and how you quote today. That’s hours back for your estimator every week, and more tenders out the door without putting another salary on the books.
What won’t it do?
It doesn’t replace your estimator’s judgement. It doesn’t decide the price, chase a variation, or make the call on a risky detail. What it does is take the measuring-up off their plate, so the person who actually knows your trade spends their day pricing and winning work instead of counting squares on a screen.
What does it cost, and how would I get it built?
A take-off system like this isn’t bolted on separately. It’s one of the fixes an audit might turn up. Here’s the ladder every FKD build runs on:
- $1,500 refundable audit. Matt and Jayden spend half a day on your site and in your office, and take-offs are exactly the kind of thing that audit is built to find. If three fixes worth $20k or more a year each don’t turn up, you get the audit back in full.
- $18,000 fixed, 90-day build. If a take-off system is one of the five fixes your audit turns up, it gets built and wired into your quoting the same way, alongside whatever else earns its place.
- $1,500/month subscription to keep it running (a 12-month commitment). Drawings change, jobs change, your trade changes. The subscription is what keeps the take-off system sharp, monitored, and yours to lean on.
Full terms, including the 90-day guarantee, are on the guarantee page ›.
Common questions
What file types does it read? +
PDF drawing sets, the same ones you’d hand an estimator. If your business works off something else, tell Matt on the call and we’ll confirm it before anything gets built.
My drawings are messy or come from different consultants, does that matter? +
It’s built to work off real tender sets, not tidy demo files: scans, mark-ups and mixed consultants included. The messier the set, the more your estimator’s review matters, and that review step never gets skipped.
How accurate is it? Can I trust the numbers? +
Trust your estimator, not the AI take-off system on its own. The win here is speed and coverage: getting more tenders measured in the time you’ve got, not skipping the check. Every number goes through your estimator before it goes out the door. See our honest comparison of done-for-you vs DIY › for the same straight talk on trust.
Does it replace my estimator? +
No. It hands them a bill of quantities so they spend their day pricing and winning work instead of measuring from a blank page. The judgement calls, the risky details, the final price: that’s still them.
Will my business get the same 400% AKA Acoustics did? +
Maybe more, maybe less, it depends on your jobs and how you quote today. 400% is AKA Acoustics’ own measured result. Your audit gives you your own number; we won’t promise you someone else’s. Read the case study ›
Does it work with Simpro, AroFlo or ServiceM8? +
Yes, that’s the point. It’s wired into the software you already pay for, so the quantities land where your estimator already works instead of another login to check.
What if a take-off system isn’t the right fix for my business? +
Then we won’t build it. The audit finds the fixes that actually pay off for you, and a take-off system is only one item on the menu. If it’s not one of your five, we build what is.
Take-offs get you the quantities. If you want to know how those quantities turn into a sent quote, see how voice-to-quote works ›.
Send today’s drawings and see what comes back.
Book 15 minutes with Matt. Bring the plans you’re already quoting and he’ll tell you straight whether a take-off system would earn its place in your business.
Book a call with Matt ›