Beam AI
AI-based takeoff and construction estimating software that helps commercial contractors bid 3X more work.
By Attentive.ai · HQ San Jose, US · 4.5/5 Value-Position score (estimate)
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Commercial general contractors that need fast, QA-checked quantity takeoffs across multi-trade projects.
- Specialty subcontractors in HVAC, plumbing, steel, concrete, electrical, roofing, flooring, painting and masonry.
- Suppliers and distributors that need accurate material quantities to quote and respond faster.
- Field-service contractors (landscaping, paving, snow removal) producing takeoffs from aerial imagery.
Ideal size: 10–500 people · Commercial contractor with a dedicated estimating or preconstruction team
Not for
- Residential remodelers or small builders with very low annual bid volume.
- Teams that want per-project or per-takeoff pricing instead of an annual licence.
- Firms with no digital PDF drawings or specifications to feed the AI.
- Buyers looking for a full ERP, accounting or field-management suite.
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
About 1 week
~7 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
$25,000/yr
Starts at $8,000 · Annual licence per trade, sized by trade and annual bid volume; not billed per project or per takeoff
Implementation Friction
2/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Value-Position score
out of 5 · model estimate
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
No published seat minimum; one licence covers the estimating team's annual bid capacity
Add-on costs
- Enterprise plan with higher parallel takeoff limits and custom Excel formats — custom pricing
- Aerial-imagery Done For You licences start at $10K per trade per year
Company & support
Who is behind Beam AI, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- Not recorded
- Headquarters
- San Jose, US
How you get support
- PhoneNot listed
- EmailAll plans
- Live chatNot listed
- Support portal / ticketsAll plans
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsAll plans
- Dedicated account managerAll plans
- In person / on-siteEnterprise only
- Hours
- Not recorded
- Response time
- Not stated
Support email [email protected]; help centre and ticket raising are available. Pricing lists a dedicated support team on every tier; Enterprise adds in-person support. Sales line +1 269-468-0815 is not counted as support.
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where Beam AI sits against its closest alternatives. Pick any two of cost, speed, friction and buyer score, and up to 9 companies to compare.
Quadrant view
Typical annual cost × Time-to-value
The lines cross at the median of the solutions shown, so about half sit on each side of each line. A dashed ring marks an outlier pinned to the edge; hover for its value.
Companies on the chart 6 / 10
- Beam AI
- Aurora Solar
- MarketSharp
- Roofr
- RoofSnap
- Billd
Add or change companies
Up to 10 companies including Beam AI. Listed closest first.
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What Beam AI ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
AI features shipped
AI reads project drawings, specifications, legends and notes to extract material quantities automatically; takeoffs are QA-checked by Beam AI estimators before delivery.
Your data & models
- Trains on your data
- Not recorded — ask the vendor
- Runs on
- Not recorded
- AI pricing
- Included in the plan
In your ecosystem
- AI connection
- Not supported
- Model key
- Not recorded
- AI usage audit
- Not recorded
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
Beam AI (Attentive.ai) is AI takeoff and estimating software for commercial contractors in the US and Canada. Estimators upload PDF plans, specifications and legends; the AI extracts quantities and returns QA-checked, bid-ready takeoffs in Excel or PDF within 24–72 hours. Do It Yourself licences start at $8K per trade per year and Done For You service at $25K. Customers report 15–20 hours saved weekly and up to 3X bid volume, with estimating, bid management and aerial-imagery takeoffs in one workflow.
Frequently asked questions
What does Beam AI cost and how is pricing structured?
Beam AI uses an annual licence per trade sized to your annual bid volume, rather than per-project or per-takeoff charges. The Do It Yourself plan for HVAC, plumbing and steel starts at $8K per year. The Done For You service, which delivers QA-checked takeoffs in 24–72 hours across all trades, starts at $25K per year, and aerial-imagery takeoffs for landscaping, paving and snow start at $10K per year. An enterprise tier adds higher parallel takeoff limits and customised Excel formats at custom pricing. Free unlimited training and a dedicated support team are included, and no implementation fee is published.
How quickly can we get value from Beam AI?
Beam AI is a fully cloud-based platform with no on-premise installation. Customers describe the initial setup as extremely easy, training is free and on-demand, and takeoffs are returned within 24–72 hours depending on trade scope and complexity. Most estimating teams can run their first production takeoff within about a week.
Which trades and project types does Beam AI cover?
Beam AI supports HVAC/mechanical, plumbing, concrete and rebar, structural steel, electrical, civil, utility and earthwork, roofing, flooring, painting, masonry, drywall, demolition, landscaping, paving and snow removal scopes. It serves general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and field-service businesses, with blueprint takeoffs for construction and aerial-imagery takeoffs for maintenance and site work.
How accurate are the AI takeoffs, and who checks them?
Beam AI markets 99%+ accurate takeoffs, with every takeoff QA-checked before delivery. On the Done For You service, AI extraction is reviewed by Beam AI estimators, revisions and addenda are tracked, and structured Excel or PDF outputs are produced for direct use in pricing. Customers report halving takeoff time while improving bid accuracy.
Is our project data secure with Beam AI?
Attentive.ai, the vendor behind Beam AI, states that it is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and describes gap analysis, monitoring, training and third-party audit as part of its security programme. The product is cloud-based through the iBeam Portal, and a DPA addendum and privacy policy are published. No statement was found on how customer data is used for AI model training.
Does Beam AI integrate with our existing estimating and bid tools?
The published outputs are structured Excel and PDF takeoffs that plug into your pricing models and bid packages, and bid management captures ITBs from your inbox and tracks statuses, due dates, RFIs and addenda in-platform. No named third-party integrations or public API are documented on the vendor pages reviewed.