Electrical takeoff,
without the highlighter.
You know the drill: sixteen sheets on the desk, three highlighter colors, a count tool on one screen and a spreadsheet on the other, eleven hours deep into the lighting plan and still not done. Pilars does that part. You review it.
What actually eats your takeoff hours
It's never the pricing. Labor units and supplier numbers drop in fast once the counts exist. It's the counting — every receptacle, switch, luminaire, J-box and homerun, across forty sheets, then cross-checking the one-line against the panel schedule, which most estimators skip because it doubles the time. Pilars reads the full set, counts the devices, traces the runs, and reconciles the one-line and panel schedule for you, so the 22-hour takeoff NECA keeps measuring becomes a couple of hours of review.
You stop counting receptacles on Monday and wondering Wednesday whether you missed a room. The count is done; you spend the time on the stuff that wins bids.— what most electrical estimators say after the first set
It reads the parts of the drawing you don't have time to
The scope that blows up an electrical bid hides in the details: NEC 2023 pushed GFCI into a lot more commercial locations, a 20A duplex at $2.80 becomes a GFCI at $18–$24, and on 180 devices that's real money that shouldn't live in a fudge factor. Pilars flags NEC items as it counts — GFCI scope, conduit fill that crept past 40% on a 1¼" EMT run, neutral sizing on 3-phase 4-wire LED circuits — and every quantity comes back with a confidence score tied to the exact sheet it came from, so your review goes straight to the lines that need your eye.
- Devices, fixtures, gear and homeruns counted across the whole set
- One-line and panel schedule reconciled automatically
- NEC compliance flagged before the bid, not after award
- Export to your estimating tool — Accubid, McCormick, Excel
Questions estimators actually ask
Does it count devices and trace homeruns, or just measure areas?
It counts — receptacles, switches, luminaires, boxes, gear — and traces conduit and homeruns. Area measurement alone is useless for an electrical bid; Pilars is built for device counts and runs.
Will it catch NEC code scope like GFCI expansion?
Yes. As it takes off, Pilars checks against NEC and flags the code-driven scope that changes your number — GFCI locations, conduit fill, neutral sizing — so it's priced before you submit, not discovered later.
How accurate is it on a real commercial set?
On clean 2D drawings, within a few percent of a careful manual count, and it often catches devices a rushed estimator misses. It's a first pass you review, not a black box. Messy or low-DPI scans still need more of your attention.
Can a small electrical shop actually bid more with this?
That's the whole point. If your two estimators each do ten bids a month and the takeoff drops from sixteen hours to a few, the same two people can chase twenty-plus. For a sub, win rate climbs with volume.
What does it cost for an electrical contractor?
$100 per trade, per plan. No per-seat licenses, unlimited projects — your whole estimating bench can use it without paying per head.