Estimates built from your own historical data, not guesswork. Actual costs tracked in real time as the job runs. AI pricing adjustments that protect margins as input costs move.
Most operations estimate jobs the same way they have for 20 years: someone experienced takes a look, recalls what similar jobs have cost, and puts a number down. The problem is that labor rates change, material costs shift quarter to quarter, and memory is not a reliable database. By the time the invoice goes out, the margin on paper and the margin in the bank are two different numbers.
TMI's estimating and job costing infrastructure replaces gut feel with structured data. Every estimate is built from your own historical job records - actual hours, actual materials, actual subcontractor costs, by job type and scope. As the job runs, actual costs are tracked in real time against the estimate. If labor is trending over, you know it on day three, not at job close.
The system indexes your completed job history by type, scope, location, crew size, and material category. When a new estimate is built, it pulls from comparable past jobs - not industry averages, not vendor spreadsheets. Your data, structured and queryable.
Time logs, material purchases, subcontractor charges, and equipment costs update the job ledger in real time. Actual vs. estimated variance is visible at any point during the job. Overruns flagged before they compound, not after the crew leaves.
Material costs, labor market rates, and subcontractor pricing shift constantly. The adaptive pricing agent monitors those signals and recommends estimate adjustments before new bids go out. Margins protected against cost inflation automatically.
Three systems that connect historical data, real-time job tracking, and adaptive pricing into a single margin management loop.
Build estimates from your own historical data, not guesswork. Track actual vs. estimated costs in real time as the job runs. Know your margin before the invoice goes out, not after.
Build, track, and follow up on bids from one place. Win-rate analysis by job type, customer, and season. Proposals generated from templates and historical pricing so estimators stop starting from scratch every time.
An agent that monitors material costs, labor market rates, competitor signals, and your historical margin data to recommend real-time pricing adjustments. Estimates based on what jobs actually cost today, not what they cost last year. Margins protected as input costs move.
Estimating infrastructure pays back fastest for operations with high bid volume, thin margins, or volatile input costs - physical or digital, local or worldwide.
Multi-phase projects where labor and material overruns compound over months. Real-time job costing gives project managers visibility at every phase, not just at final invoice. Bid accuracy improves as the historical database grows.
Material cost volatility - copper, conduit, fixtures - makes fixed-price bids dangerous without live tracking. Adaptive pricing flags when input costs have moved enough to affect margin on open proposals before they're signed.
High service call volume with tight per-job margins. Historical actuals by job type give estimators fast, accurate starting points. Overruns surface mid-job, not at billing, when something can still be done about them.
Complex scope, remote locations, and unpredictable field conditions make cost overruns common. Live tracking against estimate keeps field supervisors accountable to budget. Change orders captured against the original scope automatically.
Scoping creative, consulting, or software projects on gut feel is where margin disappears. Estimates built from historical hours by project type, plus live tracking of actual vs. estimated effort, keep delivery teams accountable to budget before the engagement runs over.
We'll audit your last 12 months of job data, show you where the estimate-to-actual variance is widest, and build an estimating system from your own historical records.
FAQ
The system pulls from historical job cost data, current material pricing, labor rates, and job-specific inputs - measurements, photos, scope specifications - to generate estimates consistently. Every estimator uses the same logic and data, eliminating variance from individual judgment and outdated price assumptions.
The customer provides an address. The system pulls satellite imagery, calculates roof area and pitch or exterior surface area, applies current material pricing and local labor rates, and generates a real estimate in under 90 seconds. No truck roll required for the estimate. The number the system generates is one a company can build a job on.
AI estimating consistency eliminates the variance that comes from different estimators using different assumptions or outdated prices. Accuracy depends on the quality of the historical cost data the system learns from. Companies typically see estimating accuracy improve and bid-to-win ratios improve simultaneously as systematic underpricing and overpricing are eliminated.
Once an estimate is approved, the system generates the formatted proposal automatically - pulling in the scope summary, pricing, terms, and company branding. Proposals that previously took an admin 2-3 hours to format and send go out within minutes of estimate approval.
The estimate becomes the baseline for job costing. As the job runs, actual costs - labor, materials, equipment - track against the estimate in real time. When actual costs diverge from estimated, the project manager sees it while the job is still active, not in the post-close accounting report.
Estimating automation typically deploys in 6-10 weeks, including building the pricing logic from historical cost data and configuring the proposal template and approval workflows.
TMI