SPONSORED EPISODE

Shiva Dhawan, CEO & Co-Founder at Attentive.ai shares his journey from mechanical engineering to building an AI-based takeoff software for construction, and explains why manual takeoffs from PDFs remain one of the biggest bottlenecks in bidding workflows. The conversation dives into how AI can read construction drawings, the role of human verification in ensuring accuracy, and why PDFs, not BIM files, still dominate the bid phase in North America.

The discussion also covers:

• What construction takeoffs are and why they’re foundational to estimating
• How AI interprets drawings, symbols, and schedules from PDFs
• The challenges of inconsistent symbols and design standards
• Why human-in-the-loop QA is critical for reliable AI takeoffs
• Scaling from 50/50 human–AI effort toward a 90/10 model
• Why automation is essential as estimating labor remains scarce
• What’s next for AI in preconstruction, including estimates and bid filtering

This episode is especially relevant for estimators, preconstruction managers, contractors, and engineers interested in how AI can increase bid capacity without sacrificing accuracy.

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