Bill of Quantities Takeoff Agent
The Bill of Quantities Takeoff Agent reads drawings, specifications and schedules and produces draft quantities and BoQ items described according to the ASAQS Standard System of Measuring Building Work or SANS 1200 for civil works. Your quantity surveyor reviews and finalises a structured draft rather than starting from a blank sheet.
Ideal forQuantity surveyors
The difference
From 5-8 days per building package to 1-2 days
Your quantity surveyors spend their time checking and refining the bill instead of measuring every element by hand.
Done by hand
5-8 days per building package
With the Vanine agent
1-2 days
Time returned to your team
75%
Indicative figures. We measure your own baseline in the first fortnight so the numbers you see are yours.
More tenders, same team
Takeoff is the slowest part of preparing a BoQ. Starting from a structured draft lets your practice take on more work without more measuring hours.
Descriptions in the language SA uses
Items are described to ASAQS and SANS 1200 conventions, so the bill reads the way contractors and principal agents expect.
Fewer missed items
The agent cross-checks drawings against specifications and schedules and flags elements shown on one but missing from the other.
Capabilities
Turn drawings into a draft bill of quantities in a fraction of the time.
Built for quantity surveyors, estimators and cost consultants at South African QS practices, contractors and developers preparing bills of quantities.
Drawing and model reading
Reads PDF drawings, schedules and BIM models to identify elements, dimensions and quantities for measurement.
Draft quantities
Produces draft quantities by trade or element with dimension references, ready for the quantity surveyor to check.
Standard descriptions
Writes BoQ item descriptions to the ASAQS Standard System of Measuring Building Work or SANS 1200 for civil works.
Specification cross-check
Links items to the project specification and flags materials or finishes not covered in the drawings or schedules.
Query and RFI lists
Lists missing information, conflicts between drawings and unclear details as queries for the design team.
Export to estimating tools
Exports the draft bill in Excel or formats compatible with Candy, WinQS and BuildSmart.
How it works
From your systems to a result you sign off
Your quantity surveyor checks every quantity and description and signs off the bill before it is issued for tender.
Connect the places your drawings and quantities already live.
Drawings, specifications, schedules and BIM models from Autodesk ACC, Bluebeam, Aconex or SharePoint. Already use something else? We connect that too.
- OpenAI Frontier
- Your own AI platform or models
- Microsoft 365 (Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, Excel)
- Copilot Studio
- Autodesk (Revit, ACC, BIM 360)
- Bluebeam
- Candy
- WinQS and BuildSmart
Runs on request in Teams or OpenAI Frontier, or on your own AI platform, using the models your organisation approves.
A draft BoQ in Excel or your estimating tool, with dimension references and a query list for the design team.
Step by step
- 01
The design team issues drawings, specifications and schedules.
- 02
The agent reads the documents and identifies elements to measure.
- 03
It produces draft quantities with standard ASAQS or SANS 1200 descriptions.
- 04
It lists queries and gaps for the design team.
- 05
Your quantity surveyor checks, adjusts and finalises the bill.
- 06
The bill is exported to Candy, WinQS or Excel for issue.
Deployment
Runs inside the tools your team already uses
The same agent and the same cited output, delivered three ways: through the AI assistant you have rolled out, on a model you host yourself, or inside your own software.
In the frontier assistant you already pay for
We publish the agent as an MCP server. Add it as a connector and your team calls it from the chat they use every day, with no new tool to learn.
"Read the structural drawings and schedules"
- package
- Substructure and frame
- standard
- ASAQS SSMBW
On a model you host yourself
Run the agent on open-weight models in your data centre or private cloud. Your drawings and quantities never leave your network, which keeps POPIA and data residency straightforward.
- Llama
- Mistral
- Ollama
- or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Inside your own software
Trigger a run from your own workflows, and push the finished output into your ERP, GRC or reporting systems. We build the integration with your team.
- REST API
- Webhooks
- Batch jobs
- Embeddable review panel
Governed the same way, every route
Whichever way your team reaches the agent, identity, permissions and audit stay with your existing controls.
- Single sign-on through Entra ID, Okta or Google Workspace
- Reads only the documents each user is already allowed to open
- Every tool call written to an audit log you can export
How we deliver it
One agent, three ways to hold it
Start where your team already works, then take it as far into your systems as the value justifies.
DATA SECURITY & PRIVACY
Your drawings and quantities stay yours.
The agent runs inside your tenancy, reads only what each task needs, and never trains on your drawings and quantities. Every step is logged so your auditors can see exactly what it touched.
Built for regulated work.
+YOUR DRAWINGS AND QUANTITIES NEVER LEAVE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
More agents
More agents we build for South African enterprises
Each one is built on the same foundation: your documents, your rules, and your people signing off.
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