Bobyard launches 2.0 for estimators with faster takeoffs and a unified AI workspace

Bobyard has released version 2.0 of its platform, which helps contractors and estimators calculate work quantities faster and build estimates from drawings. The new release aims to remove unnecessary manual steps between measuring, checking AI results and producing the final price.

What changed in the product

Bobyard sits at the intersection of computer vision and estimating software: the platform analyzes drawings, counts materials and helps contractors get to a project budget faster. In version 2.0, the company rebuilt the workflow around materials and pricing. The idea is that an estimator no longer takes a set of disconnected measurements first and then has to carry them over by hand into another tool. Quantities should stay linked to cost from the start, so that at the final stage the estimate doesn't have to be reassembled from pieces.

The main new feature is Multi-Measure. The user traces an outline on a plan once, and the system immediately calculates the related parameters: area, perimeter, volume and other derived values. In a typical workflow this often requires separate lines, shapes and repeated measurements. Bobyard promises to remove this routine and cut the number of actions an estimator repeats dozens of times a day. In an industry where a quantity error quickly becomes a budget error, this is one of the most practical uses of AI.

A single working environment

The second major part of the release is the unified AI Workbench. Specialized functions could previously feel like a set of separate tools; now Bobyard brings them together in one workspace. It also adds a Review Workflow: the system shows a confidence level for every AI result, and the estimator decides whether to accept, correct or reject it before the data enters the calculation. This approach matters in a conservative construction industry: the product doesn't ask users to trust the model blindly, but builds verification directly into the process.

• Legend Manager — create and run symbol and pattern legends in one place.
• Text Count — turns words and labels on a drawing into quantity items.
• Search Across Pages — searches text across all sheets of a project at once.
• Page Links — jumps quickly from a callout to the detail drawing.
• New Pages Sidebar — helps organize a multi-page project into folders and visibility layers.

After the takeoff, Bobyard takes the user on to the Estimate Table, where it is easier to pull in price lists and assemblies and get a ready-to-use estimate, without exporting to Excel and reassembling by hand. The company also updated navigation: search across pages, easier work with phases, quick return to the previous sheet and a new sidebar for complex drawing sets. The point of the update is not one flashy AI module, but removing micro-delays across the whole chain from plan to final calculation.

Numbers and plans

According to Bobyard's own data, the platform already automates up to 70% of the quantity takeoff and material counting process. Customers report an average 65% reduction in time spent on these operations, and as a result a single estimator can send three to five times more bids. For contractors this is not just saved hours: a faster, more consistent estimate directly affects margins and the chance of winning a tender. In preconstruction, these are the metrics that usually decide whether a new tool lasts in a company beyond the pilot.

"Every change is driven by the fact that customers need to work faster, stay in control and spend less time on what software should do itself,"

Bobyard founder and CEO Michael Dean said in describing the release.

Bobyard 2.0 launched on April 8, 2026, initially for landscaping contractors. At the time of the announcement, the company promised to extend the platform to other construction trades later in April. The release comes amid rapid growth for the startup: in December 2025, Bobyard raised $35 million in a Series A round led by 8VC to accelerate product development and expansion into new construction segments. It is an important signal: the company is selling not a generic "copilot for construction" but a vertical tool built for a specific part of the estimating process with a clear payback.

What this means

Bobyard's story shows where applied AI in construction is actually heading: not toward a universal chatbot for every task, but toward narrow tools that remove repetitive actions and tie calculations to money without manual handoffs. If Bobyard sustains its stated speed and accuracy figures, such systems will spread quickly in segments where every estimating error hits profit immediately.