<p>The design-to-estimate loop is what happens when every design change sends you back to a spreadsheet, a takeoff, or a subcontractor&#39;s phone line to re-price the job. BidLight breaks it by putting the estimate inside the model itself.</p> <p>Here&#39;s how it works:</p> <ol><li><strong>Export your Revit model.</strong> No separate takeoff software, no re-entering quantities by hand.</li><li><strong>Let the AI classify the BOQ.</strong> Two models read geometry and metadata to sort line items, hitting roughly 86% accuracy out of the box.</li><li><strong>Get labor, equipment, material, and time costs in minutes</strong>, pulled from a database of about $30,000 in current pricing plus Craftsman, 1Build, and RSMeans.</li><li><strong>Change the design.</strong> Move a wall, swap a system, adjust a finish — whatever the project needs.</li><li><strong>Watch the number update in real time.</strong> No re-export, no re-run, no waiting on someone else&#39;s revised bid.</li><li><strong>Defend the number.</strong> Because pricing traces back to real data sources, you can show your work when a client or GC pushes back.</li></ol> <p>The payoff isn&#39;t just speed. When early estimates stop being a one-time chore and start updating live, you can offer preconstruction pricing as an actual service — something clients will pay for because it&#39;s current, not guessed. That&#39;s the loop worth breaking: stop re-estimating from scratch every time the design moves, and start working off a number that moves with it.</p>