Beam AI
What it is
Beam AI is AI takeoff and estimating software for commercial contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. You upload PDF plans, specifications and legends, confirm the scope, and its AI extracts quantities. In its done-for-you service every takeoff is QA-checked by people before delivery (the vendor says in 24–72 hours), and it also offers instant do-it-yourself AI takeoffs for HVAC, plumbing and steel. For plumbing it pulls pipe lengths and sizes, fittings, fixtures and equipment by system. It also does aerial takeoffs for maintenance work, Excel and in-platform estimates, and bid management that captures invitations to bid from your inbox.
Description based on ibeam.ai (also ibeam.ai/estimate/plumbing-estimating-software), checked Oct 23, 2026. Features and pricing change, so check the vendor's site for current details.
Listed because contractors in our entries used it. Not an endorsement. Commissions and sponsorships never change which tools or entries are listed or their order. Read our disclosure.
Use cases with Beam AI (1)
AI plumbing takeoffs: go from 1–2 bids a week to 8–9 without hiring another estimator
Harner Plumbing
Harner Plumbing, a full-service residential and commercial plumbing company in Mantua, Ohio (founded 1977), was doing its takeoffs by hand with tools like FastPIPE. One bid could take up to a week, so the team could only get out one or two bids a week. Since December 2024 it has used Beam AI, which reads PDF plan sheets and pulls out pipe lengths, fittings, fixtures and equipment, with the vendor's QA team reviewing each takeoff before it's delivered. Beam AI reports that Harner saves about seven days per takeoff and increased bid volume 4.5x; Assistant Project Manager Danell Zarrelli is quoted on Beam AI's site saying the team went "from 2 bids a week to 8–9, with no extra hires." Figures are vendor-published and not independently audited.