Input guide
What to send us so we can return a useful bid.
Millwork Pilot’s three output levels — the Free Basic Scope, the $99 Detailed Estimate, and the $199 Complete Bid Package — ask for different sets of inputs. Send the right thing at the right level so your estimator can build something you actually want to send to the GC. Send too little and the confidence range widens; the bid still ships, just with more flagging. Use this page to decide where you sit before you submit.
One note up front: nothing Millwork Pilot returns is a final number. Every value carries an accuracy disclaimer. The AI-assisted itemized output is a starting point for your estimator to build from. This page explains how to send the inputs for that work.
Section 1
The three output levels.
Pick the level that matches what you are sending us and what you need back. Each card lists what the level can deliver, what it cannot, and the accuracy note that ships with that output.
Free
Can deliver
- Project summary with scope categories tied to sheet references
- Items sorted into Build, Schedule, NIC, By others and Removed from scope
- Risk flags to raise with the GC
- Confidence indicator and watermark
Cannot deliver
- Itemized takeoff
- Pricing
- Blueprint
- RFIs
- Customer proposal
The free Basic Scope is a directional review of your bid, not a quote you should send to a client. Every figure must be re-checked against the sheet set before it goes out the door.
$99
Can deliver
- Every cabinet and item read from the drawings, page-keyed and grouped by elevation
- Enter your own material, labor and buy-out; each item shows its cost and cost per LF
- Overhead, markup and final price calculate automatically
- Inclusions, exclusions and assumptions, with a final approval step
- Blueprint opens your prints scaled for takeoff
- RFIs drafted from the drawing review, sent from your own email
- Signed accuracy disclaimer
Cannot deliver
- Customer proposal
- Procurement, vendor and trade export files
- Cut lists, 3D views and CNC files
The AI-assisted itemized output is a starting point for your estimator to build the estimate. Values reflect the documents as submitted — missing addenda or sections narrow the confidence range.
$199
Can deliver
- Everything in the Detailed Estimate
- Branded customer proposal: preview, issue and track acceptance
- RFQs and an RFI/RFQ contacts list
- Procurement, vendor and trade export files
- Cut lists by cabinet, 3D exploded views, CNC nested sheets and machine files
- Construction Standards and CNC Machine Profile settings
Cannot deliver
- Field measurements and shop drawings (Millwork Pilot Pro)
The complete Bid Package is an AI-assisted itemized starting point for your estimator to build the final number set. Every value must be re-checked against the sheet set and spec book before being sent to a client.
Section 2
What to provide — required vs recommended.
The same ten inputs can be required or recommended depending on which level you are asking for. For each level, the recommended list is everything the estimator wishes you had sent — the more of it you can include, the narrower the confidence range on the output.
Required
- Project scope / RFPA one-paragraph scope statement or RFP: project type, square footage, deliverable expectations, and bid date.
- Plan and drawing filesArchitectural plans, elevations, sections, reflected ceiling plans, and any casework-specific drawings you have.The Basic Scope reviews every supplied page and preserves the source reference. Unreadable or missing sheets narrow confidence or can cause the run to fail honestly for a retry.
Recommended
- Millwork / casework line itemsList of the casework categories in scope — base cabinets, wall cabinets, reception desks, store fixtures, paneling, trim packages.
- SpecificationsThe full spec book, especially sections 06 41 16 (casework), 06 42 00 (millwork), and any finish/veneer sub-sections.The Basic Scope extracts every supplied specification page. It does not turn the evidence into a final material or labor estimate.
- Addenda and bidder Q&AEvery addendum issued to date, with the dates and the bidder question/answer log if there is one.Missing addenda are the most common cause of an over-confident early number — please send every addendum, not just the most recent.
- Schedules (door, hardware, finish)Door, hardware, finishes, and any owner-supplied schedule sheets for the millwork scope.
- Photos (site, mock-ups, finishes)Site photos for existing conditions, mock-ups, or finish references — useful for any level that wants to reflect actual conditions.
- Existing estimates or take-offsAny prior estimate, take-off, or internal pricing sheet you have on the project.
- Existing material pricingYour current vendor pricing or your last 3 months of awarded material costs, in any format you have.
- Labor ratesLoaded labor rates or the wage schedule you want estimating to anchor against.
- Vendor informationPreferred vendors for major finish categories and any in-house fabrication capacity to flag.
- Markups and allowancesAny markups or allowances you want the package to carry — separate from prime contract scope.
- Exclusions and assumptionsAnything that should be carved out, and any assumption Millwork Pilot should carry forward into the GC conversation.
Section 3
Strong versus incomplete submissions.
Worked examples for each level. The strong sample names the documents, the line items, the spec sections. The incomplete sample names what is missing — and what will narrow confidence in the output.
Strong submission
A 90-line scope paragraph (“mid-rise tenant improvement, 14,000 sqft, 9/14 bid, GC: Hudson Pacific”), the architectural plan set as one PDF (filename ends with ARCH-Issue3.pdf), and a list of the four casework categories in scope. We get a confidence indicator in two minutes and 3 risk flags to bring to the GC conversation.
Incomplete submission
“Two-page PDF, no plan set, just the spec cover sheet.” Without drawings we can’t verify the scope, so the Basic Scope comes back with a wider confidence range — useful as a starting point, not as a directional number.
Missing: project type, scope paragraph, drawing set, casework categories listed.
Strong submission
Plans + spec book (sections 06 41 16 and 06 42 00 highlighted), all four addenda with the bidder Q&A log, current vendor pricing for the major finish categories, and the loaded labor rate the estimator should anchor against. We return a page-keyed takeoff, an RFI list naming the addenda conflicts, and a proposal-ready PDF.
Incomplete submission
“Plans + spec book, plus addenda #1.” We got 1 of 4 addenda, so the takeoff cannot reflect the latest quantity changes. The Document Set note in the draft will call this out as a confidence-narrowing item, and we’ll send the RFI list flagging the missing addenda before delivery.
Missing: addenda #2–4, spec sections 06 41 16 / 06 42 00, vendor pricing, loaded labor rates.
Strong submission
The full plan + spec + addenda package, your last 90 days of vendor pricing (formatted any way you have it), loaded labor rates, the markup/allowance schedule, and a list of exclusions and assumptions you want the package to carry. The AI-assisted itemized output gives your estimator a starting point for the procurement export.
Incomplete submission
“Plans + spec, no labor rates.” Without labor rates, the labor column falls back to published multipliers, and the markup/allowance step has nothing to anchor against. The package will arrive with the labor confidence band narrowed and a flag for you to fill the rate table before sending it.
Missing: vendor pricing, loaded labor rates, markup/allowance schedule, exclusion list.
Section 4
Pre-submit checklist.
Tick what you can verify you have. Nothing is saved — reload and you start clean. When you’re ready, jump to the entry point that matches the level whose boxes you ticked the most.
0 of 13 items ready
Items stay local — nothing is saved. Tick what you can verify, then pick the entry point that matches the level you tick the most boxes for.
For the free Basic Scope
Tick everything here before hitting Start a Basic Scope.
For the Detailed Estimate
In addition to everything in the Basic Scope list —
For the Complete Bid Package
In addition to everything above —
Section 5
Accuracy and disclaimers.
The same disclaimer travels with the free Basic Scope, the paid Detailed Estimate, the Complete Bid Package, and every Millwork Pilot subscription. Read it before you submit; the same wording ships at the bottom of any draft you take to the GC.