An estimator is a six-figure decision. Your first takeoff with us is a $189 decision. Start with the one you can undo.
Every growing sheet metal shop hits the same wall: there is more work to bid than there are hours to bid it, and the only two answers on the table are hire somebody or stop bidding.
There is a third answer. Push the takeoff off your desk and keep the judgment on it. We quantify the job; you set the markup, the labor rate, the risk allowance and the number that goes to the GC. Those decisions are yours and should stay yours — nobody outside your shop knows what your crews actually do in a day.
| We handle | You keep |
|---|---|
| Counting and quantifying every duct run and fitting | Your labor rates and crew productivity |
| Gauge, seam and reinforcement per SMACNA | Your material pricing and supplier terms |
| Accessory pickup off drawings and specs | Markup, overhead and risk |
| Organizing it so the shop can fabricate from it | The relationship with the GC |
FlowLogic is not a software company that found a vertical. It came out of decades in HVAC sheet metal — running takeoffs, running jobs, and being on the hook when the number was wrong. That shows up in small ways that matter: knowing which details on a drawing are real and which are boilerplate, knowing when a spec section is going to drive gauge up two steps, knowing that a "typical" note on sheet M-2 quietly applies to forty locations.
That last one is worth as much as the counts. Knowing what is unclear before you bid is how you avoid eating it later.
Eventually you probably should. But an estimator is a fixed cost against a variable bid pipeline, and most shops feel the squeeze long before the volume justifies the hire. Paying by the sheet lets the cost move with the work — heavy in bid season, nothing in a slow month.
It is also reversible. If you hire and the work does not show up, that is a hard conversation. If you stop sending us plan sets, nothing happens.
Pick a plan set you are already bidding, send it over, and compare what comes back to what you would have done yourself. That is the only honest test.