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Bobyard introduces AI Takeoff and Estimating for facility plumbing contractors. Published: 24 Jul 2026 In July 2026, Bobyard introduced AI Takeoff and Estimating, which is meant to benefit commercial plumbing contractors. It helps contractors measure the dimensions of pipe runs, check the number of components, and transition from P-series drawings to commercial use faster. Bobyard focuses on trade-based AI applications, and the launch of the AI Takeoff and Estimating widened its range of uses. Plumbing is one of the most prominent specialized trades in the U.S., but the industry deals with a significant shortage of workers, which compels contractors to extract more work from the existing staff. Commercial plumbing contractors face the dilemma of the significant amount of time required by the estimators to review the P-series drawings, check pipe runs, risers, and isometric drawings, and count the number of fixtures and components. They also need to optimize takeoffs in proper order with respect to floor, system, pipe size, and material. Bobyard Plumbing Takeoff uses AI models to automatically perform the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of that workflow starting from plumbing drawings. This facilitates contractors to decrease the takeoff time, make more bids, and enhance the accuracy of their estimations without increasing the size of their team. According to Michael Ding, the Founder and CEO of Bobyard, plumbing estimating is an intricate and time-consuming process. Contractors have to count fixtures and also trace systems, measure pipe, and make sure that all valves and fittings are in their proper place. He says that the AI Takeoff and Estimating helps contractors automate the manual aspects of the arduous plumbing estimating process and still maintains control over the quality of the work. Impact on the AI Industry. According to Precedence Research, the launch of the AI Takeoff and Estimating is expected to positively impact the AI Industry as it opens up a new application for the automation market by facilitating the use of AI in the plumbing sector. Plumbing is a massive sector across the globe that is used in each and every home, office, mall, airport, railway station, and many more. It is required in almost all buildings as well as some outdoor fluid transport infrastructure. This provides a massive opportunity for the AI industry to be adopted in a huge global industry. Impact on the plumbing fixtures market. The global plumbing fixtures market size was estimated at USD 98.44 billion in 2025 and is predicted to increase from USD 102.89 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 152.11 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 4.45% from 2026 to 2035. According to Precedence Research, the launch of AI Takeoff and Estimating is expected to benefit the plumbing fixtures market. This is because the automation of repetitive and time-consuming tasks helps contractors to increase the pace of finishing construction and allows personnel to devote time to more important tasks, which can improve the quality of the job. This application has the potential to be widely adopted in the market due to its advantages over conventional plumbing workflows. Such a development will increase the economic activity in the market as clients would be willing to pay a premium price as they would get better quality work done in less amount of time. It will also help the contractors and workers get better wages due to better profits and growth of their firm. Impact on the cloud computing market. The global cloud computing market size was estimated at USD 912.77 billion in 2025 and is predicted to increase from USD 1,106.28 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 5,946.84 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 20.61% from 2026 to 2035. According to Precedence Research, the cloud computing market is expected to be boosted by the introduction of AI Takeoff and Estimating as this application is expected to be widely adopted in the plumbing industry. This will result in a huge amount of data produced by the plumbing company as the AI model stores data and performs the tasks. Plumbing companies usually do not have in-house computing infrastructure, as the industry has relatively lower adoption of digital technologies compared to other industries. This helps explain why they would use cloud computing facilities to store the data, host the AI model, performing the compute-heavy tasks that automate the repetitive processes. About Bobyard. Bobyard is a technology solutions provider that develops AI frameworks to increase the pace of takeoffs and estimates in construction. The company claims that its offerings decrease the time taken for manual work from multiple weeks to mere minutes. The company is of the opinion that construction technology has not progressed for multiple decades and that its AI solutions are a relief for contractors to decrease the time taken for various repetitive tasks. Bobyard has well-established AI research infrastructure along with a skilled workforce of PhD scientists and computer vision engineers who facilitate the development of personalized AI models according to the client's needs.

Bobyard has launched AI Takeoff and Estimating for commercial plumbing contractors, expanding its trade-specific platform into plumbing workflows. The tool automates time-consuming tasks like tracing pipe runs, counting fixtures, and organising takeoffs from P-Series drawings. The US plumbing industry is projected to reach $191.4 billion in 2026, with roughly 129,000 businesses nationwide, according to IBISWorld. Contractors using Bobyard across trades report a 65% reduction in takeoff time and the ability to submit three to five times more bids per estimator. Bobyard Plumbing Takeoff detects pipe runs, calculates lengths, identifies fittings, and counts components including valves and risers. The platform organises quantities by system, size, material, and floor. Founded in 2023 by Stanford-trained engineer Michael Ding, San Francisco-based Bobyard now supports landscaping, electrical, finishes, and plumbing trades.