Autodesk Estimate, a new cloud-based estimating solution that connects 2D and 3D takeoffs to costs, materials, and labour calculations, officially launched this week.

The software, which part of Autodesk Construction Cloud, aims to help general contractors and sub-contractors produce more accurate estimates and proposals.

According to Autodesk, Estimate eliminates the need for manual merges, juggling spreadsheets, and switching between disconnected tools.

Teams keep takeoffs in the same system, which can help cut down on errors, manual entries, and reduce duplicate work.

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Autodesk Estimate supports various data organisation structures such as Uniformat, MasterFormat, or custom formats.

The software enables cost library setup at the account level, helping teams maintain consistency across all projects. Autodesk says this centralised approach supports standardised estimating practices, promotes data accuracy, and enhances collaboration by ensuring everyone is working from the same reliable cost data.

Autodesk Estimate also centralises cost data helping teams manage labour rates — including standard, union, and prevailing wage rates — as well as equipment and material costs.

To help ensure that estimates are always current, the software offers real-time tracking and notifications for changes in connected takeoff quantities.

Finally, estimators have control over line items and can update costs for materials, labour, equipment, and subcontractors directly within the estimate table.

“I’m excited to see Autodesk take a truly holistic view of the construction process — not treating design, preconstruction, and construction as separate silos, but as interconnected phases within a unified lifecycle,” said Brian Alama, virtual design and preconstruction specialist, Jacobsen.

“Autodesk Estimate is a key part of that transformation — it helps bridge the gap between design intent and construction reality, bringing greater clarity, collaboration, and confidence to early project decisions.”

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Sisk, one of Ireland’s largest construction and engineering companies, is using DroneDeploy’s reality capture platform to enable faster inspections, higher data accuracy and real-time visibility across 20+ projects in Ireland and the UK.

Sisk’s geospatial engineering program has scaled from initial pilot projects to a multi-year enterprise agreement covering capture with aerial drones and 360 cameras.

The DroneDeploy platform is now used across flagship developments including Dublin’s Glass Bottle project and the Kex Gill road realignment scheme in Yorkshire, helping teams capture, analyse and share high-resolution site data for progress tracking, design verification and stakeholder communication.

From automated earthworks analysis to aerial progress tracker and logistics planning, Sisk’s use of DroneDeploy has reportedly improved project safety and coordination while reducing costs associated with manual surveys and site visits. According to DroneDeploy, unified visual data enables Sisk to align subcontractors, design teams and owners around a single source of truth.

“DroneDeploy allows us to capture and interpret site data with a level of speed and accuracy that simply wasn’t possible before,” said Cillian Kelly, head of digital project delivery at Sisk.

“This isn’t just about flying drones, it’s about transforming how we plan, collaborate and deliver projects.

“By embedding aerial reality capture into our daily operations, for traffic management, lifting operations, logistics and groundwork analysis we’re not only improving efficiency and safety, but also reshaping how complex infrastructure and building projects are delivered across Ireland, The UK and Europe.”

“The impact has been transformational,” said Kieran Crowley, project director at Sisk. “DroneDeploy gives us a real-time visual record of work in place – across phases, teams and sites. Whether it’s a road project in the UK or a life sciences campus in Ireland, we now have one platform to validate progress and collaborate effectively.”

Learn more about DroneDeploy in AEC Magazine’s AI Spotlight directory , a comprehensive database of AI-powered tools for AEC.

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ProjectFiles from Part3 is a new construction drawing and documentation management system for architects designed to help ensure the right drawings are always accessible on site, in real time, to everyone that needs them.

According to the company, unlike other tools that were built for contractors and retrofitted for everyone else, ProjectFiles was designed specifically with architects in mind.

ProjectFiles is a key element of Part3’s broader construction administration platform, and also connects drawings to the day-to-day management of submittals, RFIs, change documents, instructions, and field reports.

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Automatic version tracking helps ensures the entire team is working from the most up-to-date drawings and documents. According to Part3, it’s designed to overcome problems such as walking onto site and finding contractors working from outdated drawings, or wasting time hunting through folders trying to find the current structural set before an RFI deadline.

The software also features AI-assisted drawing detection, where files are automatically tagged with the correct drawing numbers, titles, and disciplines.

Meanwhile, learn more about Part3’s AI capabilities, along with tonnes of other AI-powered tools, in AEC Magazine’s AI Spotlight Drectory

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Nemetschek Group – the AECO software developer whose brands include Graphisoft, Vectorworks, Allplan and Bluebeam – and Takenaka, one of Japan’s largest construction companies, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance digital transformation and AI-driven solutions in the construction sector.

The MoU initiates a strategic partnership to develop and pilot AI-assisted, cloud-based, and open digital platforms that streamline and enhance collaborative workflows across planning, design, construction, and operation processes.

“This partnership with Takenaka, a true leader with deep expertise in the construction industry, is a pivotal step,” said Marc Nezet, chief strategy officer at the Nemetschek Group. “By combining their extensive, practical know-how with our advanced digital and AI capabilities, we are co-creating a more efficient, sustainable, and data-driven future for the entire AEC/O industry.

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“We believe in empowering our partners and customers to combine human-centric AI innovations with sustainability across the building lifecycle.”

Key areas outlined within the agreement include a commitment to best practice exchange through regular knowledge-sharing sessions, methodologies, and operational insights.

Nemetschek and Takenaka will also focus on joint AI and digital platform innovation, working together to identify, prioritise, and develop cloud-based digital and AI solutions for the AECO sector.

Secure data sharing and validation form another cornerstone of the agreement, with governance models and technical safeguards established to enable data-driven transformation.

Finally, both parties reaffirm their commitment to data protection and compliance, ensuring adherence to privacy, security, and intellectual property standards in line with global best practices.

“This partnership embodies the forward-thinking spirit of our industry,” said Daniel Csillag, CEO of Graphisoft. “By partnering with Takenaka Corporation, we are laying the groundwork for truly collaborative, open, and data-driven workflows that benefit architects, engineers, and contractors worldwide. We are proud to contribute our expertise and technology towards this transformative journey, also building on an existing Enterprise Licensing and Service Agreement between Graphisoft and Takenaka Corporation.”

Nemetschek stated that the MoU serves as a foundation and guiding framework for future joint project-specific agreements. The agreement takes effect immediately and will remain in place for a period of five years.

Main image caption: From left to right: Mr Tetsuo Harada (Executive Managing Officer, Takenaka Corporation), Mr Daniel Csillag (CEO, Graphisoft), Mr Susumu Matsuo (General Manager, Digital Division Head Office, Takenaka Corporation).

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CMiC has launched Nexus, a construction ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platform powered by more than 25 intelligent AI agents. According to the company, Nexus redefines how construction teams interact with data, automate workflows, and make critical business decisions — enabling them to focus on high-value strategic work rather than repetitive processes.

“Our AI-powered features offer users advanced data visualization capabilities, business intelligence tools, and the ability to leverage natural language to optimise key business functions,” says Gord Rawlins, president & CEO, CMiC.

For project management, AI automates drawing uploads by extracting sheet numbers and titles, organises spec books into trade sections with CSI codes, and pre-fills submittal records to accelerate log creation.

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The Project Pulse Dashboard uses sentiment analysis on daily journal entries to detect emerging issues like delays and safety concerns before they impact project outcomes.

The Financials module enables users to create Balance Sheets, Income Statements, and other financial documents using natural language which, according to the company, dramatically reduces preparation time from hours to minutes.

CMiC’s Analytics capabilities are said to democratise data access as team members are able to ask questions and receive instant insights, regardless of technical expertise. On top of that, agent-driven automation deploys over 25 AI agents across project management and financials to handle routine tasks, from master cost code maintenance to bank reconciliation and financial impact analysis.

In addition to its AI capabilities, Nexus features a modern user interface built on Material 3 design principles, delivering what CMiC descrivbes as enhanced visual clarity, improved readability, and faster information processing.

“NEXUS represents a fundamental shift in how construction teams interact with their ERP. From agentic workflows that handle complex tasks autonomously, to ‘AL’ delivering instant insights, to AI woven directly into the tools you use every day — it all comes together in a modern, unified experience. This is construction technology reimagined for the AI era,” said Steve Cangiano, Chief Product Officer at CMiC.

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Construction technology company mbue has launched a new platform designed to automatically generate “fully compliant” product data submittals, helping subcontractors reduce weeks of manual work to just minutes.

mbue Submittals uses a proprietary AI model and computer vision to analyze drawings and specifications — including electrical schedules — and automatically extracts the required product information. The platform can generate submittals for light fixtures, switchgear, panels, devices, and other materials, streamlining a traditionally time-consuming and error-prone process.

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The company anticipates the new platform will drive productivity by over 30% through reduced rework, fewer rejections, and labour hours redirected to higher-value work.

“mbue Submittals removes a long-standing bottleneck for subcontractors,” said Jean-Pierre Trou, founder and CEO of mbue. “By compressing weeks of paperwork into minutes and improving the accuracy of what gets submitted, we’re giving contractors a faster, more reliable path to approval so they can focus on building, not busywork.”

“Submittals have traditionally been a painful, labour-intensive process that slows projects down.” said Garrett White, VP, Texas at Weifield Group.

“With mbue, we’re seeing submittals completed in a fraction of the time, with greater accuracy and confidence. This is a huge step forward for the industry and directly helps us increase the amount of volume each PM can deliver, we can do more with the same team which directly contributes to our company’s revenue growth.”

mbue Submittals is initially focused on commercial electrical contractors, with access expanding to all subcontractors in future releases.

Pilots are underway with leading electrical contractors, including Weifield Group.

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A new report by PlanRadar suggests inconsistent QA/QC standards are eroding margins, driving rework, and fuelling disputes across construction projects.

According to the study, companies rank QA/QC among their top priorities when construction begins, with more than 70% of companies beginning QA/QC processes from day one of construction, yet 77% still report inconsistent documentation that varies across projects, sites and trades.

Planradar suggests this fragmentation pushes costs into the shadows and exposes projects to cascading disruption – from rework and schedule slippage to disputes and warranty claims.

The report traces how inconsistent QA/QC turns into reduced visibility, putting projects at risk of higher costs and lower margins. “Different standards across sites and trades” is the most common problem cited by respondents (56%), and over half (55%) acknowledge they lack enforceable processes. Where no common standard exists, cost visibility disappears: companies without defined QA/QC are nearly twice as likely to have no view of rework costs (43% vs 22%).

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The same data shows the upside of consistency. Companies that apply QA/QC systematically are 28% more likely to report margins above 3% (60% vs 47%) and are far more likely to keep rework under 5% of budget (56% vs 37%). In practice, that advantage often comes down to eliminating variability: when approvals, forms and evidence are captured the same way on every site, leaders gain the defensibility and foresight to prevent small issues from growing into month-long setbacks.

Additionally, the report finds that quality misses can cause cascading challenges throughout projects, with two in three companies (67%) linking QA/QC failures to delays. Among those able to quantify the impact on project schedules, nearly six in ten say quality issues add more than two weeks on average, and almost one in four report delays extend beyond a month. Commercial exposure doesn’t stop there: firms without consistent standards are over 50% more likely to face warranty risk (54% vs 35%) and are 23% more likely to encounter subcontractor disputes (43% vs 35%).

The findings, detailed in PlanRadar’s Construction QA/QC Impact Report, provide a snapshot of QA/QC execution across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. A total of 811 qualified professionals who directly perform or oversee QA/QC participated, spanning project and construction consultancies, general and specialty contractors, architecture firms, developers/owners and other construction entities across 13 countries.

The study’s UK-specific findings reveal particular challenges for British construction firms and highlight key differences from the global outlook.

Significantly, 78% of UK respondents agreed that better QA/QC would improve their margins, with 36% identifying reducing rework and costs as their top priority for improving quality processes.

When things go wrong, UK respondents said the main impact is project delays and lost time, with 75% reporting this, whereas globally the emphasis is on rework that could have been avoided (71%).

Furthermore, when delays do happen, UK firms see the greatest cost as damage to client relationships (72%), while globally the top concern is the added labour and overtime costs (76%).

In short, Planradar suggests the UK view of QA/QC is more people-centric and client-oriented, with challenges framed around team compliance, project timelines, and client trust. Globally, the emphasis is more on structural complexity and financial cost – different standards, rework, and extra labour.

“These findings reflect what we’re seeing across UK construction sites daily. The industry recognises that consistent QA/QC is fundamental to profitability, yet most firms are struggling with the practical execution,” said Rob Norton, UK Director at PlanRadar. “When 61% of UK companies can’t ensure their teams follow the QA/QC plan, and only 22% achieve consistent documentation, we’re looking at a systemic challenge that’s directly hitting margins and client relationships.

“The 72% who report that quality delays damage client relationships understand the real cost – it’s not just about immediate rework expenses, it’s about long-term business sustainability. The solution lies in moving beyond paper-based processes to unified digital standards that teams can actually follow consistently across every site and trade.”

Planradar is a platform for digital documentation, communication and reporting in construction and facility management.

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OpenSpace has acquired Disperse, the company behind the construction progress tracking technology that powers OpenSpace Progress Tracking, launched in June 2025 to help construction teams identify productivity issues earlier in projects.

The system combines 360° jobsite imagery, computer vision, and “expert human verification” to provide an objective, trusted, and detailed view of what has been built — and what hasn’t

“Disperse was built to give construction teams a trustworthy, objective picture of progress,” said Olli Liukkaala, CEO of Disperse. “By joining OpenSpace, we can deliver that clarity at unprecedented speed and scale—and bring even more value to GCs, owners, and specialty contractors on projects of every size.”

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OpenSpace Progress Tracking is part of OpenSpace’s Visual Intelligence Platform. It allows teams to to validate work-in-place for billing, identify schedule risks early by comparing actual progress to planned milestones, coordinate more effectively across trades, and deliver clear, visual progress summaries to all stakeholders.

The system integrates with widely used project scheduling tools, including Oracle Primavera P6, Asta Powerproject, Microsoft Project, and Excel.

“The speed at which [OpenSpace Progress Tracking] was implemented and the speed at which we started to get real accurate data back was pretty astounding to our executive team,” shared Elliot Christiansen, SVP operations, Cleveland Construction. “Because the data was accurate, we could have effective two-way conversations with our field team and get answers quickly, without having to play twenty questions with them like we used to. It’s so invaluable we’ve deployed it across our entire portfolio.”

OpenSpace says the acquisition of will help accelerate development of new Spatial AI models, improve automation and accuracy, and introduce new AI-powered capabilities. The company emphasises that, unlike black-box AI systems, its hybrid approach — combining AI with human verification — ensure builders can trust every data point which is especially critical for automation and decision-making.

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Dusty Robotics has released an AutoCAD plug-in designed to streamline the process of preparing data for its robots, which autonomously lay out drawings on construction site floors.

The plug-in, which works with the company’s  FieldPrint Platform, extracts layout information directly from coordinated multi-trade CAD drawings. According to the company, it incorporates best practices from thousands of construction projects and automatically organises drawing elements to optimise printing efficiency for all interior trades.

Construction teams can print layouts for multiple trades simultaneously, including edge printing, shadow printing behind obstacles, and curve printing.

“Design software integration is an integral part of our vision of delivering field intelligence to building crews,” said Tessa Lau, CEO and co-founder of Dusty Robotics. “Our AutoCAD plugin removes friction between design and field teams by translating the digital design directly into the information field crews see on the jobsite floor.

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“This integration is a core part of our plan to orchestrate the work done on construction sites, delivering perfect outcomes by directing the work of every person, machine, and robot on site.”

The AutoCAD integration expands Dusty’s existing design tool compatibility, which already includes an Autodesk Revit integration and the cloud-based Dusty Portal for multi-trade collaboration.

“As construction projects continue to experience skilled labor shortages, finding ways to improve field work productivity can have a significant impact,” said James Cook, director of industry & technology partnerships at Autodesk.

“The integration between AutoCAD and Dusty Robotics creates an elegant workflow that connects design to construction and automates a previously tedious and error-prone process.”

The Dusty Robotics AutoCAD plugin is available now through the Autodesk App Store and integrates with the company’s FieldPrint Platform, including the FieldPrinter 2 robot.

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OpenSpace has launched its Visual Intelligence Platform for construction, which is designed to turn reality data into what the company describes as “trusted, actionable intelligence.”

The platform helps optimise field workflows such as punch lists and issue logging, while also delivering business insights including percent complete and productivity tracking.

“With OpenSpace’s Visual Intelligence Platform, we finally have real-time visibility into what’s happening on all our projects, across our entire business,” said Paul Chambers, project director, Skanska UK. “Instead of relying on delayed reports, our teams can spot issues immediately, make faster decisions, and reduce costly surprises. It’s a new level of confidence for both our field teams and our leadership.”

OpenSpace has also expanded its portfolio with two new products — OpenSpace Field and OpenSpace Progress Tracking — joining its established lineup of OpenSpace Capture, OpenSpace BIM+, and OpenSpace Air.

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OpenSpace Field is billed as a field-first system of work powered by Spatial AI. With just a smartphone, teams can capture, track, and manage site data, with every image automatically pinned to the right location in floorplans and aligned to BIM models.

These capabilities integrate with Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud to improve coordination. According to OpenSpace, beta customers have reported 85% time savings when addressing common field tasks like punch lists and logging issues.

“With the new AI features of OpenSpace Field, we can take a photo, say what we see, and trigger work in our project management system,” says Felipe Dominguez, product manager, construction technology at Suffolk.

“It saves us time, and it helps all of our stakeholders, from trade partners to owners, stay aligned to keep the project moving forward.”

OpenSpace Progress Tracking is designed to turn reality data into ‘high-level insights’ to validate work-in-place for billing, identify schedule risks early by comparing actual progress to planned milestones, and deliver what the company describes as trusted progress summaries to all stakeholders. It also integrates with schedules in P6, Asta, Microsoft Project and Excel.

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