You set the build standard.Spark builds the bid.

Common questions

• How long does an electrical takeoff take with Spark?

  Most contractors spend 3–6 hours per bid doing manual takeoffs. Spark processes a full drawing set in minutes — symbols are detected and quantities calculated automatically as the pipeline runs. You'll spend your time reviewing and submitting, not counting.

• Can my whole team use Spark on the same job at the same time?

  Yes — Spark is built for real-time collaboration from the ground up. Multiple estimators can work on the same drawing simultaneously, with live cursors showing who's doing what. Comment threads, photo markups, and task tracking keep everyone on the same page. Changes sync instantly across field and office — no emailing files, no version conflicts, no "who has the latest spreadsheet."

• How accurate is Spark's symbol detection?

  Spark's custom computer vision AI is purpose-built for electrical drawings and catches the substantial majority of symbols on a standard plan set. Drawing sets vary — line weights, annotation density, scan quality all affect results — so review is built into the primary workflow, not an afterthought.

  The Spark Canvas is designed to feel immediately familiar: think of it as your highlighted plan set, but the AI did the marking. Every detection sits right on the drawing at its exact location — color-coded, clickable, and organized by type — so you can review everything at a glance, the same way you'd scan a marked-up set of prints. Confirm what's right, remove anything off, add what's missing. The takeoff updates in real time as you go.

• Can I edit Spark's AI detections, or am I stuck with what it finds?

  Every AI detection becomes a fully editable element on the Spark Canvas — a contractor-grade CAD environment built specifically for electrical work. Move symbols, remove false positives, add missed items by clicking or drawing, reassign products, draw entire wire runs or conduit paths from scratch.

  Alongside the canvas, the Takeoffs Table works like your current Excel spreadsheet or notepad — except it counts itself. Every edit you make on the drawing updates the quantities automatically. No manual tallying, no copy-pasting into a separate sheet. The drawing and the numbers are always the same document.

  Spark handles the counting. You make the calls that win the job.

• How is Spark different from Bluebeam + Excel?

  Bluebeam + Excel is how most electrical contractors bid today — mark up the plans by hand, count symbols one by one, paste numbers into a spreadsheet, reformat into a proposal. It works, but it takes 3–6 hours per bid and the knowledge lives in one person's head.

  Spark replaces that entire stack: upload your PDFs, the AI detects and counts symbols from the drawings automatically, the takeoff builds itself, and a formatted bid document is ready to send. The work that used to take a full day takes minutes.

• How is Spark different from other AI takeoff tools?

  Spark is the only tool that takes you from raw plan sets to a print-ready bid without switching apps, copying numbers, or trusting output you can't verify.

  Most AI tools either generate an estimate as a text response — the AI's best guess, with no way to check its work — or hand you a static count list in a spreadsheet, completely disconnected from the drawing. At some point, every one of them makes you stop, open another tool, and figure out how to get the bid out the door.

  Spark is built differently. Every detection lands on the drawing at its exact location — like your highlighted plan set, but the AI did the marking. The canvas, the takeoff table, and the bid document are one live system: edit anything on the drawing and the numbers update instantly. Your pricing, markups, and scope rules are set once and applied automatically to every bid. Need to share with your GC or client? Send a link — they can view and comment directly on the drawing, no account required. And for design-build work, you can draw an entire electrical plan from scratch and Spark prices it in real time as you go.

  No other tool connects all of it.

• Does Spark work for commercial jobs, or just residential?

  Spark's AI is currently optimized for residential electrical drawings, where it performs at its strongest. Contractors are already using it on light commercial work today with good results — the core workflow is the same. A more comprehensive commercial feature set is on the roadmap. If you're doing a mix of residential and light commercial, Spark will handle it. Heavy commercial is coming.

• Do I need to be technical or have estimating experience to use Spark?

  No — and no setup required. Drop in a plan set and see what happens.

  Spark was built from the ground up to feel like the tools you already use. The canvas looks like your highlighted plan set. The Takeoffs Table looks like your Excel. The bid document looks like what you'd build in Word — except Spark assembles all three automatically. Your next bid should take 15 minutes.

  Every account comes pre-loaded with a default product catalog, pricing, and bid templates — all fully customizable. You don't start from scratch and you don't need to know CAD. Every part of the workflow is designed to be easy, transparent, and always editable — whether you're an owner-operator running bids solo or a team of estimators working a large project together.

• Is my project data and drawings kept private?

  Yes. Your drawings belong to you — Spark never uses your uploaded plans to train AI models without your explicit consent. Your project data is isolated to your account and is never shared with other contractors. All data is encrypted in transit, and you can request deletion at any time.

• What does Spark cost?

  Spark is currently in pilot — free for the first 30 days, no credit card required. After that, the full platform is $149/month: unlimited bids, real-time collaboration, everything.

  For context: legacy electrical estimating software typically runs $2,000–$15,000 per year — and none of it reads your plans automatically. Most contractors make back the cost of Spark on the first bid alone.