It reads the plans the way an estimator does
Not OCR and a lookup table. Talli works through the set sheet by sheet, reconciles the architectural drawings against the structural ones, and produces a package it can defend line by line.
Full-size sheets, natively
Architectural plan sets are 24×36 or 30×42. Talli reads them at a resolution tuned so fine print stays legible — including the fractions in a wall-section callout. No exporting to letter size, no asking the builder for something smaller.
Only the sheets that matter
On a full construction set, most sheets carry no framing content. Electrical, plumbing, mechanical, civil and interior-finish sheets are identified and left out — which both sharpens the estimate and keeps large sets workable. You see the full manifest of what was read and what was skipped.
Questions before quantities
Talli won't quietly assume its way past a conflict between the architectural and structural sets. It asks which governs, what's in scope, and which open product selections you want — each with a recommended answer.
Packs shaped by the house
A trussed ranch gets a truss layout instead of a rafter schedule. A timber-frame porch, an ICF basement or a steel moment frame each get their own schedule. The bid isn't forced into a fixed set of tabs that fit one house we once built.
Every quantity shows its work
A bare number can only be checked by recounting it. A derivation can be checked in seconds — and corrected when it's wrong, instead of merely overwritten.
Hover any quantity in the app to see its derivation. Lines Talli couldn't match to your catalog are flagged rather than silently priced.
- MATERIAL
- 2x4-104-5/8" precut stud, HF
- PACK
- MAIN LEVEL WALLS
- QTY
- 117 EA @ $4.82 = $563.94
- BASIS
- 124 LF exterior wall / 16in oc = 93 studs + 4 corners(3ea) + 6 openings(2ea) = 117
- SKU
- 2410458HF — matched from your catalog, confidence 0.94
Priced against your list, not a generic price book
Any format
Upload your catalog export and the columns are mapped for you — item id, description, unit, sell price, margin. You confirm the mapping once.
Units respected
MBF, MSF, LF, per-piece, per-box. A 250-count bucket of screws isn't multiplied by 200 pieces, and lumber priced per thousand board feet converts properly.
Specials handled honestly
When a design calls for something your list doesn't carry, the line is marked as an estimate with its reasoning attached — never blended into the total as if it were a catalog price.
How accuracy is measured.
What happens when a quantity is wrong — and whether you can tell.