AI HVAC Takeoff Software for Chicago Mechanical Contractors
Chicago mechanical contractors bid a demanding mix: high-rise commercial and residential, institutional work, and heavy retrofit across a true four-season climate that has to handle both hard winters and humid summers. Sets are detailed, the systems do double duty for heating and cooling, and the trade is competitive.
DuctIQ is AI HVAC takeoff software that reads a mechanical PDF and measures the ductwork for you — fittings and equipment included — returning a reviewable, Excel-ready takeoff so estimators can move straight to pricing.
Start your free takeoffHow AI HVAC takeoff works
For four-season, high-rise Chicago systems
Chicago's climate demands both substantial heating and real cooling and dehumidification capacity, so mechanical sets carry full supply, return, and exhaust distribution plus significant equipment — and the city's high-rise and institutional stock packs it into complex, multi-page sets. Energy requirements under the Chicago and Illinois codes push toward efficient, well-instrumented systems. All of that is slow to take off by hand.
DuctIQ traces and measures the runs at scale, separates the systems by size, counts the fittings, and reads the equipment schedules — returning structured quantities. It reads the mechanical PDF directly, so any set works without special export.
- Handles combined heating + cooling distribution in complex sets.
- Works through large multi-page high-rise and institutional drawings.
- Counts fittings and pulls equipment from the schedules.
- Exports clean Excel/CSV for pricing.
From mechanical PDF to bid-ready takeoff in Chicago
The workflow is the same whether you bid one trade or many: upload the mechanical set, let DuctIQ read and measure it, review the line items, and export. For a Chicago estimator that means the rote hours of scaling and counting collapse into a short review, and the time you save goes back into pricing and bid strategy.
- Upload an Illinois mechanical PDF — vector or scanned.
- AI traces the duct runs and separates supply, return, and exhaust by size.
- Fittings are counted and equipment is pulled from the schedules.
- Review the reviewable line items; low-confidence reads are flagged.
- Export to Excel or CSV straight into your pricing workbook.
Run your first takeoff free
Upload a mechanical PDF and get a reviewable ductwork, fittings, and equipment takeoff you can export to Excel. No credit card to try your first drawing.
Start your free takeoff Download a sample takeoff See pricingNew to AI takeoff and want a hand? Send us your first drawing and we'll help you review the output, or book a 1:1 walkthrough.
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Frequently asked questions
Does DuctIQ handle complex Chicago high-rise sets?
Yes. It classifies the mechanical sheets in a large multi-page set and measures the ductwork across them, returning every quantity as a reviewable line item grouped by system and size.
Can it handle both heating and cooling distribution?
Yes — it measures the full supply, return, and exhaust distribution and pulls the equipment from the schedules, so a four-season system is captured the way you'd bid it.
Does it work with any engineer's drawings?
DuctIQ reads the mechanical PDF directly — vector or scanned — so you don't need a special export or template from the design team.
How much review does the takeoff need?
Far less than measuring by hand. You work the flagged low-confidence items first, spot-check the largest runs, then export — typically a short fraction of a manual takeoff.