AI Construction Estimate
AI Construction Estimate (group QS, tab DVD Cons) reads the item list from your current selection and asks AI to estimate Vietnamese market unit prices in VND per unit, together with a short material / labour / plant breakdown note.
It is meant for early pricing: you have a bill of quantities but no time to look up cost norms yet, or you need a quick reference price to sanity-check a subcontractor quotation. Results are previewed in the window's grid and only written to Excel when you apply them.
PRO feature
This command belongs to the PRO tier. STANDARD accounts activated before 1 July 2026 keep access until their licence expires; other Standard accounts get an upgrade dialog.
Estimates only — no contractual value
AI prices are based on general market data. Always verify against cost norms, local price schedules and supplier quotations before using them in a tender or a payment application.
Related commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| AI Construction Estimate | Estimates VND/unit prices for each item in the selection, with an AI note |
| Interim Payment | Uses the agreed rates to build the value-of-completed-work table |
| Variation Register | Values variation quantities that have no contract rate |
| Compare BoQ | Finds the codes that only appear in the newer BoQ — exactly the rows that need pricing |
| Preferences | Choose the AI provider and enter the API key |
Pricing a bill of quantities
- Prepare the table — you need at least an item name column and a unit column; a quantity column helps.
- Select the range and click DVD Cons → QS → AI Construction Estimate. The window is modeless, so Excel stays usable while it is open.
- Set the column positions, counted from the first column of the selection: Item name column, Unit column, Quantity column (0 = none).
- Click Read selection — the items load into a grid with the columns
✓ | Item name | Unit | Qty | Unit price (VND) | AI note. - Click Ask AI for prices — the AI fills in an estimated price and a note for each row.
- Review every row and untick ✓ for items that already have a contract rate or where the AI figure looks wrong.
- Set Price column and Note column (0 = skip), then click Apply to Excel; click Close when finished.
- Carry on: the agreed rates feed Interim Payment or Variation Register.
Example
A structural BoQ, selection B5:D7 (the first column of the selection is B, so Item name column = 1, Unit column = 3, Quantity column = 0):
| ✓ | Item name | Unit | AI price (VND) | AI note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Foundation concrete M250, 1x2 aggregate | m3 | ~1,750,000 | Material/labour/plant — ready-mix, pumped |
| ✓ | Foundation formwork | m2 | ~210,000 | Material/labour — film-faced ply, reused |
| ✗ | Foundation rebar D≤10 | kg | ~21,500 | Unticked: rate already fixed by contract |
Set Price column = 5 and Note column = 6, then click Apply to Excel — the two ticked rows get their prices in column E and notes in column F, while the rebar row keeps its contract rate.
Tips and caveats
- Column numbers are counted from the first column of the selection, not from the sheet's A/B/C letters — the opposite of Interim Payment, Compare BoQ and Variation Register.
- The command needs an internet connection and an AI API key configured in Preferences; without a key, Ask AI for prices returns an error.
- Apply to Excel overwrites the target cells directly and Ctrl+Z will not restore them — save the workbook first.
- Long lists take tens of seconds and consume API quota; batch a few dozen items at a time.
- The more specific the item name (concrete grade, specification, method), the closer the estimate; a bare "concrete" returns a very wide figure.
- Because the window is modeless you can reselect a different range while it is open — just click Read selection again afterwards.
See also
- QS Tools (Quantity Surveying) — the BoQ reconciliation → variation register → interim payment chain.
- AI Chat — ask follow-up questions about cost norms and take-off inside Excel.
- Preferences — choose the AI provider and enter the API key.