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AI estimate review

A second read on every price,
before the client sees it.

AI estimate review in Unibuild reads each estimate and quotation back before it is issued. The missed item, the total that does not add up and the exclusion nobody wrote down are flagged while the estimator can still fix them.

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An estimator in a hard hat and hi-vis checking a priced document against drawings before it goes to the client
What the review catches

Eleven pricing mistakes. Caught before issue.

The estimator keeps the pen. The review reads every line first, so these are fixed in the office rather than argued about on site.

11Pricing mistakes caught before issue
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Caught

An item missed from the take-off

What goes wrong

A quotation is only as complete as the take-off behind it. Miss the containment, the testing or the making good, and the price is low before the job has started.

The client will not point it out. It surfaces as a cost on site, with no line in the quotation to hang a variation on.

How the review catches it

The enquiry keeps its specification and scope attached. The review reads the quotation back before it is issued, and scope that was asked for but never priced is flagged for the estimator.

The estimator decides whether it belongs in the price, in the exclusions or nowhere at all.

  • Read back before issue
  • Flagged, never changed
  • The estimator decides

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

An estimate priced at last year’s labour rate

What goes wrong

Labour rates move every year and material prices move every month. A quotation built from an old workbook carries last year’s costs into this year’s work.

The margin is gone on the day the quotation is accepted, and nobody notices until the job is costed.

How the review catches it

Estimates in Unibuild are priced from the Advanced Estimating library, where every rate carries the date it was set and the person who set it.

A rate typed over by hand, or out of line with the library today, is flagged in the review before the client sees it.

  • Today’s rates, not last year’s
  • Typed-over rates stand out
  • Margin protected at the quote

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

A quotation total that does not add up

What goes wrong

A quantity typed as 12 instead of 120. A formula that stops three rows short. A section subtotal left out of the summary.

Errors like these are small on the line and large on the job, and by then the client has signed.

How the review catches it

The review reads every extension and every subtotal back before the quotation is issued, and flags any line that does not reconcile.

The estimator corrects it in the estimate, and the quotation goes out from the corrected figure.

  • Every extension read back
  • Subtotals reconciled to the summary
  • Corrected before issue

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

A quotation with no exclusions written down

What goes wrong

Every estimator prices on assumptions: normal working hours, clear access, the client’s skip. Left out of the quotation, they leave the client free to assume the price covers everything.

That is how a scope dispute starts, months after the price was agreed.

How the review catches it

The review flags a quotation with no exclusions, and any assumption in the build-up that never reached the document the client reads.

The estimator writes them into the quotation in plain words, before it goes.

  • Assumptions made visible
  • Exclusions stated, not implied
  • Fewer scope arguments later

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

A price that no longer matches the specification

What goes wrong

The client specified one product and the estimate priced an equivalent. Or the specification was revised after pricing started, and the quotation still answers the first issue.

Either way, the price and the document it claims to answer have stopped agreeing.

How the review catches it

A substitution or a superseded revision is flagged in the review, so the estimator can state it openly or correct it before the quotation goes.

  • Substitutions stated openly
  • The current revision priced
  • No silent equivalents

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

Preliminaries left out of the price, or guessed

What goes wrong

Access equipment, welfare, supervision, parking, waste and travel belong to the job rather than to any one line. That is exactly why they get forgotten.

Left out, they come straight off the margin. Added as a round percentage, they rarely match the programme.

How the review catches it

Unibuild prices preliminaries in their own section of the build-up. The review flags a quotation where that section is empty, or thin for the work described.

The estimator then prices them from the programme. Pricing preliminaries sets out how.

  • Preliminaries priced as a section
  • Built from the programme
  • Not a round percentage

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

A quotation with no validity period

What goes wrong

A quotation with no validity period can be accepted months later, at prices that no longer exist. Material prices do not wait for the client.

Payment terms and the planned start date go missing in the same way, and each one becomes a negotiation later.

How the review catches it

The review flags a quotation that is about to go out without a validity period, payment terms or a stated basis for its dates.

Each one is added before the client sees the document. When materials rise after quoting explains why the validity period matters.

  • A validity period on every quotation
  • Payment terms stated
  • Dates with a stated basis

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

VAT shown wrongly on a quotation

What goes wrong

Since 1 March 2021, the VAT domestic reverse charge has applied to most building and construction services between VAT-registered businesses where the payment is reported under CIS. Supplies to end users and intermediary suppliers who say so in writing are excluded.

A quotation that adds VAT to a reverse charge supply overstates the price. One that leaves VAT off a domestic job understates it, and the client finds out at the invoice.

How the review catches it

The review reads the whole quotation back before it is issued, the VAT line included. Anything that looks wrong goes to the estimator to confirm.

The reverse charge itself is handled in Unibuild’s financial records, so the invoice follows the same rule.

  • Reverse charge stated where it applies
  • Domestic clients shown the full price
  • Checked before the client sees it

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

Provisional sums and allowances with no description

What goes wrong

A provisional sum with no description is open to argument in both directions. So is a prime cost allowance with no stated basis.

The client reads the total. The arguments come later, from the lines underneath it.

How the review catches it

The review flags provisional sums, allowances and daywork lines that carry no description of what they cover.

The estimator defines each one before the quotation is accepted.

  • Each allowance described
  • The basis written down
  • Fewer arguments at final account

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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Caught

Another job’s details left on the quotation

What goes wrong

Quotations are often started from the last one. The client name changes. The site address, the contact or a line of the description sometimes does not.

Few things lose a client’s confidence faster than another site’s address on your price.

How the review catches it

Names, addresses, dates and references left over from another job are flagged in the review, before the quotation goes.

  • The right client, every time
  • The right site and reference
  • Nothing carried from the last job

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Caught

Margin given away by mistake

What goes wrong

A markup set to zero on one section. A discount applied twice. A rate left at cost because the estimator meant to come back to it.

The total looks reasonable, so nobody looks underneath it.

How the review catches it

The review flags lines priced at or below cost, and markups that fall outside the rules your firm sets.

The margin on the quotation becomes a decision somebody made, rather than an accident nobody saw.

  • Lines at cost flagged
  • Markup kept to your rules
  • Margin decided, not drifted

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

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In plain terms

AI estimate review is a second read of a priced estimate, and the quotation built from it, before the client sees either. It looks for what a second estimator would catch on a quiet afternoon: gaps in scope, figures that do not reconcile, and terms nobody wrote down.

In Unibuild it runs inside the system that priced the job. The estimate comes from your Advanced Estimating library, the review reads it, a named person approves it, and the quotation goes out on your letterhead. The client approves it in the client portal, and a won quotation becomes the project.

Where it matters

AI estimate review at the moments a quotation is most exposed.

Pricing goes wrong under pressure, on revisions and at the edges of the scope. Those are the moments the read-back earns its place.

Priced against the clock

The enquiry arrived on Monday and the return is due on Thursday at noon. Speed is where items go missing, so a full read-back matters most when there is least time to do one by hand.

The revision after the site visit

A revised quotation changes some lines and should change others. The review reads the whole document again, not only the lines somebody remembered to edit.

Side by side with two others

On a competitive tender, your quotation sits on a desk beside two or three others. The one with a clear scope, stated exclusions and the right VAT is the one a client trusts.

Approved by the client online

Clients see and approve quotations in the client portal. What they approve is the document that was reviewed, so the checked version and the signed version are the same.

Extra work priced on site

Onsite quotes are priced from the job’s own price list and rate card, the same rates the original price was built on. The client signs on the day, and the quote becomes a variation in one action.

Measured against the actual

A won quotation becomes the project, carrying the same reference. The estimate is then measured against what the job cost, which is what makes the next quotation sharper.

One set of records

From the price library to the project, without retyping.

The review is one step in a line that already runs through Unibuild. Nothing is exported, attached or sent to a separate tool.

Priced

From the Advanced Estimating library: materials, plant, fit times, labour and markup, each rate dated and owned.

Reviewed

Read back by the AI before it is issued. Anything it flags goes to the estimator to settle.

Approved

A named person in your firm approves the quotation. Nothing is issued automatically.

Issued

As a PDF on your letterhead, with every revision kept and an activity log of who changed what.

Accepted

The client approves it in the client portal, or it is chased until somebody decides.

Delivered

The won quotation becomes the project with the same reference, and the job is measured against the price that won it. Quotations and tenders covers the full record.

The review sits where the estimate already is.

A separate checking tool has to be fed a copy of every quotation, one file at a time, and knows nothing of your rates or the enquiry behind it. Unibuild reads the estimate it priced, beside the records it already holds.
Book a demo → 30 minutes, live, with you driving.
How the AI is charged

Pay for the AI you use.
Nothing added.

The cost of AI is bespoke to each firm. You pay only for what you use, and we set it out in the demo.

Everyday AI, included
The AI that runs through the platform day to day is part of the monthly fee, like every other module.
Heavier AI, at cost
High-value AI work is paid as you use it, at the AI provider’s own rate. Unibuild adds nothing on top.
Your choice of model
You choose which AI model does the work, and you can change your mind later.
Your own AI account
If your firm already pays for an AI service, connect it. The provider bills you directly.

How model choice and your own AI account work

Questions

Asked by whoever
signs the price off.

Can AI check a quote before it goes to the client?
Yes. Unibuild’s AI reads each estimate and the quotation built from it back before it is issued. Anything that needs a second look goes to the estimator, who corrects it in the estimate, so the quotation and its build-up still agree.
Does the AI change our prices?
No. The AI flags and your estimator decides. Rates, quantities and markups change only when somebody in your office changes them, and the activity log records who did it and when.
Who approves a quotation before it is sent?
A named person in your firm. Nothing is issued, sent or signed automatically. The approval is recorded with the person and the date, and the quotation goes out on your letterhead.
What happens when a quotation is revised?
The review reads the whole document again, not only the lines somebody remembered to edit. Every revision is kept with an activity log of who changed what. The version that went out stays on the record after it is revised.
Can engineers price extra work on site?
Yes, in your firm’s own app. Your staff app is published on the App Store and Google Play under your company’s own name and icon. Your operatives download your app, not ours. The client signs the onsite quote on the day, and it converts into a variation in one action.
Does it check small quotations too, or only the large ones?
Every one. Small quotations are priced fastest, which is where items go missing. Because the review runs on every quotation, nobody has to decide which ones deserve a second read.
Does it work with our own price list?
Yes. Estimates are priced from your own library in Advanced Estimating: your suppliers, your fit times and your labour rates. Unibuild migrates your price files as part of onboarding.
Can the review follow our own pricing rules?
Yes. Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works. Your markup rules, standard exclusions and approval route are built in, and changes after go-live are inside the monthly fee.
Do we have to upload our quotations somewhere?
No. The review reads the estimate and the quotation where they are already held, in Unibuild. Nothing is exported, attached or sent to a separate checking tool.
Which other documents does Unibuild review?
Tender submissions, RAMS, method statements and risk assessments, among others. AI tender review covers the submission a quotation often travels with, AI RAMS review covers the safety documents, and AI document review sets out the rest.
How do I check an estimate before it goes out?
Read the scope against the drawings and specification, then reconcile every extension and subtotal. Check each rate against what it costs today, and state the exclusions, the validity period, the payment terms and the VAT position. In Unibuild the AI runs that second read on every quotation before it is issued.
How is AI estimate review charged?
Everyday AI is in the monthly fee. Heavier AI work is paid as used, at the AI provider’s own rate, with nothing added. You choose which AI model does the work. How AI is charged.
How quickly can we start?
Most firms go live in about two weeks, in phases. Configuration and training are included, and there is a 14-day trial of the full platform with no card.
Sources

The guidance behind the checks.

The product information on this page is published by Unibuild Technologies Limited. The tax references below were checked on .

The commercial modules

The rest of the money side.

Same platform, same login. These are the modules that price the work, buy for it, measure it, claim it and collect it.

One level down

The review reads the price.
Setting it is still a decision.

Building a rate, recovering overhead, and the clauses that protect a quotation after it is sent.

How to price a construction job without guessingMeasuring, building a rate from first principles, recovering overhead and setting margin as a decision. Commercial Quote or estimate, and which one binds youWhich of the two binds you, and how a quote becomes a fixed price without anybody intending it. Commercial Preliminaries, the cost most firms forget to priceThe most under-priced part of a tender, built from the programme rather than guessed at. Commercial How to tell whether you are underpricingComparing tendered against actual, and the signs that show up before the accounts do. Commercial Materials went up after you quotedValidity periods, fluctuation clauses and provisional sums. Commercial The VAT reverse charge, and who accounts for the VATWhich supplies it covers, who accounts for the VAT, and what the invoice must say. Tax and CIS
Next step

See a quotation read back before it is issued.

A 30-minute live demo: an estimate priced from the library, reviewed, approved and issued on letterhead.

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Eleven pricing mistakesCaught

Phone · UK hours
+44 7587 557546
Email
success@unibuild.co.uk
The rates behind it
Advanced Estimating
Demo calendar
unibuild.co.uk/demo
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