AI for commercial flooring contractors, tested on finish schedules you already took off.

A floor job is written across many sections. The University of Houston's master specifications keep carpet in 09 68 13, resilient tile in 09 65 19 and sheet in 09 65 16, and point to 09 65 13 for the base and accessories installed with them. New York State's 2024 master spec puts resinous terrazzo in 09 66 23 and resinous flooring in 09 67 23, and the Port of Portland sends slab preparation to 09 05 61. None of those sections says which product goes in which room. The room finish schedule does, which is why a takeoff starts there and why a test can too.

The trade's own standard begins with that schedule. The Carpet and Rug Institute's CRI 104 wants a scale drawing before commercial carpet goes in, to settle quantities, the amount per dye lot, the installation method, adhesives, transition moldings and wall base. On new construction it asks for drawings with space names or numbers and a finish schedule of style, pattern, color and installation method. Every takeoff your estimators finished began from those pages and ended in a quantity, so an old job arrives with its answer attached.

The moisture report is owed to you, and the floor is yours afterward. CRI 104 says that before a direct glue-down or free floating carpet tile job, the owner, the general contractor or their testing agent is to give the flooring contractor a written report on moisture and alkalinity, and it recommends qualified independent testers. Columbia University's resilient tile standard has the flooring contractor check the project for conditions that affect the work, and says defects caused by unsatisfactory conditions are corrected at no cost to the owner. How any of that binds you depends on your contract, and nothing here is legal advice. Either way, the report is the paper everyone reaches for later, and a stack of signed ones makes a ready test.

Old buildings add a step. School and campus renovations often begin with the floor that is already there. Texas State University's standard has the owner test existing resilient flooring for asbestos before removal, and Kutztown University wants a trained and certified abatement contractor to finish any removal of asbestos-containing flooring before new flooring starts. A takeoff has to show what comes out and who takes it out, and that scope is easy to lose in a demolition section.

The judgment stays with your people. Whoever runs a floor job carries most of this in their head, and FCICA, the Floor Covering Installation Contractors Association, built its Certified Installation Manager program for that role. In the proof of concept an estimator checks every takeoff and a qualified tester signs every report. It works on copies, stays away from your estimating, job cost and testing systems and from any live bid or report, and never decides whether a slab is ready for flooring.