Takeoffs from the partition schedule, by wall type and ceiling type, with every tag that doesn't match listed for your estimator.

On a hospital wing or a school addition, every wall on the floor plan carries a tag, and the tag points to a schedule on another sheet: stud depth and gauge, layers of board, insulation, how high the wall goes. The reflected ceiling plan says which ceiling type covers each room and at what height, and the Division 09 sections fill in the rest. Your estimator walks every wall and room, splits the lengths by type and height, and builds up stud and track, board by layer, finishing by level, and ceiling area with grid and perimeter. The hard part is catching what doesn't agree before it turns into a number.

In the test, AI reads copies of those documents and drafts the takeoff: each wall type with its stud, gauge, spacing, layers, board type, finish level, height and insulation, and each ceiling type with its area and perimeter. It lists every tag on the plans with no schedule row, every schedule row no plan uses, and every ceiling area the floor plan and the reflected ceiling plan describe differently. No price is written, and nothing is sent.

Every architect writes the tag differently. A partition type key on file with the City of Wichita, dated April 7, 2023, builds each tag from a material letter, a type number, an extension letter and a fire rating. C takes the wall 6 inches above the ceiling, D to the deck or slab, L is a low wall and N an infill, while the rating runs from 0 for none through V for smoke to Z for two-hour fire and smoke. A 2025 Wyandotte County, Kansas, bid addendum uses a series, a stud designator and a modifier instead, as in A3d: its a modifier runs a wall to the structural deck with insulation, b runs it there with none, and other letters stop it 6 inches above the ceiling with bracing as needed. The draft reads each project's own key and prints it with the takeoff, so your estimator can see how every tag was decoded.

Gauge is a height question. The same Wichita sheet carries a limiting height chart for one-hour and non-rated walls, with stud size and spacing down the side, 25 gauge and 20 gauge across the top, and an allowable deflection of L/240 at 5 psf. Two walls with one tag can buy different studs, depending on where each height falls on that chart. Its notes allow bracing above the ceiling to shorten the unbraced length only on non-rated walls, and let the general contractor have gauges engineered instead. BJC HealthCare's hospital standards start from 3-5/8 inch, 22 gauge or structurally equivalent studs at 16 inches on center, and go wider or heavier for height or wall-mounted shielding. The draft shows the height it used for each run and the chart row behind each gauge, and lists any wall whose height it could not find.

One wall type can be several lines. The Gypsum Association's quick reference for GA-214 names Level 1 for plenum areas above ceilings, attics and other spaces where the assembly is generally concealed, so a wall to the deck can carry one finish below the ceiling and another above it. BJC wants moisture-resistant board at wet areas and toilet rooms and abuse-resistant board where walls take impact, so the two faces of one partition may not match. ASTM C840, Standard Specification for Application and Finishing of Gypsum Board, often appears in the section, but it doesn't say which line a given wall belongs on. The draft splits each wall type by side and by height band and keeps every line in the units you buy.

The notes carry scope no tag shows. The Wyandotte sheet sets control joints at no more than 30 feet on center and at doors, windows and equipment openings, says recessed items can force a deeper partition, and writes sealant lines at runners, at board edges and around electrical boxes for any wall carrying an STC. It also prints a shaft wall with J-shaped runners, C-H studs and 1-inch liner panels, which share nothing with the studs and track beside them. BJC wants blocking and strapping located on the drawings and double 20 gauge studs at every door jamb, and the Wichita section shows deflection track wherever the tag says D. The draft gives each of these its own line, with the sheet and note it came from.

The ceiling is counted from another sheet. California's IR 25-2 attaches the grid to two adjacent walls and holds it at least 3/4 inch clear of the others, hangs #12 gauge wire within 8 inches of runner ends at the perimeter, and braces with a compression strut and four splayed wires, dropping that bracing only on areas of 144 square feet or less with restraint at every perimeter wall. New York State's 2024 master spec can call for reflected ceiling plans coordinated with lights, diffusers, grilles, speakers, sprinklers and access panels. The University of Maryland, Baltimore, avoids panels under half width at borders and notes that labs may do better with square lay-in, and Western Washington University bars splined tile. Your reviewer will look first at tags on one document only, the height behind each gauge, finish levels above the ceiling, rated walls carried to the deck, and ceiling perimeter counted twice.

With your reviewer's yes, new partition schedules go through the same job for about 30 days.

Your estimator approves every takeoff before a number reaches a bid, and everything that leaves your office still goes out the way it does today.

The live job's price is fixed before you sign. A second job is priced alone, and monthly support starts once one is running.