Dispatches
Customer story

Estimating from blueprints

A contractor texts a blueprint; Athena returns a priced bill of materials with live vendor links in seven minutes.

7 minutesPhoto to priced Excel bill of materialsDrawing interpreted, prices checked, sources citedThe old wayNowPhoto or blueprintHandwritten notesAfternoonManual price lookupVendor callsAn afternoon to build a materials listText the photoPriced Excel backSeven minutes, delivered by SMS or emailContractor estimates used to take an afternoonSESSIONNeed materials list for this deckrepairReading the drawing now. I'll identifymaterials, check live prices, andbuild the bill of materials.deck_repair_photo.jpgBlueprint uploaded via SMSAthena · via SMS · 10:14Contractor texts a photo or blueprintdeck_materials_BOM.xlsxItemQtyUnitPriceSourcePressure-treate…ealive priceHome DepotDeck screws 3" #2lblive pricea home-improvem…Joist hangersealive priceFastenalConcrete mix6baglive priceHome DepotLedger boltsealive priceGraingerWHO CHANGED WHATAthenaInterpreted drawingdimensionsAthenaCalculated materialquantitiesAthenaChecked 7 vendor pricesourcesAthenaAdded live price links andcitationsAthena reads drawing, lists materials, looks up live pricesAthena wants toSend priced bill of materials for deckrepairMaterials with quantitiesLive prices from 7 vendor sourcesCitation link for each priceWAITING FOR A PERSONDelivered back by SMS with Excel attachmentContractor reviews · 7 minutes elapsedContractor reviews the priced materials listPhoto in. Priced list out.athenaintel.com
Fig. 02The story in 22 seconds, from the old way to “Photo in. Priced list out.”
Before · what we did · after
  1. Before

    A contractor's estimate started with a photo, a blueprint, or handwritten notes, and ended with an afternoon in a spreadsheet.

  2. What we did

    Text the photo to the agent. Athena reads the drawing, lists the materials, looks up live prices and links, and writes an Excel bill of materials with quantities and a citation for each price.

  3. After

    About seven minutes. Delivered back by SMS or email. Governed by AGS (Athena Governance System): every lookup and price is tracked, cited, and auditable.

Need materials list forthis deck repairI've read the drawing,listed materials, andlooked up currentprices. Excel attached.deck_materials_BO…Live vendor pricesPhoto sentDrawing interpretedMaterials identifiedPrices checkedLinks addedCitations included
Fig. 01Photo in by SMS, priced Excel bill of materials back in seven minutes
How long it takes · what to plan for

Handwriting quality matters. Bad notes get a clarifying question, not a guess.

Photo in. Priced list out.

Example workflow

Photo or blueprint to priced materials list

SURFACES INWHAT COMES INTHE PLATFORMWHAT GOES OUTDELIVERED BACKWebMobile · voiceEmailSlack · TeamsChromeOffice add-inMeeting botMeetingsWordPowerPointFiles · PDFsDataWorkflows (AOPs)AppsSessionsSpacesStudiosMeetingsLakehouseSemantic modelsDatabaseDashboardsWordPowerPointSheetsDashboardsData · APIsApps · portalsWebMobile · voiceText (SMS)EmailSlack · TeamsChromeOffice add-inMeeting botText (SMS)1Agents2Library3Sheets41 INContractor texts a photoof a blueprint orhandwritten notes2 READAgent reads the drawing,extracts dimensions andspecifications, listsrequired materials3 PRICELooks up live prices fromvendors, adds links,writes Excel withquantities and citations4 OUTPriced bill of materialsdelivered by SMS or emailin about seven minutes
Fig. 03The route on the system map: Text (SMS) → Agents → Library → Sheets. Connectors: SMS in, Excel bill of materials out by SMS or email
What it runs on
What customers say
“Gave Athena the spreadsheet, explained which column I was trying to figure out, and then ten secs it told me... exactly how the calculation was based on the other data.”
Analyst · A global manufacturer
“He wrote the entire stuff. By itself. And I was there, and I was thinking, alright. If I had to write all this stuff, I mean, I would've spent days, days, days.”
Manufacturing analyst · A global manufacturer
“I send that to the programmer and he said, alright. I read your file. I copied the section of the code because he has the right interface, and it works. Wow. Just like magic.”
Manufacturing analyst · A global manufacturer
“One workspace. All different, let's say, avatars of their output data. Right? Suddenly, it's dashboard. Excel is here. PowerPoint is when it's all together. It's very impressive.”
Global Sustainability lead · A global manufacturer
“Use the Athena platform probably closer to the concept and how it was designed, like, with the spaces architecture where you've got a set of primitives and capabilities, and you bring together the right set of capabilities to solve a task.”
Audit lead · A global professional services firm
“Digital worker, it gets spun up, it gets given access to the toolkits that it needs. It gets given access to the data that it needs. Just exists for the period it needs to exist to perform the task. And then it gets torn back down again afterwards.”
Audit lead · A global professional services firm
“I like that direction, that concept of the agent is the agent. It becomes an entity in its own right with its own ownership and its own missioning, and you get rid of the gray area and the blurry lines.”
Audit lead · A global professional services firm
“A lot of people are telling us that, oh, I sold in this package because of this info... I secured this distribution because of the selling assistance help.”
Sales enablement lead · A global CPG provider
“I finally got a chance to play around with the computer asset and build out the chatbot you mentioned. It was really impressive.”
Marketing lead · An AmLaw 100 firm
“So we use the SDK, and we write that in Python, and it calls Athena majority by API. The results appear in the interface itself.”
Legal technology team · A global law firm

Verbatim from customer calls. Customers anonymized.

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