Estimating & contract intelligence for specialty subs

Every bid and contract, built from work you've actually done.

Kaska reads your whole bid folder and prices it at your own crews' real rates — then reviews the subcontract before you sign. Nothing guessed, every line cited.

// same folder in → same number out
Built for every specialty trade
MechanicalElectricalPlumbingHVACConcreteDrywallFire ProtectionGlazingFramingRoofing

Now onboarding a first group of design-partner estimating teams — calibrating Kaska on their own portfolios.

Built by working estimators Priced from real closed jobs, not industry averages Every number cited to its source
Cortex · the engine underneath

From a folder of chaos to one number you control.

The ITB, the takeoff, a dozen quotes, the schedule, the subcontract — Cortex reads the whole pile and turns years of your history into structured, cited output you can stand behind.

Chaos in
Control out
Bid$5.21Mreconciled · every line cited
Contract2 flagsranked by risk
Portfolio12 live1 drift flag
One platform, four instruments

Everything reads from your history.

Cortex turns years of your jobs into a living model. These four surfaces put it to work.

Trueline

Estimate

Reads the bid folder and builds a bottom-up number priced at your real rates.

Explore Trueline
Redline

Review contracts

Marks up risky clauses, checks scope, and pulls the GC's real track record.

Explore Redline
Atlas & Benchmark

Learn from history

Every job mapped and searchable — compare any bid to your own portfolio bands.

Explore Cortex
Vantage & Sentinel

Monitor live jobs

The whole book in one view, with a flag the moment a job starts drifting.

Explore Vantage
End to end

How a bid moves through Kaska.

From the invite to the live job — one continuous, cited thread.

01
Intake
ITB in
Drop the bid folder; Cortex reads every document.
02
Takeoff
Counts
Quantities read off your takeoff, cited per file.
03
Trueline
Bid
Bottom-up price at your crews' real rates.
04
Redline
Contract
The subcontract reviewed before you sign.
05
Sentinel
Award & monitor
Won work watched for drift as it runs.
Trueline · Estimating

Build the bid from your Basis.

Point Trueline at the folder. It reads every document, counts the quantities off your takeoff, and prices the work at rates you've actually run.

  • Reads ITB, takeoff, schedules and quotes — with a cited read receipt for each file.
  • Prices off the Basis — your material & labor atlas, learned from every closed job.
  • Recommends the profit-maximizing price on a win curve fit to your history.
Trueline · read receipts
9 / 9 files
Coverage — every file accounted for
ITB & addenda3 pages cited
parsed
Takeoff (Bluebeam)1,214 marks → 214 units
parsed
Fixture schedule62 rows matched
parsed
Vendor quotes ×122 scanned · OCR
parsed
Equipment specheat-pump plant
parsed
Redline · Contract review

Read the subcontract like your sharpest PM.

Redline marks up the terms that cost subs money, checks the scope against what you actually bid, and shows you who you're signing with.

  • Scope review — flags where the subcontract drifts from the bid you priced.
  • Clause review — pay-if-paid, no-damages-for-delay, retention and indemnity, ranked.
  • GC Dossier — how that GC has really behaved on your past jobs.
Redline · Vanguard_Subcontract_v3.pdf
2 high-risk
Article 7 — Payment

7.3 Payment is contingent upon Owner's payment to Contractor as a condition precedent.

Article 9 — Delays

9.1 Sole remedy for delay is an extension of time; no damages of any kind shall be payable.

Article 12 — Retention

12.2 Contractor shall retain ten percent (10%) until final completion.

Pay-if-paid · §7.3High
Shifts owner-default risk to you.
Delay damages · §9.1Review
Caps recovery to time only.
GC Dossier — Vanguard net-60
Last 3 jobs: retention held 5 mo · pays 58 days.

See it on one of your own bids.

We'll calibrate Cortex on your closed jobs and walk a live bid with you.

Request access
One tool, every trade's takeoff

However your trade counts, Kaska prices it.

Fixtures, devices, tons, linear feet — the estimating logic is the same, and the contract risk is shared. Here's what that looks like across the trades.

Fixture rough-in pricing
Count off the takeoff, price at your crew's hr/fixture.
Plumbing
Device & panel counts
Receptacles, gear and homeruns to a bottom-up bid.
Electrical
Ductwork & equipment
Linear-foot runs plus vendor-quoted RTUs and AHUs.
HVAC
Formwork & placement
CY and SF takeoff priced at your placement rates.
Concrete
Board & framing bids
Wall SF and hanging/finishing production factors.
Drywall
Sprinkler head counts
Heads, mains and risers to a priced rough-in.
Fire Protection
Pay-if-paid review
Flag the clause and its cash-flow exposure before you sign.
All trades
Scope-gap detection
Catch scope the subcontract adds that you never bid.
All trades
GC track record
Retention, days-to-pay and CO history before you commit.
All trades
Defensible by design

A number you can stand behind.

Your data stays yours

Your history calibrates your bids only — never pooled into anyone else's model.

Every line cited

Each figure carries the file, page and job it came from. Traceable end to end.

Deterministic

The pricer is a pure function — the same documents always produce the same bid.

No industry defaults

Rates and markups come from your closed jobs, not a market average.

Under the hood

Everything working behind the bid.

Reviewable, auditable, and calibrated to your business — not a black box.

Read receipts

A per-file account of what was parsed, cited, and skipped.

Completeness critic

A second pass flags what an estimator would look for and missed.

Deterministic pricing

The pricer is a pure function — identical documents, identical bid.

Dual-engine cross-check

Two independent builds price every bid; a gap over 15% is flagged.

The Basis

Your material & labor rates, learned from every closed job.

Provenance chips

Every line tagged with the file, page, and job it came from.

Win-curve optimizer

The EV-optimal bid, fit to your own history with each GC.

Vendor-quote matching

Real quotes beat catalog estimates, line by line.

Scope diff

Catches where the subcontract drifts from the bid you priced.

Clause risk ranking

Pay-if-paid, retention, indemnity and delay traps, ranked.

GC Dossier

The general contractor's real payment and change-order record.

Live drift alerts

Sentinel flags an active job the moment its margin slips.

Fits your workflow

Works with the files you already have.

No new system to adopt. Kaska reads the documents and exports you already produce.

Bluebeam takeoffs Google Drive folders Vendor quotes · PDF & xlsx Accounting / JCR exports Fixture & equipment schedules ITB & subcontract PDFs
100%
of every bid line & clause is cited
0
industry-default rates
1:1
same documents in, same answer out
2
studios on one shared model
Now onboarding specialty subcontractors

Bring your closed jobs. We'll build you a bid.

Kaska is calibrating with a small group of estimating teams on their own portfolios. Tell us where to send access and we'll walk a live bid of yours.

// no card, no commitment — a real bid from your own numbers