DIVISION 08 · DOORS, FRAMES AND HARDWARE
Door and hardware estimating, from the schedule and the plans at once
The door schedule says one thing, the floor plans say another, and the hardware sets live in the specification. BidStream proposes the counts off the drawings and holds them next to each other, so the reconciliation happens before the bid instead of during the submittal.
AI-assisted. Estimator-controlled. Traceable to the plan.
Why do door counts disagree with themselves?
Because a door is described three times by three different people, and the bid has to reconcile all three before anyone has approved a submittal.
- The door schedule and the plan count differ, and the difference is usually a room added or deleted in a later revision.
- Hardware sets are written in the specification, referenced by number on the schedule, and are where the real money is — one set assigned wrong moves a bid by thousands.
- Frame type, rating and wall condition change the frame price for an identical door leaf.
- Rated openings: the label, the closer and the smoke seal are easy to miss and expensive to add later.
- Electrified hardware that belongs to both Division 08 and Division 28 — the strike, the power transfer, the position switch — priced twice or not at all.
- Keying, cores and the owner’s existing system, which rarely appear in the count but always appear in the conversation.
What BidStream proposes on a door package
Openings proposed from the drawings
Assisted detection reads the drawing geometry and proposes the repeated opening symbols for review; a vision pass handles scanned sets. Each proposal is reviewed on its source sheet, so a door you reject is a door you have actually looked at.
The schedule read alongside the plan
Sheet numbers and titles are read from the title block during intake, and specifications are handled as documents without a scale, so the schedule sheet and the plan sheet stay distinguishable rather than being treated as one undifferentiated pile of PDF.
The scope read before the count
Notes, cover sheet and specification sections are read before any takeoff, and what they imply — allowances, exclusions, RFIs, scope belonging to another trade — is proposed for your estimator to accept or discard.
The proposal the GC receives
Approved quantities feed the line items, the proposal carries your branding, and the shareable link shows sell price only — verified as of October 2, 2026. Exclusions caught during the scope read print with the price.
Which qualifications belong on a Division 08 proposal?
- Hardware sets priced as scheduled; changes after award repriced.
- Keying and cores by the owner’s existing system unless specified otherwise.
- Electrified hardware limited to the openings scheduled, with low-voltage wiring, power supplies and integration by others.
- Frames furnished only — installation, grouting and wall preparation by the general contractor.
- Field verification of existing openings in renovation work, and the allowance for what is found behind them.
- Rated openings priced to the label shown on the schedule at bid time.
- Delivery and storage: who receives the material and who is responsible for it on site.
THE QUESTIONS WE ACTUALLY GET
Before you book anything
Our door schedule is already in a spreadsheet. What does this add?
The spreadsheet holds the count you typed; it cannot tell you that the plan sheet disagrees with the schedule. The value is in the reconciliation — having the proposed count tied to the sheet it came from, so the discrepancy is visible before you price it rather than after a revision lands.
How much setup before it is useful?
You load the PDF set as it was sent to you and confirm the scale per sheet. There is no hardware library to build first. Scale confirmation is the one step that matters, because every measured dimension depends on it.
Why would I trust AI with a hardware package?
The AI does not assign your hardware sets or decide your pricing — it proposes openings for your estimator to approve on the drawing. The judgment calls that actually move a Division 08 bid stay with the person who has always made them.
Does the general contractor see my cost or my margin?
No. The shared proposal shows sell price only; cost and margin stay on your side. Verified as of October 2, 2026, and re-verified at every release.
Can my estimator override what it proposed?
Each opening is approved or rejected individually, and quantities are edited by hand whenever the drawing or the schedule calls for it. The line item follows the approved number.
Does this replace my takeoff tool?
It covers the counting, the measuring, the markup and the handoff into an estimate and a proposal. Whether that is all of what your current tool does is worth checking on a real package — bring one to the walkthrough.
Try it on a door package you are bidding
Book a 20-minute walkthrough on one of your current bids. Nothing to send beforehand — bring the package you are pricing this week.