Who we build for · Quantity surveying
J Labs builds the data layer and the pricing engine for quantity surveying firms: procurement data normalised across countries, currencies, units and years, then cost models and benchmarks the team leans on for live programmes. Built on the systems you already run, at a fixed price.
Summary
J Labs builds AI automation for quantity surveying firms whose cost data has grown across countries, currencies and decades of programmes. The work starts with the data, because pricing intelligence built on inconsistent line items produces numbers nobody will defend in a client meeting. Units, currencies, periods and supplier conventions are normalised so the same material reads the same wherever it appears, and the firm ends up with one comparable cost surface instead of a folder of spreadsheets. On top of that layer J Labs builds the pricing engine: cost models and benchmarks the team uses on live programmes instead of rebuilding the analysis for every bid, plus the tender comparison, cost plan drafting and programme reporting that read from it. For a Danish firm running global construction programmes, the cleanup phase took six weeks and covered six countries, reaching 100% cost data coverage before the pricing engine went in. Every engagement is fixed scope, fixed timeline and fixed price, from a four-day Spec at €5,000 to multi-phase builds above €200,000, and it runs on the estimating, ERP and reporting tools the firm already has.
What we automate
Units, currencies, periods and supplier naming reconciled across regions and years, so a line item priced in Copenhagen and one priced in Singapore sit in the same shape and can be compared without a surveyor re-keying either.
Cost models and rate benchmarks built on the cleaned data, refreshed as new procurement lands, so a live programme is priced against the firm's own history instead of a published index that does not know your suppliers.
Returned tenders and bills of quantities parsed and compared line by line against the benchmark, with the outliers flagged for a surveyor to look at first. The judgement stays with the person; the sorting does not.
A first-draft cost plan assembled from comparable past programmes and current benchmarks, so the surveyor edits a document that is already most of the way there instead of starting from a blank sheet.
Cost tracking and variance reporting that reads from one clean source, delivered on the cadence the client expects, without a monthly reconciliation exercise to get there.
Fit
This is for you if
You run programmes in more than one market. Different currencies, units and supplier conventions are exactly the problem the data layer solves. The more markets, the bigger the return on making the data behave as one shape.
You have years of procurement data nobody can use. The history is there in tenders, orders and final accounts. What is missing is the layer that makes it comparable, and the engine that turns it into a number you can put in front of a client.
A director can name the programme to start with. One live programme, one region or one material category is enough to scope in four days and prove in weeks. Firm-wide comes after the first result, not before.
This is not for you if
One office, one currency, one supplier list. If the data already behaves as one shape, the cleanup layer has little to do and a lighter reporting fix is the honest answer. We will say so on the call.
You want a generic estimating product. J Labs builds on your spec, on your data and on the tools you already run. If the brief is to buy a package, a software vendor is the right conversation.
Nobody owns the data internally. The build needs one person on your side who can say what a line item should be called and which supplier is which. Without that owner the normalisation cannot be signed off.
Systems
The ones you already run. We don't insist on rip-and-replace: the automation layer goes on top of the systems in place, and if a system is genuinely past saving we say so on the discovery call and show our working.
Engagement options
| Engagement | Price | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Spec | From €5,000 | Four days | A written brief you own outright: which data goes first, what comparable means for your firm, the acceptance criteria, an architecture sketch and a cost estimate. Vendor-neutral: take it to us or to anyone. |
| Data layer and pricing engine | Fixed price, quoted after discovery | Typically four to eight weeks | The cleanup layer and the first pricing models in production on your own data, with weekly check-ins, open staging, documentation written as we go and a post-launch support window. |
| Cost intelligence programme | Multi-phase, to €200,000+ | Multi-month, phased | Firm-wide coverage: every region and material category on the same data shape, tender comparison, cost plan drafting and programme reporting built on top, phase by phase. |
None of these is an off-the-shelf product. There is no J Labs software to install: every system is specified in the brief, built for your stack, and owned by you. Every engagement is fixed scope, fixed timeline and fixed price, with acceptance criteria agreed before work starts. See how we work and the Spec.
What we've shipped
Quantity surveying · Global
Six countries of procurement data standardised in a six-week cleanup phase, 100% cost data coverage, and a pricing intelligence engine on top.
Live availability
Live slots from our team calendar, weekdays, European working hours. A 20-minute intro or a 45-minute working session, your choice, on Google Meet. You get a one-page summary within 24 hours.
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Frequently asked
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