How Home Depot’s newest AI tool could give it an edge with pro contractors

Home Depot is leveraging artificial intelligence to help professional contractors with a complex task — measuring and quantifying all the materials needed for residential projects.

The Vinings-based home improvement retailer said Wednesday it has launched a new tool called “Blueprint Takeoffs.” The AI-powered service creates a complete materials list and quote for a single-family project.

Takeoffs, an industry term for estimating materials for a project, can be costly and time consuming. Contractors have to source every material from framing lumber to the inside trim, perhaps revising estimates from different suppliers.

Home Depot said with its AI-powered assistant it can complete the task in two days or less. It will charge $249 per project, a spokesperson said. The company also said it has a team to provide guidance and help source hard-to-find materials.

“Blueprint Takeoffs will transform the way pros plan and prepare for their projects,” Ann-Marie Campbell, Home Depot senior executive vice president, said Tuesday on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “This technology replaces a manual, intensive process that took weeks to complete, increasing accuracy and reliability.”

The tool would not replace any jobs at Home Depot, a spokesperson said.

Home Depot has spent billions targeting professional contractors, the people who build single-family homes and perform major remodels, as an avenue for growth. The company has recently acquired two firms that specialize in serving contractors and ramped up other capabilities geared toward the pro, including offering trade credit and sales support and expanding its flatbed distribution network.

Home Depot hopes pros using Blueprint Takeoffs will then purchase from the retailer the materials they need for their project.

“We’ll never get all of their wallet,” Ted Decker, Home Depot chair, president and CEO, said during a supplier conference last month in Atlanta. He was referring to pros, such as renovators, remodelers and builders.

“But if we can consolidate the number of people that they have to deal with it, they can speed up their jobs. And for them, cycle time is everything,” he said.

Gonzalo Gonzalez prepares framing of a new construction townhome community in Jonesboro. Home Depot has introduced Blueprint Takeoffs, which it says can cut the time pro contractors need to price a build. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Today, about half of Home Depot’s business is from contractors, Decker said at a September retailing conference. But it’s making a big play for more spending from contractors, especially amid a housing market slump and growing consumer uncertainty that is currently impacting demand for its retail business.

Recently, Home Depot acquired specialty building products companies SRS Distribution and GMS Inc. In September, it launched a project planning tool.

“This is nothing less than a transformation,” Billy Bastek, Home Depot’s executive vice president of merchandising, said at the October supplier conference.

“We are going to do for wholesale what Bernie and Arthur did for retail,” he said, referring to two company founders, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank.

Atlanta home builder Jim Cheeks said he is integrating his business with Home Depot. He is founder and CEO of Fortas Homes, which focuses on infill construction and small developments in urban Atlanta neighborhoods.

Over the years, Cheeks has advocated for housing affordability by building smaller homes that cost less. For example, he worked on a recent project called Oak Cottage Court in Decatur.

Cheeks said he was among a group of professional contractors recently invited to Blank’s Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana to learn more about Home Depot’s pro strategy and services.

During a Tuesday phone call, he was already familiar with Home Depot’s Blueprint Takeoffs tool and said he plans to use it.

“It’s dynamic,” Cheeks said. “It’s one piece of the reason why I want to align our company with Home Depot, because they can do things like this.”

But he doesn’t source all his materials from Home Depot.

“We don’t buy everything from them now, but they’re obviously working very hard on fixing that — on becoming the preferred vendor,” Cheeks said.