SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 3, 2026--
Bobyard, the AI-native takeoff and estimating platform built for construction trades, today announced the launch of Bobyard Electrical Takeoff, expanding the company’s platform into electrical estimating workflows for the first time.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603003475/en/
Electrical is one of the largest and most complex subcontractor categories in commercial construction, with tens of thousands of contractors, making it a major opportunity for AI-driven productivity gains and a natural next step in Bobyard’s expansion across the construction trades.
Today, Bobyard develops custom AI models for each construction trade, built by its in-house team of neural network researchers and computer vision engineers. Bobyard does in minutes what used to take days: contractors using Bobyard report an average 65 percent reduction in takeoff times and the ability to submit 3–5 times more bids per estimator, improving speed, consistency and profitability.
“Electrical estimating is still highly manual, with teams spending hours tracing wire runs, counting fixtures and reviewing plans by hand,” said Michael Ding, founder and CEO of Bobyard. “We built Electrical Takeoff to fundamentally change that workflow with AI that is trained to understand electrical drawings and estimating workflows.”
Bobyard Electrical Takeoff helps electrical contractors automate some of the most time-consuming parts of estimating, including:
The launch builds on Bobyard’s expansion across landscaping and sitework workflows, where the company has trained AI models on millions of construction drawings and blueprint annotations.
Unlike generic automation tools, Bobyard develops custom AI model suites designed for each construction trade. The company has worked alongside commercial electrical companies to build and refine the platform ahead of the broader rollout.
"We leave a lot of jobs on the table because we don't have time to bid them. That's exactly what Bobyard is going to help us fix," said Randi Clark, Wells Electrical.
"We've been doing takeoffs the same way for a long time. Partnering with Bobyard during the beta felt like the right moment to get ahead of where the industry is heading," said Zach Pauline, Banister Electrical.
Electrical marks the first in a broader expansion across construction trades. Future workflows include Mechanical, Plumbing, and Finishes and Floor Plan estimating workflows, including Flooring, Drywall, and Paint.
For more information or to request a demo, visit https://www.bobyard.com/electrical.
About Bobyard
Bobyard is the AI infrastructure for construction trades. Founded in 2023 by Michael Ding, a Stanford-trained engineer, the San Francisco-based company builds custom AI models for every trade in construction, helping contractors automate blueprint interpretation, takeoffs and estimating workflows so they can bid more work without adding headcount. Backed by the largest Series A in construction software history, Bobyard has become the platform of choice for leading commercial contractors across the United States with a mission to help close the industry's longstanding productivity gap and bring modern software to one of the world's largest industries.
For more information, visit bobyard.com and follow Bobyard on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Built specifically for electrical contractors and estimators, Bobyard Electrical Takeoff automates time-consuming blueprint takeoff workflows directly from construction drawings, helping teams reduce manual work, move faster, and prepare more bids without increasing headcount. Contractors can now preview the product at https://www.bobyard.com/electrical.
Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum that is a banner event for President Vladimir Putin.
The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to hit the terminal, Zelenskyy said on social media. Clouds of black smoke rose over the city’s port after the attack. St. Petersburg is Russia’s second-largest city and is where Putin was born.
Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city’s infrastructure, without providing further details. The airport of St. Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities also cut off mobile internet services.
With the front line changing little as swarms of drones hinder battlefield movement, both sides have sought an edge by increasingly launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.
The latest strikes are an embarrassment for Putin, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow because of fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Putin is set to speak on Friday at the economic forum in St. Petersburg that the Kremlin views as a prestige event. For decades, the gathering has been Russia’s leading event for attracting foreign capital. It is sometimes called Russia’s Davos, likening it to the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland.
Major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Saudi Arabia is a special guest country this year and is due to send a large business delegation.
The strikes came a day after Russian forces launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing 23 civilians and wounding 151 other people, as Moscow followed through with its threat of escalating its regular barrages.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s deep strikes have already taken on a “systematic” character.
Ukraine is short of American-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of U.S. stocks depleted by the Iran war, leaving it vulnerable to Russia's ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy on Wednesday expressed frustration with his own government's officials, saying there's an agreement “at the highest political level” for the purchase of Patriot systems, but implementation is being held up by financial, legal and technical considerations.
“The wait has taken too long,” he said on social media, demanding that officials unblock the purchase or there will be “serious personnel decisions.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials that likely will cover air defense needs.
Ukraine’s own long-range attacks are aimed at diminishing Russia’s oil production, which is a key source of funding for Moscow, and disrupting weapon production.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in St. Petersburg and nearby ports.
Other Ukrainian drone attacks overnight set fire to the Russian guided-missile corvette Boikiy, which was in dry dock at the Kronstadt naval base, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Kronstadt is an old base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet located west of St. Petersburg.
Drones also hit a Russian manufacturing plant involved in weapon production in the Tambov region, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 354 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a Ukrainian strike hit a bus that was traveling from Moscow to the Crimean Peninsula, killing seven people and wounding 11 others, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.
In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin. He said that two other firefighters and a local resident were wounded.
Meanwhile, Russia fired 198 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according to Ukraine’s air force, with air defenses neutralizing 189.
Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said that over the previous 24 hours, one civilian was killed and 15 more were wounded, including three children, by Russian strikes.
In the southern Kherson, Russian overnight shelling and drone strikes killed an 86-year-old woman and wounded five other people, according to regional authorities.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte holds a closing press conference during the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Plumes of black smoke are seen over St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
A plume of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
A plumes of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
