AEConnect: Autodesk & Fieldwire by Hilti Integration for BIM Estimating
One workflow, from the model to the field.
AEConnect keeps the estimate synchronized to the design model, then carries the priced result into your estimating software, the owner’s cost study, and the field budget. No exports, no spreadsheet cleanup, no re-keying.
Live in the tools your project already runs on.
Both ends of the workflow are shipping today: a published app on the Autodesk marketplace at one end, a certified Fieldwire integration at the other.
Featured app on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace
AEConnect connects directly to Autodesk Forma and BIM 360, pulling live elements, properties, and quantities into a structured, no-code environment, then reusing that workflow on every model update.
- Browse projects, models, and versions in-app; extract by category and property
- Integrated viewer for 2D sheets and 3D, colored by cost group
- All conditioning happens in AEConnect — no model changes, no manual extraction by the architect or VDC team
- Version-to-version delta tracking with a complete audit trail
- Export to QuickBid package and Excel; combine model data with CSV sources
Certified integration: estimate to field budget
AEConnect pushes the live, structured cost model straight into the Fieldwire budget, so preconstruction cost carries into execution instead of being rekeyed at handoff.
- Project details and Tier 1 / Tier 2 cost codes pushed automatically
- Budget line items for material, labor, equipment, subcontractor, other, markup
- Estimate structure and traceability preserved from precon into the field
- Budget tracked against actuals in the app the crews already use
- Cost codes carried at both tiers, so field reporting rolls up to the estimate structure
Build the workflow once. Re-price every design change in minutes.
Steps 01 and 02 are a one-time setup per scope. Every later model version runs the same saved logic, so quantities, pricing, and deliverables update without a rebuild, and every line still traces back to the model element behind it.
Connect the live model One-time
Authenticate to Autodesk and pull the categories and properties you need from any project, model, or version. Uploaded CSV and Excel sources normalize into the same dataset.
Transform without code One-time
Add, remove, and edit the extracted model data to match your estimate or costing structure, so a model that was never built to your liking becomes usable. The conditioning logic is stored as a repeatable workflow.
Re-run on every design change Minutes
The new model version flows through the saved logic and the estimate updates in one click. Delta tracking finds what changed between versions, with a full breakdown of quantity and cost trends as the design progresses.
Deliver to bid, owner, and field Continuous
Produce the estimate in AEConnect or push it to QuickBid, write the priced result into the owner’s cost-study workbook with formulas intact, and send budgets and cost codes to Fieldwire.
Weeks of manual takeoff, redone from scratch on every revision: export, clean in spreadsheets, re-enter into estimating software, then re-key again into the owner’s workbook and the field budget.
Days per iteration after a one-time setup. One connected workflow from the model through to the field, with a full audit trail from model element to owner deliverable.
What it changes for the trades, and for the GC.
The workflow is the same regardless of scope — framing, drywall, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, or general conditions. What changes is what you connect and what you deliver.
Trade Partners
Bring the model, not a number.
Replace days of manual takeoff with model-based quantities, then re-price each revision in one click instead of rebuilding.
Walk into the GC’s cost review with cost tied to the live model while others bring one lump number. That is the seat that wins the next job.
Hand back a finished, traced cost study rather than a number to re-key. One workflow covers every scope you bid or self-perform.
General Contractors
One workflow across every trade.
Standardize model-based estimating across precon and trade partners, so every scope returns in the same connected, traceable structure.
Turn GMP and design-change packages faster, and answer owner cost questions the same week instead of next month.
Carry the awarded estimate into execution: budgets and cost codes land in Fieldwire with the estimate structure intact.
Both sides: quantity and cost are tracked against every model version, with automated reports and dashboards showing how the estimate is trending as design progresses.
Faster inside, a partner outside.
On a live $4.3B hospital program, California Drywall runs AEConnect in production and collapsed each estimate iteration from sixteen days to under five, eliminating up to two weeks of manual processing per cycle. The same model-based detail lets them enter the GC’s cost review with cost tied to the model while other trades bring a single number, and hand back a finished, traced cost study.
California Drywall is one example in daily production use today — the same workflow applies across framing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, and general conditions scopes industry-wide.
“We went from sixteen days of takeoffs per iteration to under five. That is time we can now spend on higher value work.”
Casey Cardin, BIM Engineer, California Drywall
“We can take on more complex projects with the same team, freeing our senior estimators to focus on strategy, not data entry.”
Eli Hinojos, VP Healthcare, California Drywall
Figures reflect a large, complex estimate on a $4.3B hospital program. Results vary by project size and scope.
Direct integration with On-Center QuickBid, or export to any format
The priced estimate written into the owner’s own cost-study workbook, formulas and format intact
One estimate-heavy scope on one active, model-based project. The workflow carries to the next.
See what AEConnect pulls from your model.
Bring one active model and one scope. We build the workflow with you and show the first updated estimate — no cost, no demo required.