AI quoting for HVAC equipment manufacturers

Be the HVAC price the mechanical contractor carries into the bid.

A mechanical contractor bidding a building needs your price for every air handler, chiller or fan on the equipment schedule, the table in the drawings that lists each unit, before their own bid is due. A price that arrives after that cannot win the job. Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine reads the HVAC section of the specification, the schedules and every addendum, and turns them into a priced draft quote in your own pricing within minutes, so you answer first and bid on more of the work. Your estimator checks it and sets the final number.

Book a DemoHow we test it →
From a public University of Florida air handler bid
  • p.16The casing leakage limit is written two ways on the same page.
  • M001Each unit ships knocked down, to be put together on site.
  • M100The parts must fit an existing door, and no drawing gives its size.
  • G0.1All the work for AHU-5 is an extra the owner may choose to buy.

The draft prices the casing both ways, keeps AHU-5 on its own line and writes the question about the door, so the contractor has a price it can use before bids open.

Why speed decides who wins

Orders for HVAC equipment are climbing, and contractors cannot wait for a slow quote.

On July 30, 2026, Trane Technologies reported that bookings in its Americas commercial HVAC business were up 50 percent on a year earlier, and that bookings of applied equipment were up 130 percent. Applied equipment is the industry's name for large systems, such as chillers, that are engineered for a particular building. When every maker has more requests than people to price them, the one who answers the contractor first, with a price that holds up, gets the next conversation.

+50%
Trane's Americas commercial HVAC bookings, Q2 2026, year on year
9 days
From the University of Florida addendum to the bid opening
Minutes
From an HVAC bid package to a priced draft quote

An HVAC equipment quote is never priced from the schedule alone. In the University of Florida package on this page, the schedule gives the airflow, coils and fans. The casing, the tests and the warranty sit in a 10-page specification section, the alternate is on the cover sheet, and the door the parts must fit through is in a note on the roof plan. The package's Addendum 1, a change issued while bidding was open, came out on February 17, 2020. It replaced three specification sections, including the one for the air handling units, and changed 19 drawing sheets, nine days before bids opened.

The AI Quoting Engine reads the whole package, addenda included, and prices it the way your company prices, with every line tied to its page. Your estimator spends the time on the few calls that change the price. The video below shows the engine on a different kind of package, a public 179-page waterfront bid with floating docks and a gangway, because we have not yet recorded one on an HVAC package.

Video: AI Estimating Software Demo: A 179-Page Bid Package to a Draft Quote (4:07)
Read the University of Florida addendum (PDF) →Trane's second quarter 2026 results →
What goes in

The spec section, the schedule and everything that changed.

HVAC equipment is rarely quoted from a model number. It is quoted from the engineer's documents, and the price depends on all of them read together. We read the University of Florida package page by page ourselves, without running it through our software, and these are the parts that settle the price.

Specification section

How each unit is built and tested, and what comes with it: casing, insulation, fans, coils, filters, field tests and warranty.

Section 23 73 15 asks for casing joints with no metal path from the cold inside to the outside, so the casing does not sweat, cooling coils in stainless steel casings, and every fan run tested at its operating speed before it ships.

Addendum 1, pages 16, 18 and 19
Equipment schedule

The sizes and counts for each unit: airflow, coils, fans, filters, weight and sound, and the notes under the table.

AHU-7 and AHU-8 each move 28,200 cfm, meaning cubic feet of air per minute, with six fans, and a note under the table sizes each fan for one sixth of the total airflow.

Sheet M001, custom air handling unit schedule
Cover sheet and alternates

What is in the base bid, and what is an alternate, meaning an extra the owner can choose to buy and that is priced on its own.

Additive Alternate 1 is all the work associated with AHU-5, so a quote needs that unit on a line of its own, apart from AHU-7 and AHU-8.

Sheet G0.1, cover sheet
Plans and sheet notes

How the equipment gets into the building and what has to be checked before bidding.

The roof plan says the new equipment must pass through an existing door to the penthouses, and asks bidders to check staging, rigging and crane access before they bid.

Sheet M100, sheet notes 2 and 3
Addenda and answers to questions

What changed after the package went out.

A bidder asked to add Trane Custom to the acceptable manufacturers. The revised section now lists Temtrol, York Custom, Haakon, Trane Custom (Fort Smith) and Ingenia, while the schedule still names Temtrol.

Addendum 1, pages 2 and 16, and sheet M001
What you get back

A draft quote your estimator can check line by line.

The engine learns how your company prices from your own past bid packages, the quotes you sent and your costing spreadsheets. Each new package then comes back as a priced draft, with every line tied to the page that asks for it. Here is what the draft would do with the University of Florida package.

01

Priced lines with their pages

Every line carries a quantity, a price from your own rates and the page that asks for it, and an alternate gets a line of its own.

G0.1AHU-5, priced on its own line for Additive Alternate 1
02

Calls priced both ways

Where the documents disagree, the draft carries the likely reading and prices the other one beside it, so your estimator sees what the choice is worth.

p.16Casing leakage: 0.5 cfm per square foot, or under 1 percent at 8 inches of water gauge
03

TBD instead of a guess

A line the package does not settle says TBD, so nobody prices a guess into a firm number.

p.15Sound attenuators, needed only if the selected unit is louder than the schedule allows
04

Questions ready for the contractor

Anything nobody can answer from the documents becomes a question, already written for your reply.

M100What is the clear width and height of the penthouse door the sections must pass through?
Then the quote

Your estimator reviews the draft, changes what they know better, settles the calls and sends the quote to the contractor, while other makers are still working through the specification.

What it does not do

It does not select or size the equipment, decide compliance or set your margin, and it never sends anything to your customer. Your team decides every number that goes out.

How it differs

Most quoting tools start from a part or a catalogue. HVAC jobs start from a spec section and a schedule.

There are good quoting tools on the market, and each was built for a different kind of request. This is where each one fits, so you can choose the right one for HVAC equipment work. The big HVAC brands also have equipment selection software, which picks and sizes a unit to meet the schedule. Mavlon does a different job: it prices the whole job from the buyer's documents.

Kind of toolWhat goes inWhere the price comes fromFits best when
Configure-price-quote toolsTacton, Salesforce Revenue Cloud, Epicor CPQA salesperson picks options from your product catalogue.Pricing rules you set up for each option.You sell standard models, such as a catalogue rooftop unit, that a few choices describe.
Job-shop quoting softwarePaperless Parts, SecturaFAB, CostimatorPart files and part drawings.The part's geometry, its operations and your shop rates.You machine or fabricate single parts from customer drawings.
Quoting inside your ERPJobBOSS², MRPeasyThe materials and routing your estimator types in.The rates and routings already stored in your ERP.You run the shop in that ERP and quote work like jobs you have done before.
Drawing data toolsWerk24Single engineering drawings.No price. It turns drawings into data for your other systems.You want drawing data inside your own ERP or quoting tool.
Manufacturing data searchCADDiYour archive of drawings and manufacturing data.The past jobs and costs it finds for you.You quote repeat parts and want to find what you made before.
Should-cost simulationaPriori3D CAD models.A simulated cost of making the part.You run cost engineering or check what suppliers charge.
Mavlon AI Quoting EngineFor engineered equipment quoted from bid packagesThe whole bid package: specification, drawings, bid form, addenda and the covering email.Your own rate book, costing spreadsheets and past quotes.You build HVAC equipment to someone else's specification: custom air handling units, rooftop and packaged units, chillers, cooling towers, fan systems or data center cooling.

We make Mavlon, so read this table with that in mind. Descriptions of other tools come from their own websites in October 2026, and corrections are welcome at atishay@mavlon.co. Many teams use a configurator for standard models and Mavlon for the jobs that arrive as a bid package.

Where it fits

Built for the HVAC jobs that take hours to read.

Custom work

Mavlon is the right tool when

  • The request arrives as a bid package: a specification, equipment schedules, drawings, a bid form and addenda.
  • Each unit is built to the engineer's specification: a custom air handling unit, a rooftop or packaged unit, a chiller, a cooling tower, a fan system or data center cooling.
  • Your applications engineers or estimators spend hours reading before anyone can price.
  • You decline bids you would like to win, or answer them late.
Standard work

A different tool fits better when

  • You sell standard catalogue units that a model number and a few options describe. A configurator or your own selection software is faster for that.
  • Your requests are short and name the product clearly. A good estimator will price them faster than any software.
  • You machine single parts from 3D files. Job-shop quoting software is built for that.

We make Mavlon. Corrections are welcome at atishay@mavlon.co.

Prove it on your own quotes

Test it blind on jobs you already priced.

Before you trust it with a live bid, we run it on past jobs your team has already quoted, with the pass mark agreed in writing first.

  1. Pick one product family you quote often, such as custom air handling units or packaged rooftop units.
  2. Set aside past jobs whose quotes the engine never sees.
  3. The engine prices them from the raw documents.
  4. Compare its totals with the prices your team actually sent.

A US manufacturer of engineered waterfront structures went live in production after a test like this. Its drafts land within about 2 to 3 percent of its own price on familiar product lines, and within about 10 to 15 percent on brand-new jobs with many add-ons.

The pilot protocol →The waterfront structures case study →
What we have published so far
  • A live customer: a US manufacturer of engineered waterfront structures, name withheld at its request.
  • The Cape Vincent demo: a public 179-page bid package turned into a priced draft quote.
  • This page: what a public 42-page University of Florida air handler addendum asks a maker to price, each fact with its page.
The pass bar: seven of ten totals within 15 percent, agreed in writing first.
Read before you book

Guides for HVAC equipment quotes.

Product pageAI quoting for data center equipmentGenerators, UPS systems, switchgear and cooling, quoted from data center bid packages.Product pageAI quoting for heat exchangersShell and tube exchangers priced from the owner's whole specification, not only the data sheet.GuideOr approved equalHow to read the clause when a specification names another maker's product, and when to bid or walk away.GuidePre-bid risk assessmentA register of the sentences in the customer's document that cost money, each with its page.Product pageAI specification reviewHow the engine finds the requirements that change your price, wherever they sit in the set.ToolSpecification compliance matrixAn Excel template for listing every requirement in a package against your offer.GuideQuote turnaround timeWhere the days go in a 21-day bid window on an engineered quote, and what shortens it.GuideReading bid packagesFive real public packages run through our software, and where the numbers hide.Public documentThe public document behind this pageThe University of Florida addendum: the full air handling unit section, the schedule and 19 drawing sheets.
What is AI quoting for HVAC equipment manufacturers?

It is software that reads a customer's bid package for HVAC equipment, meaning the HVAC section of the specification, the equipment schedules, the drawings and the addenda, and drafts a priced quote. Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine does this in the manufacturer's own pricing, with every line tied to the page it came from, so an estimator can check it and send it. It is built for custom manufacturers, sometimes called engineer-to-order manufacturers, who build each air handling unit, chiller or fan system to the engineer's specification instead of selling it from a catalogue.

Does it work for custom air handling unit manufacturers?

It is built for this kind of request. A custom air handler is priced as much from the specification as from the schedule: the casing and its thermal breaks, which stop the outside of the casing from sweating, the fan array, meaning a wall of several smaller fans in place of one large fan, the coil materials, the shipping splits, the field tests and the warranty. We start with the one product family you quote most, learn your pricing from your past jobs, and test it blind on jobs you already priced before it touches a live bid. How the blind test works.

Is it built for HVAC equipment manufacturers in the USA?

Yes. Mavlon, Inc. is a US company, and the engine reads US bid packages as they arrive: a specification organized by CSI MasterFormat section numbers, the standard way of numbering the parts of a building specification, an equipment schedule on the drawings, a bid form and addenda. The air handling unit spec section is usually 23 73 13 for modular units or 23 73 23 for custom ones, though engineers number it in their own way, and the University of Florida package uses 23 73 15. It is for commercial HVAC equipment manufacturers who quote mechanical contractors, owners and engineers.

How is it different from a configurator or the selection software from the big HVAC brands?

A configurator prices standard options that a salesperson picks from your catalogue. Equipment selection software from the big HVAC brands picks and sizes a unit to meet the airflow, coil and sound numbers on the schedule. Mavlon does neither. It starts from the buyer's documents, works out everything the job asks for, including what is not on the schedule, and prices the whole job in your own pricing. You can keep using your selection software to size the unit and use Mavlon to price the bid around it.

How is it different from Paperless Parts, SecturaFAB or Costimator?

Those tools price machined and fabricated parts from part files and drawings, using the part's geometry, its operations and the shop's rates. Mavlon prices engineered equipment from a whole bid package, meaning the specification, schedules, drawings, bid form and addenda, in the manufacturer's own pricing. A job shop quoting single parts is better served by them, and a maker answering bid packages for air handling units or chillers is better served by Mavlon.

What happens when the specification contradicts itself?

The draft carries the likely reading, prices the other one beside it and writes the question for the contractor or the engineer. In the University of Florida package, the casing leakage limit is 0.5 cfm per square foot of casing at the scheduled pressure in one paragraph, and less than 1 percent at 8 inches of water gauge, a measure of air pressure, a few lines later. A quote should know which test the casing will be held to before the price is firm.

How does it learn our pricing?

From your own records: past bid packages paired with the quotes you sent, your costing spreadsheets and your rate book. Where a rule is not written down anywhere, it becomes a question for your estimator rather than a guess.

How fast is the draft?

A priced draft comes back within minutes of the upload. The time your estimator then spends depends on how many decisions the package leaves open, and each one arrives already priced both ways.

Does it replace our estimators or applications engineers?

No. It drafts the quote, and your people decide. Your applications engineers, the people who select the equipment for each job, still make the selection, and your estimator still sets the price. It does not set margins, decide compliance or send anything to your customer. What changes is how many bids your team can answer, and how fast.

Who is behind Mavlon?

Mavlon, Inc. is a US company founded in 2024 by Atishay Jain, an AI engineer. It builds the AI Quoting Engine for custom manufacturers, and it is live in production with a US manufacturer of engineered waterfront structures. Read that case study.

Questions buyers ask

What HVAC equipment makers ask us first.

Price every schedule you are sent while the bid is still open.

Book a demo and see the AI Quoting Engine turn an HVAC bid package into a priced draft quote, with every line tied to its page, every open call priced and the questions ready to send.

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