For nearly 70 years, Orillia Drywall has built its reputation on quality craftsmanship.

Founded in 1957, the family-owned company helped pioneer drywall installation throughout Central Ontario. Today, under third-generation leadership, Orillia Drywall serves commercial, institutional, government, and residential clients across Simcoe County, Muskoka, and Kawartha Lakes, continuing the same commitment to quality that has defined the company for decades.

As the business has grown, so has the complexity of the projects it bids.

For Steve Elliot (Estimator at Orillia Drywall), large commercial projects involving framing, multiple wall types, and detailed material requirements created a familiar challenge: Estimating accurately without spending weeks building spreadsheets.

"We're a relatively small company," Steve explains. "There's only three of us that work in the office here. When one person is responsible for estimating, every hour matters”.

Results:

• Reduced large commercial takeoffs from two weeks to two days
• Achieved an estimated 30–40% improvement in estimating efficiency
• Generated material quantities within 5–10% of actual requirements
• Significantly reduced manual spreadsheet work

Manual Material Calculations Were Becoming the Bottleneck

Before using Togal.AI’s Drywall Assemblies feature, Steve's workflow involved manually assigning wall classifications, exporting quantities into Excel, building formulas, and reorganizing sprawling spreadsheets just to calculate the materials needed for each wall type.

Some estimates became so complex that the spreadsheets stretched across multiple printed pages.

"It narrowed that down a lot," Steve says. "It just streamlined my time."

As Orillia Drywall took on larger government buildings, office projects, and commercial framing packages, that manual process simply wasn't sustainable.

The team needed a faster way to build accurate bills of materials without rebuilding calculations for every project.

From Drawings to Material Counts in One Estimating Workflow

Steve began using Togal.AI shortly after joining the estimating role and immediately started experimenting with Drywall Assemblies.

Like any new workflow, there was a learning curve. Building formulas required some trial and error, and adapting assemblies to Canadian drywall specifications meant creating a few workarounds. But with support from the Togal.AI team through one-on-one video sessions, Steve quickly became productive.

Today, Steve uses Assemblies primarily on larger commercial projects where framing, multiple wall configurations, and complex material requirements would otherwise require significant manual calculation.

Instead of manually calculating studs and other materials after completing a takeoff, Steve builds an assembly once, applies it to the appropriate wall classifications, and lets Togal.AI automatically generate the required material quantities.

Two Weeks of Estimating Became Two Days

The impact was immediate.

Projects that previously required roughly two weeks of estimating can now be completed in about two days before final pricing and bid preparation. Steve estimates that, as he continues refining his workflows, Drywall Assemblies will improve his estimating efficiency by 30–40%.

For a three-person office, those savings extend well beyond estimating. Instead of spending every available hour building takeoffs, Steve can shift his attention to other responsibilities across the business while keeping bids moving.

"If I can get through this part of it quicker," he says, "I can be doing other things to help."

Material Counts Became the Biggest Win

While the time savings are significant, the feature Steve values most isn't speed — it's confidence in the material quantities.

"Once you get your formula built, once I'm done assigning walls through the drawing, my material takeoff's done," Steve says. "I could almost order my studs right there."

He estimates the resulting material counts are typically within 5–10% of actual requirements, dramatically reducing the manual calculations that once followed every takeoff.

Rather than treating takeoff and material calculation as two separate workflows, Drywall Assemblies combines them into one.

Built for Complex Commercial Work

Steve is also candid about where Drywall Assemblies delivers the greatest value.

For straightforward residential drywall projects, traditional takeoffs are often fast enough on their own. But once projects involve framing, multiple wall types, fire ratings, insulation, resilient channel, and other commercial assemblies, the benefits become much more substantial.

For contractors estimating complex commercial drywall work, Drywall Assemblies eliminates repetitive calculations, improves consistency, and dramatically reduces the time required to move from drawings to a complete bill of materials.

What’s Next for Orillia Drywall and Togal.AI

As Orillia Drywall continues expanding across Central Ontario, Steve expects Drywall Assemblies to become an increasingly important part of the company's estimating process.

For a business built on nearly seven decades of craftsmanship, adopting new technology isn't about replacing experience; it's about giving experienced estimators better tools.

With Drywall Assemblies, Orillia Drywall is estimating larger commercial projects faster, producing accurate material counts with less manual effort, and giving its small team more time to focus on growing the business.

Request a custom demo of Togal.AI and our Drywall Assemblies feature today!