Vernier
Help Center

What Is Vernier?

Vernier is the product suite built by Aviat Group, LLC for commercial contractors, GCs, specialty subs, and owners who want better bids and a better-run business.

It contains two standalone products:

Who Is This For?

Vernier is built for commercial contractors and GCs preparing bids, and for owners and developers who want to independently validate a contractor's numbers before awarding.

Consulting is for GCs and specialty contractors whose business is growing faster than the systems running it — or who are working harder than everyone in the building and still can't figure out where the margin is going.

The Tagline

Know Before You Bid. Both products are built around the same principle: you should have better information going in than anyone else at the table. Vernier gives you that on the estimate. Consulting gives you that on the business.

Step by Step

1. 1
   Log in to your Vernier portal at vernier.io/portal. Use the email and password set during onboarding. If you haven't completed onboarding, call us first — calibration matters.
2. 2
   From the sidebar, click New Project. Enter the project name, location/address, and your estimated contract value if known.
3. 3
   Select your Vernier Mode. For a first test, use Mode B (Budget/ROM) — it uses the fewest tokens and returns a fast order-of-magnitude estimate with documented assumptions.
4. 4
   Set your margin target — Standard (18–22%), Aggressive (14–16%), or Protective (24–28%). This drives Vernier's bid posture recommendation.
5. 5
   Click Create & Run Vernier. The AI engine processes your project — typically 15–45 seconds depending on mode. You will see the result directly in the portal.
6. 6
   Review the output. For Mode A, you'll get Platinum/Gold/Silver tiered proposals, a schedule matrix, BOM, competitive analysis, and risk register. Learn how to read your bid package →

What Vernier Needs to Work Well

Vernier is calibrated to your trade mix, market area, labor rates, and margin targets during onboarding. The more accurate that calibration, the better the output. The main inputs for any run are:

• Project name and location (state matters for prevailing wage)
• Estimated project value (helps calibrate scope assumptions)
• For Modes A/C/D: upload your project documents (drawings, specs, scope narrative)
• For Mode F: upload the subcontractor bids you want leveled

Vernier Portal Sections

Consulting Portal Sections

Before Your First Bid

1. ✓
   Complete onboarding call. Vernier output quality depends on calibration. If you haven't done the onboarding session with Randy, book it before running a real bid — use the link in your welcome email or call (855) 562-8428.
2. ✓
   Verify trade mix is correct. Go to Settings → Organization and confirm your trade mix reflects your actual scope types (electrical, low-voltage, civil, etc.). Wrong trade mix = wrong cost libraries.
3. ✓
   Verify market area. Your market area drives RSMeans regional multipliers and prevailing wage applicability. Confirm this is set to your primary operating area in Settings.
4. ✓
   Check your token balance. Go to Subscription to see your monthly token allowance and how much has been used. Token reset date is shown — plan high-volume runs accordingly.
5. ✓
   Run a Mode B test first. Run a quick budget estimate on a real project you've already bid. Compare Vernier's ROM range to your actual number. This gives you a baseline for how Vernier reads your market before you use it for live bids.
6. ✓
   Invite your team. If your tier includes multiple seats, invite your estimators under Team & Users. Each user gets their own login — don't share credentials.

The Data Behind Vernier

Every Vernier run draws on the following current data sources:

• Platt.com — current electrical and low-voltage material pricing
• RSMeans 2026 — unit cost data with regional multipliers
• NECA labor units — electrical contractor labor standards
• MCAA labor units — mechanical contractor labor standards
• Washington State prevailing wage tables — for applicable projects

On top of the data, Vernier has been trained on commercial construction bid structure, code requirements (NEC, IBC, NFPA, IMC, IPC), subcontractor RFQ formats, competitive positioning strategy, and scope development methodology.

The Six Operating Modes

Vernier doesn't run one-size-fits-all. You choose the mode that matches what you need:

What Vernier Produces

On a Mode A Full Bid run, Vernier produces:

• Three tiered proposals (Platinum / Gold / Silver) with distinct scope narratives
• Self-perform cost advantage quantified in dollars — what you save vs. outsourcing
• Bid posture recommendation: Aggressive, Standard, or Protective — with the reasoning
• Line-item estimate with quantities, units, unit costs, and totals
• Bill of Materials (BOM) with Platt.com sourcing
• Subcontractor RFQ templates for every major scope
• Construction schedule matrix (phased by trade)
• Risk register with mitigation recommendations
• Walk-away conditions — the circumstances under which this bid should not be submitted

When to Use Mode A

Mode A is appropriate when you have decided to pursue a project and need a complete, submittable bid package. Use it when:

• You have sufficient project documentation (drawings, specs, or detailed scope)
• The bid deadline is firm and you need a complete package
• You want the full competitive analysis and bid posture recommendation
• The project value justifies full Mode A token usage (~800K–1.5M tokens)

What You Get

A complete Mode A package includes three tiers of proposals:

Vernier's bid posture recommendation (Aggressive, Standard, or Protective) applies to your Gold tier number and is based on the project type, your trade mix, market conditions, and the competitive context Vernier can infer from the documents.

Token Usage

Mode A uses the highest token count of all modes — approximately 800,000 to 1,500,000 tokens per run depending on document complexity. The token estimate is shown before you run. Monitor your monthly balance under Subscription.

When to Use Mode B

• Owner asks "what does something like this cost?" before hiring a designer
• Pre-design or schematic design phase — no drawings yet
• Go/no-go decision on whether to pursue a project
• Feasibility study support
• Testing Vernier with minimal token usage

What You Get

Mode B returns a low/high ROM range with documented assumptions behind every number. The output includes:

• Dollar range (low and high) with confidence level
• Key cost drivers — what's moving the number most
• Documented assumptions — what Vernier assumed in the absence of drawings
• Bid posture recommendation for the eventual full bid
• Self-perform delta estimate where applicable

When to Use Mode C

• Incomplete or preliminary project documents
• Design-build project where scope is still being defined
• Owner has a program document or narrative but no drawings
• You need to establish scope alignment before pricing

What You Get

Mode C produces:

• Formal Scope Development Letter — a professional document you can send directly to the owner or design team establishing what has and hasn't been scoped
• Documented assumptions — every assumption made in the absence of complete documents
• Budget range (low/high) tied to the documented scope
• Schedule phase structure based on scope assumptions
• List of clarifications needed before a firm bid can be submitted

What Vernier Checks

Mode D reviews uploaded plan sets against:

• NEC 2023 — National Electrical Code compliance
• IBC 2021 — International Building Code requirements
• NFPA 72 / NFPA 101 — Fire alarm and life safety
• IMC / IPC — Mechanical and plumbing coordination
• Trade coordination conflicts between electrical, mechanical, structural, and civil

What You Get

When to Use Mode E

• Owner has asked for a VE analysis alongside the bid
• Your bid came in over budget and you need to find cuts
• You want to differentiate your proposal with a formal VE exhibit
• Design-build: identifying scope alternatives before finalizing design

What You Get

Mode E returns a list of VE opportunities, each including:

• Description of the proposed change
• Delta cost (savings or addition) in dollars
• Risk assessment (Low / Medium / High) for the proposed change
• Owner-facing pitch language — ready to put directly in your proposal exhibit
• Total VE potential — sum of all identified opportunities

When to Use Mode F

• You have multiple sub bids and need to compare apples to apples
• Low-bid sub has scope gaps you want to quantify before accepting
• Need a defensible award recommendation for an owner or CM
• GC managing multiple trades with uneven bid quality

What You Get

For each sub bid submitted, Vernier produces:

• Normalized bid amount on a common scope baseline
• Scope gaps identified — what's missing vs. the bid documents
• Exposure flags — clauses or exclusions that shift risk to you as GC
• Recommended award with written rationale
• Award risk assessment

The Three Tiers

Every Mode A run produces three proposal tiers. These aren't just different prices — they're different scopes:

Bid Posture

Vernier recommends one of three bid postures for your Gold number:

• Aggressive (14–16% margin): Use when you need the work, competition is heavy, or you're buying into a relationship. Vernier will only recommend this if you have a real cost advantage.
• Standard (18–22% margin): Normal competitive market. Most bids should land here.
• Protective (24–28% margin): Use when risk is elevated, schedule is tight, owner is difficult, or you're at capacity and only want the job at the right price.

Self-Perform Advantage

Vernier calculates your self-perform cost advantage — the dollar amount you save vs. hiring out your primary trade scope. This number belongs in your proposal. It's your most honest answer to "why should we hire you instead of a GC who subs everything?"

Construction Schedule Matrix

The schedule matrix is phase-sequenced based on the bid scope. It's a starting point — field validate before committing to the owner. The phases, durations, and milestones are based on Vernier's scope assumptions and your market area norms.

Risk Register

The risk register lists the items that could move this bid significantly in either direction during execution. Review it before submitting. Any "High" severity items are worth a direct conversation with the owner before award.

What Is a Token?

Tokens are the unit the AI model uses to measure input and output. Roughly speaking, 1,000 tokens equals about 750 words. When you submit a project to Vernier, the project description, uploaded documents, and the AI system's instructions all count as input tokens. The bid package Vernier generates counts as output tokens.

Token Estimates by Mode

Monthly Allowances by Tier

Monitoring Usage

Go to Subscription in the portal sidebar to see your current usage gauge, token reset date, and usage breakdown by mode. Vernier also shows a token estimate before you run any mode so you can confirm you have sufficient balance.

Overages

If you exceed your monthly allowance, overage charges apply:

• Essentials: $0.005 per 1,000 tokens over the limit
• Professional: $0.004 per 1,000 tokens over the limit
• Enterprise: $0.003 per 1,000 tokens over the limit

Overages are calculated at month-end and charged on the first of the following month. You'll receive usage notifications at 75% and 90% of your monthly allowance.

What Gets Calibrated

• Trade mix — electrical, low-voltage, civil, mechanical, or combination. This determines which cost libraries and labor standards Vernier pulls from.
• Market area — RSMeans regional multipliers are applied based on your primary operating geography.
• Prevailing wage — whether your typical work is prevailing wage or open shop changes labor cost assumptions significantly.
• Margin targets — your standard, aggressive, and protective margin floors. Vernier uses these to anchor bid posture recommendations.
• Typical project scope and value — a contractor who typically bids $500K–$2M commercial electrical gets different calibration than one bidding $5M–$20M design-build.

The Onboarding Call

All new subscribers complete a calibration session with Randy Hanson before or within ten days of first platform access. This is not optional — it's what turns Vernier from a general estimating tool into a tool calibrated to how your business actually works.

If you haven't completed your onboarding call, book it here or call (855) 562-8428.

Recalibration

Your calibration settings can be updated at any time in Settings → Organization for self-service adjustments to trade mix, market area, and margin targets. For a full recalibration session with Randy (for example, after entering a new market or adding a trade), contact support — two full recalibration sessions per year are included in your subscription.

Supported Formats

• PDF (multi-page supported, up to 50 pages)
• PNG, JPG, JPEG
• TIFF (common from large-format scanners)
• Maximum file size: 100MB

Scan Quality Recommendations

The Plan Viewer is designed to work with real-world scans, including imperfect ones. That said, better input produces better output:

• 300 DPI is the recommended scan resolution — sufficient for OCR accuracy and vectorization detail
• Grayscale or black/white scans process faster and produce cleaner vectorization than color
• Reasonably straight — the pipeline auto-deskews up to 40 degrees, but extreme skew reduces OCR accuracy
• Remove page borders and margin artifacts where possible

Processing Settings

Before processing, you can adjust three settings in the Plan Upload view:

What Gets Extracted

OCR runs in PSM 11 (sparse text) mode by default — this is optimal for construction plans where text is scattered across the sheet rather than in flowing paragraphs. The engine identifies:

• Dimensions (detected by pattern: 12'-6", 1/4" = 1'-0")
• Room and space labels
• Panel schedules and circuit tables
• General notes and specification callouts
• Title block: project name, sheet number, scale, revision, drawn by
• Equipment tags and callout numbers

Using the Search

After processing, the OCR text panel appears below the comparison view. Type any word or phrase in the search field — the panel highlights all matches in the extracted text. This is useful for quickly finding:

• Specific room numbers or area names
• Equipment designations (e.g., "AHU-1", "PANEL MDP")
• Spec references or note numbers
• Any dimension or clearance value

OCR Confidence

OCR results include per-block confidence scores. Low confidence blocks (common on faded prints or handwritten annotations) are flagged. If OCR quality is poor on a specific sheet, try re-scanning at higher DPI or adjusting scanner contrast before re-uploading.

How It Works

The vectorization pipeline uses ImageMagick's Canny edge detection algorithm to identify lines and edges in your scan, then traces them into vector paths using potrace. The result is:

• Black lines on a clean white background — scan artifacts and tone noise removed
• SVG format when potrace is available (true vector — infinitely scalable)
• High-quality PNG fallback when SVG isn't available
• Typical file size reduction: 85–95% vs. the original raster scan

File Size Impact

A typical 300 DPI scan of a full-size E-size electrical plan might be 4–8MB as a TIFF or PNG. The vectorized SVG output of the same plan is typically 200–500KB — a 90%+ reduction. For a 50-sheet plan set, that's the difference between 400MB and 20MB with no loss of line quality.

When Vectorization Works Best

• Clean black-and-white or grayscale line drawings
• Computer-generated (CAD-plotted) drawings — the most accurate results
• High-contrast scans with clear distinction between line work and background

When It Has Limitations

• Low-contrast scans with gray or faded line work — increase edge strength in settings
• Heavily annotated sheets with dense text clusters — text and line work may blend
• Pencil or hand-drawn plans — results vary significantly with scan quality

The Three Modes

Using the Split Divider

In Split mode, click and drag the cyan divider bar left or right to reveal more of either the original or vectorized view. On mobile, touch-drag works the same way. The divider position is remembered during the session.

Accept or Reject

After reviewing the comparison:

• Accept & Analyze: Saves the vectorized plan to your library and immediately offers to run AI analysis (Claude Vision) on the accepted plan — extracting dimensions, identifying code flags, generating RFI candidates, and producing a takeoff starting point.
• Adjust & Redo: Returns you to the settings panel without re-uploading. Change threshold, edge strength, or line weight and reprocess.

The Four Bubbles

Why the Order Matters

The 4 Bubbles are worked in sequence for a reason. You can't fix Leadership if you don't know whether the business is financially viable. You can't fix Vision if your Quoting is pricing work below cost. The diagnostic finds the primary leak — the work happens in the right order from there.

Not Generic Coaching

This isn't a seminar framework or a group coaching program. It's a diagnostic — specific to your business, your numbers, and your situation. Randy has run this on commercial contractors for 20+ years. The questions he asks in Session 1 are the ones that cut to where the actual problem is, not where it looks like it is from the outside.

Session Format

Sessions are 60 minutes, 1-on-1 with Randy, via video call or phone. They're working sessions — not status updates. Something specific gets worked on, decided, or built in every session.

Scheduling

Sessions are scheduled bi-weekly on a standing schedule agreed at the start of the engagement. To reschedule, contact Randy directly at (855) 562-8428 or [email protected] at least 48 hours in advance. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice count as completed sessions unless it's a documented emergency.

Preparation

Before each session, review the prep notes Randy has attached to that session in your portal. These tell you what to bring, what to have reviewed, or what decision you should be ready to make. Coming prepared is the single biggest factor in session productivity.

Session Notes

Randy delivers written session notes within 48 hours of every session. These are in your portal under Sessions. They capture the key decisions made, work done, and action items assigned. Review them before your next session.

Between Sessions

Between sessions, your job is action items. The portal tracks these under Action Items. Mark them complete as you finish them. If you're stuck on one, reach out — don't wait for the next session date.

What Is Guaranteed

By the end of a Tier 3 Full Partner engagement, Randy guarantees a measurable improvement in your gross profit — either as a margin percentage improvement or a dollar improvement relative to the baseline established in Session 1.

How the Baseline Is Set

In Session 1, Randy establishes baseline metrics using your actual financial data from the prior 12 months — gross profit margin percentage and gross profit dollars. These numbers are documented and agreed by both parties before engagement work begins. You need to provide accurate financial records for this to work.

The Threshold

The guarantee triggers if measurable improvement hasn't been achieved by the end of month six. Measurable means either:

• A 5% increase in gross profit margin (e.g., from 18% to 23%), or
• A 10% increase in gross profit dollars (e.g., from $800K to $880K)

Only one threshold needs to be met — not both.

The Conditions

The guarantee applies only if all of the following are true:

• You attended at least 10 of 12 scheduled sessions
• You completed at least 75% of assigned action items
• You provided accurate financial data throughout the engagement
• You implemented the core recommendations in good faith

The Remedy

If conditions are met but the threshold hasn't been reached by month six, Randy continues providing sessions at no additional charge — monthly — until the measurable improvement is achieved. There is no cap on this continuation period.

The setup fee is a one-time, non-refundable charge covering account creation, onboarding, Vernier calibration to your trade mix and market area, and initial training. It is not refundable under any circumstances including early cancellation.

Which Tier Is Right For You?

• Essentials — solo estimator, individual GC, or specialty contractor running 5–10 full bids per month. One login, 10M tokens covers roughly 8–12 full Mode A runs.
• Professional — active GC or specialty contracting team. Three seats, 25M tokens supports a small estimating team at full volume.
• Enterprise — contracting firm or developer organization with high bid volume. Ten seats, 75M tokens, lowest overage rate.

Cancellation

Month-to-month. Cancel at any time by emailing [email protected]. Cancellation is effective at the end of the current billing month — no refund for the final month. Setup fee is non-refundable.

User Roles

Inviting a User

1. 1
   Go to Team & Users in the sidebar.
2. 2
   Click Invite User. Enter their name and email address.
3. 3
   The system generates a temporary password. Share it securely (call or encrypted message — not email). The user must change it on first login.

Seat Limits

Your subscription includes a fixed number of user seats (1, 3, or 10 depending on tier). If you try to invite a user that would exceed your seat limit, the invite will be blocked. Upgrade your subscription to add more seats.

How Overages Work

If you exceed your monthly token allowance, overage usage is charged at your tier's overage rate:

Overages are calculated at the end of each calendar month and charged on the first of the following month to your payment method on file.

Usage Notifications

You'll receive an in-portal notification when your monthly token usage reaches:

• 75% of your monthly allowance
• 90% of your monthly allowance

Vernier also shows a token estimate before each run, so you can see if a planned run would push you over.

Preventing Overages

• Use Mode B (280K tokens) for go/no-go decisions before committing to a full Mode A run
• Use Mode D or E (220K–350K tokens) for plan analysis before the full bid
• Reserve Mode A runs for projects you've decided to actively pursue
• Monitor your Subscription page monthly token gauge before high-volume periods

Unused Tokens

Unused tokens do not roll over. Each month's allowance resets on the first of the month regardless of how much was used in the previous month. There is no credit or carry-forward for unused tokens.

Direct Contact

Response Times

• Phone: same business day
• Email: within one business day
• Consulting session requests: within two business days

Mailing Address

Aviat Group, LLC
PO Box 668
Onalaska, WA 98570

For Consulting Clients

If you're in an active consulting engagement, use the direct contact method Randy gave you in Session 1 for between-session questions. Don't go through the general email queue for time-sensitive engagement questions — you have a direct line for a reason.