An AI proposal engine built for AV integrators
AI proposal software for AV integrators turns a walkthrough, a voice memo, phone photos, floor plan notes, into a scope of work, a bill of materials, labor hours and a client-ready proposal narrative. It does not replace D-Tools, Jetbuilt or Portal.io. It removes the hours between the site visit and the first draft.
How long does a proposal take today?
Ask ten integrators and you get ten different numbers, but the shape is the same. A salesperson or owner walks a job Saturday morning, talks through TVs, speakers, shading, cameras, control and rack placement, and takes notes the way everyone in this trade takes notes: partly on paper, partly in photos, partly in his own head. Then it sits. It waits on his time to sit down and write it up. It waits on design. It waits on pricing. It waits on someone to catch the typo in the speaker count. Four to fifteen hours of real labor go into a single proposal before it ever reaches the client, and that number holds across small and mid-size shops quoting ten to twenty jobs a month.
What eats the four to fifteen hours?
Not the design, and not the pricing logic, most shops have that dialed in already. The hours disappear into retyping. The same room gets described three times: once in the walkthrough notes, once in the scope document, once in the line-item BOM. Every retype is a chance to drop a speaker, mismatch a model number, or forget the shade motor the client mentioned in passing. An AI proposal engine reads the walkthrough once and carries that same information through scope, design review and pricing without a human rekeying it at every stage.
How does this fit with D-Tools, Jetbuilt or Portal.io?
It feeds them. None of these platforms do anything about the gap between the site visit and the moment someone finally opens the software and starts building. That gap is where a proposal engine works: walkthrough in, structured scope and BOM out, ready to load into whatever design and pricing tool your shop already runs.
| Tool | What it's built for | What it still needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| D-Tools, Jetbuilt, Portal.io | Design, catalog management, formatted proposal output | Someone to type the scope in correctly, from field notes |
| A general AI writing tool | Fast, generic text | No product catalog, no labor rates, no scope discipline |
| An AI proposal engine | Converts the walkthrough into scope, BOM, labor hours and a draft narrative | A person to review before it goes to the client |
What does the AI build?
Three things, in order. First, a verified scope of work with room-by-room totals and an open-questions list, so nothing gets silently assumed about a room nobody discussed. Second, a full system design grounded in your real product catalog, so every part number is one you stock and sell. Third, two documents: an internal itemized version for your own review, and a clean proposal for the client. You approve the scope. You approve the design. The system does the typing in between.
What does this look like inside a working AV shop?
Juan says a proposal cycle burns four to fifteen hours of skilled labor per opportunity in a shop his size, a number he carries from twenty years running one, and it never came from the complex jobs. It came from the standard installs everyone assumed would be fast, because nobody had built a shortcut for typing the same speaker list for the fortieth time. Obsessed AI does not sell AV systems. VLOX, the smart home company built from scratch on the systems Obsessed AI builds, runs its own proposals through the same engine before any client ever sees it. Proposals are one leak. The other two show up just as often in low voltage contractor shops, as slow response and one person everyone depends on.
Is this happening anywhere else in AV software?
Yes, and it is early. D-Tools raised a $12 million Series C in 2025 built specifically around adding AI features, StellarIQ, to its existing design and proposal platform (source: startuphub.ai, checked 2026-09-17). That money is a signal the category is real. It is also proof the incumbents are building AI into the tools you already use, not a reason to wait for them to finish before your own proposal cycle gets faster.
What to do this week
- Pull your last five proposals and time how long each one took, from walkthrough to send
- Record one walkthrough as a voice memo instead of typing notes, and see what's missing when you play it back
- List every place the same information gets typed twice between your walkthrough and your final proposal
- Book the free discovery call and bring last month's proposal turnaround numbers
Questions owners ask
Do I have to give up D-Tools or Jetbuilt?
No. The proposal engine builds the scope, BOM and labor numbers from your walkthrough and feeds them into whatever design and pricing software you already run. It is not a replacement platform. It is the missing step before you open one.
Who reviews the proposal before it goes out?
You do, at two points. The verified scope gets approved before design starts, and the priced proposal gets approved before it reaches the client. Nothing goes out on autopilot.
Will it work with my existing catalog and labor rates?
It is built on your own product catalog and your own labor rates, not a generic AV parts library. A part number that isn't in your system doesn't show up on the proposal either.
What size company is this built for?
Owner-run AV and smart home companies between $1M and $10M, quoting ten or more jobs a month, where the proposal cycle is eating hours somebody could spend on the next job. See the full picture on what Obsessed AI builds for AV companies. Thirty minutes on the discovery call is enough to see where your own proposal cycle is losing time, no pitch required.