In today’s digital age, technology and automation have become essential components for businesses to thrive and stay ahead of the competition. As the founder of Takeoff Monkey, I’m constantly searching for tools to make us more efficient, more accurate, and ultimately provide our clients with a better experience. That’s why I want to share how learning some Python changed our business forever—unlocking new levels of productivity, creativity, and problem-solving that continue to transform the way we operate every day.

Around year 4 we started to bump the ceiling of the native capabilities of the off-the-shelf software solutions we were using. We needed to take our automations just a little bit further but everywhere I turned, some coding knowledge was required. 

Choosing Python

I took some Pascal (aging myself!) programming classes in high school and really loved it. After some research, I determined Python would be the best language for our needs. I bought some books, enrolled in some online courses, eventually getting private lessons twice a week for about six months. What I thought would be endless memorization of syntax turned out to actually be a whole new way of problem solving. 

Learning some Python changed our business forever, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for Takeoff Monkey. Instead of relying on software workarounds, we can now solve complex problems more quickly and easily within our existing apps Even though I’m still far from a Python expert, the fundamental concepts of programming have changed the way we work. Understanding how computers think and how applications communicate allowed us to automate many tedious tasks.

Slack and Monday.com Integration Changes

Let me back-up a bit to what motivated me to learn Python. We wanted Slack and Monday.com to integrate and function differently than their native connection. I called around, had close to a dozen meetings with software development guys, and ended up with our desired integration app having a price-tag close to $20,000. That is a lot of money! What we wanted didn’t seem complex or far from the existing integration. So, I created a simpler version of the app and asked ChatGPT how to build it. A few days, hundreds of prompts, and many failed attempts later—it worked exactly as we imagined! That experience opened my eyes to countless possibilities. Dreams that once seemed out of reach suddenly felt achievable. What we thought would cost hundreds of thousands now looks far more affordable!

We’ve built a handful of apps that we use every single day. Utilizing Python libraries like PyPDF2 and Pytesseract, there is almost no limit to what can be done with PDFs, even construction drawings. We have an app that processes large PDFs, searching page by page to identify the scope of work within the drawings. Another takes a PDF, finds all legends and materials schedules in it, and exports it all into an excel file. 

Improvement on Bluebeam Takeoffs

If you’re using Bluebeam to do your takeoffs, there is even more you can do. We have another app which we load a PDF of a completed takeoff done in Bluebeam. This app grabs specific data points from the takeoff markings and the original drawings, pushes the data into an excel in a specific format. Once in excel, it performs calculations on the data, turning the takeoff into a nearly 100% complete estimate… instantly! 

My understanding of Python helped us with other apps. Using my new, refined problem-solving skills inherent to programming, we became overnight experts in Zapier. This allowed us to build robust, complex zaps in just a couple of days. Automations we paid to have built in Make.com, which used to baffle us, we can now manipulate, enhance, and troubleshoot. It also helped me think about our existing automations in Monday.com differently, turning clunky, error-prone automations into quick, smooth actions. 

Learning Python was the gateway to gaining enormous efficiencies, and greatly enhancing our customers’ experience. It has truly been a game-changer for us! If you enjoy puzzles, Math, and logic, it can be a very enjoyable experience just learning. Even without writing code, understanding what’s possible and realistic is invaluable as your organization grows.