Building on this foundation, Albi will develop AI-powered estimating tools trained on the real-world expertise ofthese world-class estimators, with the goal of helping restoration companies produce higher-quality estimates and collect payment faster. 

Addressing a Critical Industry Challenge

Collections and receivables remain among the most persistent and painful challenges facing restoration contractors. While a number of solutions have attempted to apply AI to estimate writing, many have struggled with accuracy,producing unreliable output that fails to meet the high standards contractors and carriers demand.

"Our estimators and contractors hold AI to a higher standard than they hold their own employees, and rightly so," said Alex Duta, CEO of Albi. "The reason AI has struggled in our industry is that it lacks the context and the guardrails to produce trustworthy results. Albi's competitive advantage is structured data: through Albi Scans, our Xactimate integration, documentation, notes, and more, we have the foundation to train AI on the specific use cases and edgecases that matter. While our competitors are taking data and giving it to the carriers,

we’re pointing the data back to benefit our customers, restorers. What we were missing was the engine, the world-class estimators who define what excellence looks like. That is exactly what Oak Estimates brings."

A Partnership Years in the Making

The relationship between Albi and Alex Dahlgard spans nearly seven years. Dahlgard previously served as generalmanager of Ercolano Cleaning and Restoration, an early and enthusiastic Albi client. After Ercolano was acquired, Dahlgard set out to solve one of restoration's biggest problems, helping contractors collect money and get paid faster, and founded Oak Estimates. The two organizations worked closely together over the following years, frequentlyreferring customers to one another, before formally beginning acquisition discussions in October 2025.

"This was the natural coming together of two teams that share the same vision. I believe deeply in what Albi is building,"said Dahlgard. "We realized there were tremendous synergies between the Oak team and the Albi team. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." 

What This Means for the Restoration Industry

Under the combined organization, Albi's expanded estimating services team will continue onboarding contractors and delivering best-in-class results, with a benchmark of collecting in under 15 days. Concurrently, Albi will build AI tools thatlearn directly from how its world-class estimators work, allowing those estimators to beta-test, refine, and ultimately supervise the technology.

Because Albi's estimators remain on the front line, they will be able to flag changes in carrier requirements and updatesto Xactimate in real time, continuously defining the guardrails of what world-class estimating looks like. This human-in-the-loop model is designed to keep Albi's AI both highly accurate and consistently reliable. The combined expertise of Albi and Oak Estimates will help shape future innovations designed to improve the speed, quality, and consistency of estimating and collections for restoration contractors.

About Albi

Albi is the leading growth engine empowering forward-thinking restoration companies. As the industry's first venture-backed software platform built by restoration professionals, restorers can get more jobs, get paid faster & do more with less. Albi replaces fragmented tools with a single system that runs the entire operation—end to end. We transform restoration companies from labor-bound organizations into tech-enabled enterprises. Learn more at https://albiware.com/book-demo

About Oak Estimates

Founded by Alex Dahlgard, Oak Estimates provides professional estimating and collections services to restoration contractors, helping companies produce accurate estimates and accelerate payment. As part of Albi, the Oak Estimates team continues to serve contractors while informing the development of Albi's AI-powered estimating tools.