How calibration works
The feedback loop that makes DarkBird different: finished jobs quietly correct the cards that mis-estimated them.
DarkBird compares every Install Card's estimated hours against the actual hours logged on completed projects and computes a per-card multiplier. A multiplier of 1.3 means that card's estimates run 30% low.
That multiplier is applied automatically when the AI recommends cards during an interview — you do not have to remember which cards run hot. The Estimate tab's confidence badge also factors in how many of an estimate's cards have real calibration data behind them.
Post-job card updates
After projects are reviewed and archived, the AI compares estimated vs actual hours per task. When a card consistently runs over or under estimate, a suggestion appears in-app:
- Go to the project review report, the notification bell, or the Inbox
- Review the suggested update (e.g. "Network Cabling runs 20% over — consider increasing hours from 2.0 to 2.4 per run")
- Click Apply to update the master card with one click
Each accepted (or dismissed) review also contributes to your Card Benchmarks — a running average of estimated vs actual hours per card type that the AI uses to validate and calibrate future hour suggestions.
A suggestion that lands within a hair of the current hours (under 0.05h) is treated as calibration confirming your estimate, and resolves itself. You will not be asked to click Approve on a "3h → 3h, held true" result.
Manufacturer overrides compound
A card can carry both a card-level multiplier and a manufacturer-specific override. They stack: a card at 1.2 with a 1.1 override for a given vendor produces 1.32x hours for that vendor's products, not 1.2x.