The fastest route is the guided demo — it walks you through a real takeoff on sample drawings, step by step, inside the actual tool. Everything below backs that up.
The full tool on a sample drawing set with a built-in, step-by-step coach — snapping, counting by symbol, auto walls & rooms, and a live quote at the end. Nothing saves, so click everything.
Once you’re in the beta, hit ＋ New project, and drop your tender PDFs straight onto the page. Set the scale once per sheet (press S, or click the ⚖ badge) and you're measuring.
On the Projects page use ⇪⇪ Import ALL 1.0 projects — sign in with your old account and every job, drawings included, copies across. Your 1.0 account isn't changed. Rate books import under Rates → ⇪.
Every job follows the same four moves.
Press S and pick the drawing scale (or calibrate off a known dimension). Lengths and areas need it; counts work regardless. The ⚖ badge shows what's set.
Create a takeoff item with the ＋ next to a trade — it asks how the item is measured (linear metres, area, count, or grid) and arms the right tool. Marks land in the green-glowing item until you stop. Right-click an item → ⚙ Properties for AFFL, dimensions and presets (duct / signage / glass).
In the takeoff panel, the To Take tab accepts a pasted list — one line per item as Trade : Item : Unit. Hit 🎯 on a line to create the item and start measuring it; lines tick off as you go.
The Quote tab pulls your measured quantities straight in (⇩ Sync), prices them from your rates library, and exports a client-ready PDF. Changes after you issue the quote become variation lines automatically.
Press Y, drag a tight box around one symbol on the drawing, and the tool finds the rest — including rotated copies. You vet the matches before anything is placed.
The Docs tab keeps a live drawing register — numbers, revisions, a revisions × issues matrix, transmittals, and an index that finds every call-up ("see detail 3/A-201") and turns it into a jump-link on the sheet.
New issue lands? Compare Changes renders old and new sheets over each other so the differences glow — no more spot-the-difference at 2am.
Share creates a read-only link: the marked-up drawings and quantities, no login needed, revocable any time. (Sign in first — the link serves the cloud copy of the job.)
Export → SketchUp 3D (JSON) carries every item's AFFL, dimensions and drawing position into SketchUp via our free import plugin — one coloured tag per trade.
Signed in, projects save to your account and follow you between computers. If a teammate has a job open, you'll see a read-only banner instead of silently overwriting each other.
The whole toolset is one key away.
Open the guided demo and take off a real sample project — 15 minutes, no sign-up.
▶ Launch the live demo