Takeoffs from plans

This video shows plan takeoffs: adding a plan to a quote, setting its scale, measuring lengths, areas and counts, reading the totals, and sending the quantities into the quote with Add to quote.

Add the plan

Open the quote in the builder and go to its last step, Quote. Click Drawings, then Add drawings, and pick the plan's PDF. Each page of the PDF becomes its own page here. A picture of a plan works too.

The studio

Each page has Mark up and Takeoff. Click Takeoff to open the page in the studio, ready to measure. The switch at the top moves between Markup and Takeoff, the arrows change pages, and Done closes it. Drag to move around the plan.

Set the scale

Each page needs its scale first. Click Set scale, then click both ends of something whose length you know, like a dimension written on the plan. Type its feet and inches, and click Set scale. The scale shows the way plans write it, like a quarter inch to the foot.

Items

Now add what you'll measure. Click Add item and start from a common item, like Countertop, or name your own. Length, Area or Count sets the unit: linear feet, square feet or each. Set the waste percent. Under On the quote, keep a custom line or pick a Price Book item in that unit.

Length and area

Pick an item, and its tool is picked for you. For a length, click along the run, then double-click or press Enter to finish. For an area, click each corner, and double-click or press Enter to close it. Esc cancels, and Backspace takes back the last point. Each size shows on the plan.

Count and fixes

Count needs no scale: click each sink, outlet or window, then press Enter. To fix a mistake, use the Select tool: click the measurement and press Delete, or press Control Z to undo. Your takeoff saves as you go.

Totals

Each item in the list shows its total on every page, with this page's total under it. The Totals card lists what you measured, and what goes to the quote: the waste added, rounded up to a whole unit. Rename an item or change its waste, and every page follows.

Add to quote

When it's ready, click Add to quote. ECHOPS saves first, then lists each item, its quantity, its line on the quote, and whether it adds or updates that line. An item linked to the Price Book sets that line's quantity. Every other item becomes a custom line with its quantity and unit, and no price.

Sending again

Click Add to quote to confirm, and the lines are on the quote, with its totals and margin updated. Type the custom lines' prices there. Measure more later and send again: the same lines update, and nothing is added twice. A price you typed stays; the quantity comes from the takeoff.

Only for your team

Takeoff marks are your team's working marks. The client's quote link, the PDF, the printout and the portals show the plan and its markups, never the takeoff. Takeoff also works on a project's or a change order's drawings, but Add to quote is only on a quote.

Phones and who

On a phone, you can look over the takeoff and its totals, change items, and add it to the quote; measuring needs a computer or tablet. Owners, admins and members measure and send. Viewers can look but not change anything, and a signed quote stays as it is.

Link your items to Price Book items before you send, so those lines arrive already priced. Next: Purchase orders.