The engine reads the sheet the way you would: legend first, then the symbols. Give it the same sheet you would hand a new estimator.

• Send the PDF, not a photo. A phone photo of a plan on the ute seat loses the small symbols and the legend text.
• The electrical layout sheet with its legend. If the set has a separate legend sheet, include it in the same upload.
• One job per upload. A full tender set is fine, but mixing two jobs in one file mixes two counts.
• Scale helps the cable runs. A scale bar or a noted scale on the sheet lets the run lengths come through.

From the drawing PHAZED pulls out the points and fittings in the legend (GPOs, switches, lights, data, exhaust, smoke alarms and the rest), counts each one on the sheet, and picks up the cable runs it can see.

Every count becomes a line: item, quantity and a rate. The rate is yours (chapter 03), never a guess. Anything it is not confident about is flagged on the estimate so you look at that line first. A run takes a few minutes; the estimate lands in My Estimates when it is done.

What it does not do: it does not read your mind on site conditions, it does not know what is existing versus new unless the drawing says so, and it does not price what is not drawn. That is what the Notes box and your own edits are for.

Open Settings once and fill it in properly. Every run after that uses these numbers:

• Labour rate and markup: what each line is priced at.
• Minimum fee: the floor for small jobs.
• Quote validity (days), payment terms and bank details: printed on the PDF quote.
• Business name, ABN, phone, email, address, logo: the header of every quote you send.

Change a rate and the next run uses it. Existing estimates keep the numbers they were priced at, so a quote you sent last month does not move under you.

Open an estimate with View / Edit. The drawing sits at the top (add the link with Change link if it is not there), the lines sit below it.

• Read the flagged lines first. That is where the engine was unsure. Fix the quantity or the item and move on.
• Every line is editable. Quantity, rate and item name. Add a line for anything not drawn (the temporary board, the rock, the trench) and delete what does not belong.
• Difficulty (new build, renovation, and so on) is on the estimate; set it so your records stay useful.
• Notes: put your site assumptions here while they are fresh. They print with the quote.
• Save a revision before a big change so you can get back to the original (chapter 09).

Every change saves on its own. If a save is refused you get a red message, not a silent loss.

Download the PDF from the estimate and send it with your quote. Then keep the status honest: Draft → Sent → Accepted or Declined → Invoiced. The status column in My Estimates and the dashboard funnel follow it, so Quotes out and Acceptance rate on the dashboard mean something.

Link the estimate to a Customer (Customers page) and the customer card shows every job you have quoted them and the total.

A double GPO is a mech, a plate, a length of cable and the minutes to fit it. Build that once as an assembly and every estimate can use it instead of four separate lines.

• Start from the starter assemblies and change the components and minutes to how you actually do it.
• Duplicate an assembly to make a variant (a weatherproof GPO, a 15 A outlet).
• Components carry labour minutes and material cost, so the price is built up the way a real job is.

Import a supplier CSV on the Price File page: pick the file, map the SKU, description, unit and cost columns, import. Large files go in batches of 500 rows so a slow connection does not time out.

Importing the same supplier again replaces that supplier’s old list, so re-import when the price book changes rather than editing rows one by one.

Variations sit under the estimate: description, amount, and a status of proposed, approved or rejected. Approved variations add to the contract value used by the claims.

Progress claims are numbered on the estimate with the period, percent complete, claimed to date, this claim and retention, and each one prints as its own document.

Save a revision with a label (for example before the builder’s changes). Later, pick any two revisions and the portal lists what was added, removed and changed line by line, with the quantities and rates before and after.

Shed habit: when the builder issues a revised drawing, save a revision, upload the new sheet as a new estimate, and compare the two counts before you reprice.

Six calculators from the AS/NZS 3000 reference formulas: voltage drop, maximum demand, cable size / current-carrying capacity, conduit fill, motor full-load current and Ohm’s law. Useful on the tools and when a line on the estimate looks wrong.

They are indicative. Check the standard and the manufacturer data before you rely on a figure.

Invite your estimator or office from the Team page. Roles: owner (everything), estimator (estimates, customers, assemblies, prices), viewer (read only). Invites are a link you send yourself; revoke or change a role any time.

• Quote off the builder’s PDF. The cleanest counts come from the drawing the builder actually issued, not a screenshot of it.
• Name the project the way you name the job in your books. Six months on, you will search for it.
• Send the itemised sheet with the quote. A builder trusts a count they can see, and it answers the why that price phone call before it happens.
• Put site assumptions in Notes before you forget them. Access, existing switchboard, who supplies the fittings.
• Use the Blueprint mark-up. Drop a pin on anything you counted, added or are unsure of, so the next person opening the estimate sees where the number came from.
• If a symbol is read wrong, fix the line and tell Kade. Every example helps the next build of the engine, and it is a real sparky reading your message.