What is a plan takeoff?
Measuring the quantities for a job straight off the drawing instead of off a tape measure and a notepad: areas for flooring, tile and paint, lengths for walls and trim, counts for fixtures and outlets. In Estiquik the measurements land on the estimate as line items with the quantity filled in. The help centre walks through it.
Does it work on a photo or a scan of the drawing?
Yes. Click two ends of a dimension you know and type its length, and everything on the sheet is measured from that — a phone photo of a drawing works the same way as a PDF. What a scan can't do is the automatic parts: reading the scale from the title block and finding device tags need a PDF from drawing software, because a scan has no text layer.
How accurate is it?
As accurate as the drawing and the line you trace. On a real permit set, rooms traced to the finished wall faces came within a few percent of the areas printed on the drawing — and the difference was the closet and which wall face was traced, not the tool. Device counts matched the drawing's tags exactly. Pick the longest dimension you can trust for the scale: a mistake over a 2 ft door is four times worse than the same mistake over an 8 ft one.
My area doesn't match the square footage printed on the plan.
Usually both are right and they measure different things. A printed room area normally excludes the closet, and a finished basement often has a new stud wall inboard of the foundation — tracing the concrete adds close to a foot of width. For flooring you want the finished floor you'll actually cover, room plus closet to the finished faces, which is usually a little more than the number on the plan.
Does the takeoff price the job?
No. A takeoff measures the job; the estimate prices it. Each measurement lands with the quantity filled in and the price blank, ready for Fill prices from your price list or the regional rates on the template. A takeoff that also invented prices would be guessing twice.
Which plan includes plan takeoff?
Pro and Crew. Pro is $29.99 a month or $299.99 a year in US dollars (CA$34.99 or CA$349.99 for Canadian accounts), and the takeoff sits alongside estimating, invoicing, e-signature, contracts, change orders, expenses and QuickBooks sync. There is no separate takeoff licence and no per-seat charge. All plans are on the pricing page.
Can it count outlets, pot lights and smoke alarms for me?
On a PDF from drawing software, press Find tags: Estiquik lists every tag on the sheet, what it means according to the legend, and how many there are, and one click drops a marker on all of them. Tags sitting in the legend or the title block are skipped and the row tells you so. Symbols with no tag, and anything on a scan, are counted by clicking — same as by hand, but the count is on the estimate.
Does it handle drywall and insulation properly?
Yes. Trace each wall once as a length, give the item a wall height, and it becomes square feet. Sides of the wall says whether the trade covers one face or both: a partition is boarded both sides, a foundation wall one, insulation always one. Round up to 32 and tick Count in sheets to order 4×8 board in whole sheets.
Metric or imperial?
Both, on the same set. The scale dialog takes feet and inches in separate boxes, or the whole thing typed as 9' 10", or metres, or millimetres — and reads back what it understood before you commit. Careful with decimals: 9.10 means nine point one feet, and Estiquik asks whether you meant 9'-10".
Can I try it without signing up?
Yes. The live demo opens a sample basement plan already scaled, with the rec room and the pot lights measured. Draw on it, add items, send them to the demo estimate — nothing is saved beyond your own browser. Or book 30 minutes and bring a drawing from a job you're quoting.
