Dashboard
?Dashboard — Where to Go FirstShow guide ▾Hide ▴
If this is your first time — do this in order
- Step 1: Set up your prices. In the left menu click Pricing & Brand. At the top choose your market (United States $ or United Kingdom £), then press Load Cadlap cost book so nothing is zero. Add Your Name, Company Name and your logo. (Full details are in the Pricing guide — open this ? button while on that page.)
- Step 2: Come back here and press the gold + New Estimate button. Cadlap then asks what you are creating: a 📐 Quantity Takeoff (measuring only — no pricing anywhere, ends with unpriced documents) or a 💰 Full Estimate (takeoff + pricing + quote). They are two different professional services — pick the one the job needs.
- Step 3: Work through the 4 steps — Site & Market → Scope of Work → Assemblies & Extras → Review. Press Continue at the bottom of each step. The ? button explains each step as you reach it.
- Step 4: Save it at the end, and it appears in the table on this page.
Reading this page day to day
- You can tag any service with an Area/Phase (e.g. Phase-1, Kitchen, Level 2) in Step 2 — it prints in the AREA column of QTO documents.
- The four cards at the top: Pipeline Value = total of quotes sent but not yet decided · Accepted Value = work you won · Win Rate = accepted ÷ (accepted + rejected) · Avg Estimate = your typical job size.
- The table lists every saved project: client, market, status and totals. Takeoff-only projects carry a purple TAKEOFF badge and show “—” instead of prices.
- Use the filter buttons (All / Estimates / Invoices / Accepted) and the search box (client name, address or REF code) to find anything quickly.
- Press 🖨 Print (top right of the table) to print the whole register with totals.
What each row button does
- Edit — reopens that estimate in the 4-step wizard so you can change it.
- Duplicate — makes a copy with a new REF; the fastest way to quote a similar job.
- Status pill — click it to cycle: draft → sent → accepted → rejected. This is what feeds your Win Rate.
- Invoice — flips the document between estimate and invoice.
- Delete — removes it permanently (asks first).
If your work was interrupted
- If your internet dropped or the tab closed mid-estimate, a gold Pending estimate card appears above the table. Press Resume to continue exactly where you stopped, or Discard to throw it away. Nothing is lost — your typing is saved automatically every couple of seconds.
💡 Draft and rejected estimates are removed automatically after 2 months; sent and accepted ones are kept permanently.
Pipeline Value
—
Sum of open premium quotes
Accepted Value
—
Signed & accepted work
Win Rate
—
Accepted ÷ decided quotes
Avg Estimate
—
Premium tier average
✉️ Please confirm your email. We sent a link to . Until it's confirmed we can't send you password resets or job documents.
Estimate Accuracy
—
Record actuals on closed jobs to see this
Saved Estimates
🚀
New to Cadlap? Follow the walkthrough
Set up prices → build your first estimate → send the PDF. Takes about 10 minutes.
⏳
Pending estimate — unsaved work recovered
Your last session was interrupted. Continue where you left off.
| Client / Project | Market | Status | Basic | Premium | Actions |
|---|
Draft and rejected estimates are automatically removed after 2 months. Sent and accepted estimates are kept permanently.
New estimatedraft
Client—
LeadUnassigned
Ref No—
Created—
Quote total
—
1Estimate Details
2Plans & Takeoffs
3Costings & Extras
4Quote & Approval
Estimate Details
Ref ------Client Details
Shown on the quote and used for online approvalNo lead linked
Work Location & Market
?Step 1 · Site & Market — Step by StepShow guide ▾Hide ▴
What to fill in
- Country / Market — United States or United Kingdom. Choosing UK switches everything to £, 20% VAT and metric (m² / m) automatically.
- State (or Region for the UK) — all 50 US states plus DC are listed.
- City — about 1,200 US and 120 UK cities. Selecting a city sets two things for you: the market cost index (shown under the box, e.g. “1.08× baseline” — it scales every price up or down for that location) and the local tax rate.
- City not in the list? Choose “Other city (type it in)…” at the very bottom of the list, then type the name. It uses the state’s cost index and tax, and your typed name prints on every document.
- Property address — appears on the quote.
- Bedrooms / Bathrooms — use the − and + buttons; used for context and templates.
- Measurements — switch between sq ft / ln ft and m² / m at any time.
- Tax % — prefilled from the city; type over it if your local rate differs. Under it, choose the tax basis: On materials only (US default — most states do not tax labour) or On total (UK default — VAT on the whole contract). The basis prints on every quote line, e.g. “Sales Tax 8.25% on materials”.
Good to know
- Service basis: Cadlap is desktop estimation only — nobody visits the property. In Step 2 you can attach notes and photos to any service; they print on the quote as the record of what your price assumes. This protects you if site conditions turn out different.
- The REF code in the top right (e.g. M5FJ9D) is this estimate’s unique reference — it prints on every document.
When you are done
- Press Continue → at the bottom right to go to Step 2. Your work saves itself as you type.
💡 The live totals on the right update the moment anything changes — keep an eye on them as you build the estimate.
Desktop estimation only — no site visit is carried out. Attach notes & photos to any service in Step 2; they print on the quote as your record of assumed conditions.
Documents
Permits, site photos, plans, contracts · saved with this estimateClick to upload, or drop files here · up to 4 MB each, 25 MB per estimate
Estimate Versioning
Scope of Work
0 selected?Step 2 · Scope of Work — Step by StepShow guide ▾Hide ▴
Choose ONE of these four ways to start (you can mix them)
- 1. AI Scope Builder (fastest) — type the job in normal English, e.g. “repaint 1200 sq ft, vinyl plank 400 sq ft, replace 2 toilets and 1 vanity”, then press Build my scope. Services switch on with quantities filled in. Always check what it selected.
- 2. Quick Templates — press Kitchen Refresh, Bathroom Reno, Basement Finish, Whole Home or Exterior Package to load a complete starting scope, then adjust. Clear All empties everything.
- 3. Quantity Takeoff (most accurate for room work) — see below.
- 4. Manual — scroll the service cards, click any card to switch it on, type the quantity in its box, and add notes or photos.
Using the Quantity Takeoff (blue card)
- Press + Add room and fill the row: room name, Length, Width, Height, number of Doors and Windows.
- The table instantly computes Floor, Ceiling, Walls (net) — wall area minus standard door/window openings — and Perimeter. Add as many rooms as you like; the TOTALS row adds them up.
- Set the Waste factor (default 10%) — it is added automatically when quantities go into your scope.
- Look at the four material cards that appear: drywall sheets, paint gallons, primer gallons and flooring boxes, already including waste.
- To use a measurement: choose the target service in the dropdown next to it (e.g. Floors → Vinyl Plank Floor) and press Apply. The quantity is added to that service in your scope.
- Press 🖨 Print Takeoff Sheet for a branded measurement document you can keep or send.
Measuring from a drawing (purple Plan Takeoff card)
- Upload plan — choose a floor-plan image (PNG/JPG). From a PDF, take a screenshot of the plan page first.
- 📏 Set scale — click the two ends of a dimension you already know (for example a wall labelled 12 ft or 3600 mm), then type that real length and press Set. Everything you measure afterwards is now to scale.
- 📐 Length — click along a wall or run, then press ✔ Finish shape. Gives linear feet/metres.
- ⬛ Area — click each corner of a room (any shape, including L-shapes), then ✔ Finish shape. Gives square feet/metres.
- 🔢 Count — click each door, outlet or fixture on the plan; each click adds one and is numbered on the drawing.
- ✨ AI Auto-Read — the AI reads room names and dimensions off the plan and lists them for you. Every AI value is marked unverified (gold) and cannot be applied until you press Verify after checking it against the drawing. This is deliberate — no measurement tool is ever 100% correct (E&OE).
- For each measurement in the list: edit the name or value if needed, choose the target service, then press Apply →. Your waste factor is included.
Before moving on
- Check the counter at the top right of the panel (“x selected”) and the live totals on the right.
- Add notes and photos to anything unusual — they print on the quote and protect you later.
- Press Continue →.
💡 Not sure a quantity is right? Type over it. Every number from every tool stays editable.
AI Scope BuilderAdvanced
Describe the job in plain English — Cadlap selects services and quantities for you. Works offline with smart keyword matching; uses AI when available.
Fills every step for you (scope, quantities, hardware, extras, notes, duration) and prices it from your cost book. Review, then send.
Tip: include quantities — “paint 800 sq ft”, “3 interior doors”.
Quantity TakeoffType it in
Use this when you have no drawing, or the room is simple enough to type. Enter each room's dimensions — floor, ceiling, wall areas and perimeter are computed with door/window deductions, then applied straight into your scope. If you have plans, use Plan Measure below instead and measure off the drawing. Units follow your imperial setting.
| Room | Length | Width | Height | Doors | Wind. | Floor | Walls (net) | Perim. |
|---|
Waste factor %
Floors →
Walls →
Ceilings →
Perimeter →
Doors →
Plan Measure — Upload & MeasureNew
Upload as many plans as you need — several images and several PDFs at once; every page of a PDF becomes its own sheet tab. Set the scale per sheet from one known dimension, then measure areas, lengths and counts straight off the drawing — or let AI read the rooms and verify them yourself. Each sheet keeps its own scale and measurements. Clicked measurements are never perfectly round, so 🧲 Snap pulls each side onto the nearest drawn dimension (19.95 ft → 20′-0″) and ✎ Type dim lets you type the dimension printed on the plan — recorded as typed from drawing, the highest-confidence source, and reflected in your accuracy class. Pick a Measure as type from your 🧰 Tool Chest — a CAD-style layer manager with on/off, lock, indexed colour, linetype, lineweight, transparency, CSI division, waste, roof pitch, slab/excavation depth and linked service, tick Scale verified once you have checked it against a second dimension, and use 📊 Roll-up to see every sheet grouped by type, export a quantities-only CSV, or apply all linked measurements to the scope in one click. E&OE — verify before ordering.
📖 How to measure a dimensioned plan — 6 steps
1 · Set the scale on THIS sheet. Press 📏 Set Scale, zoom in first (mouse wheel), click both ends of a dimension you can read, then type that dimension. Feet-and-inches are understood — type 20-8 for 20′-8″.
2 · Check it. Press ╱ Length and trace a different known dimension. The LIVE readout should match the drawing within an inch or two. If it does, press ☑ Scale verified. Every sheet needs its own scale — the tabs are separate drawings.
3 · Choose what you are measuring. Open 🧰 Tool Chest → + Renovation basics once, then pick a type in Measure as (Floor area, Wall area, Skirting, Doors…). The type carries its own colour, CSI division and waste %, and can feed a service automatically.
4 · Measure. ▭ Room = two opposite corners (rectangles only). ⬠ Area = click each corner — use this for L-shaped, angled or any irregular room; ⊾ Ortho squares the corners. ╱ Length = click along a run. 📍 Count = click each item. For Area, Length and Count press ✓ Finish or Enter when done, Esc to cancel — a finishing double-click is never counted. Clicked a corner in the wrong place? ⟲ Undo point (or Backspace) removes the last one, and once the shape is saved you can drag any corner handle to correct it — the quantity updates live. Room still not one shape? Use + region / − region on its row to add a wing or subtract a stair void, island or chimney.
5 · Make the number exact. Clicked measurements are never perfectly round. 🧲 Snap pulls each side onto the nearest drawn dimension automatically (19.95 ft → 20′-0″). Where the plan prints a dimension, press ✎ Type dim on that row and type it — that is the professional method and it is recorded as typed from drawing.
5b · Adjust anything afterwards. Switch to ✋ Pan and click any measurement on the drawing to select it — handles appear and a Properties panel opens with colour, linetype, line width, fill transparency, label on/off, which layer it belongs to, and a comment that travels with it. Delete removes it, ⤢ Zoom to frames it, Esc deselects.
6 · Roll it up. Press 📊 Roll-up to see every sheet grouped by type with waste applied, export a quantities-only CSV (now carrying status, comment and date), or ➜ Apply all linked to push everything into your scope in one click. Click any row to jump to that sheet and zoom straight to the measurement.
Also: ⛶ Full screen gives the plan the whole window (Esc to exit). ⊾ Ortho keeps scale, length and polygon clicks perfectly straight — hold Shift for a free angle. Zoom in and the sheet re-renders sharper each time. Scale, verification and measurements belong to the sheet tab you are on — the tab shows ✅ verified, 📐 scale set, or 📄 no scale.
Rule of thumb: type in what the drawing dimensions, scale only what it doesn't. On a fully dimensioned permit set you should be typing most of it.
Upload a plan to begin.
—
Properties
🧰 Tool Chest — saved measurement types
A CAD layer manager for your measurement types — display properties on the left, estimating properties on the right. Saved in your library, reused on every project. What do the columns mean?
| On | Lock | Name | Colour | Linetype | LW | Transp. | Kind | CSI div | Waste % | Pitch | Depth | Feeds service | Description |
|---|
📊 Measurements roll-up — all sheets
🤖 AI read these rooms — verify each before adding (AI can misread; you are the check)
⚡ Auto Build — choose which sheets to read
Tick only the sheets with room layouts. Detail sheets, elevations and note pages waste an AI call and add nothing. Everything read still goes through your review before it is applied.
⚡ Auto Build — review what the AI read, correct anything, then press Accept
Rooms below come from every uploaded sheet. Untick anything wrong, fix numbers by typing. Accepting confirms you checked them against the drawings — AI can misread (E&OE).
Floors →
Walls →
Ceilings →
Perimeter →
Room Calculator
×
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0
Assemblies, Hardware & Extras
?Step 3 · Assemblies, Openings & Extras — Step by StepShow guide ▾Hide ▴
Assemblies (gold button) — material + labour + waste in one line
- Pick an assembly from the dropdown, e.g. Painted Wall (2 coats + primer) or Drywall — Hang, Tape & Finish.
- Type the quantity (usually straight from your takeoff totals) and press +.
- The price is built automatically: material components × waste × your Material Library costs × the city index, plus crew-hours × your crew rate.
- In the list below you can change the quantity, add a note that prints on the quote, or delete the line.
- + Build your own assembly (link under the list): name it, choose the unit, set units per crew-hour and waste %, then add one or more materials with the quantity used per unit of work, and press Save assembly. It joins your assembly list permanently.
Openings — Doors & Windows by Size (blue card)
- Choose the type: interior door, exterior door, French/patio, sliding, window, bay window or skylight.
- Choose the size — standard width × height options are listed (30″×80″, 36″×48″ and so on; shown in millimetres if you are in metric). For anything unusual pick Custom size… and type width and height.
- Set the quantity for that size and check the price per unit (prefilled from market defaults — change it to your supplier price).
- Press +. Repeat for every different size — e.g. 4 doors at 30″×80″ and 2 at 36″×80″ are two separate lines.
- Each size prints as its own line on the quote and in the materials summary. Quantity, price and a note stay editable in the list.
- Need a type that is not listed (garage door, roof light…)? Use + Add your own opening type under the list.
Preliminaries & Site Setup (gold card)
- Set Contract time in weeks — this drives everything below it.
- The default items (working foreman, site welfare, plant hire, skips) update automatically with the weeks. Edit any rate, or press + Add preliminary item for site-specific costs.
- Each item is marked Labour or Material and totals at the bottom.
- These costs are spread invisibly across the client’s prices — exactly how a professional quantity surveyor presents an estimate.
Hardware, custom jobs and materials
- Units & Hardware — type counts for doors, fixtures, appliances (use the search box to filter the list).
- Custom Jobs — anything non-standard: name + price.
- Materials — one-off material costs: name + price.
- Demolition, Allowances, Alternates & Exclusions (orange card): pick the type, describe it, set qty/unit/price and an optional Area/Phase tag. Demolition prices as 100% labour into Division 02; Allowances are included budget sums for undecided selections; Alternates print with their own price but are NOT in the total; Excluded items print at $0 marked “NOT INCLUDED IN PROPOSAL”.
- Then press Continue →.
💡 Everything here is priced with your city’s cost index and your margins automatically — you never have to do that maths yourself.
AssembliesAdvanced
One line bundles material + labor + waste, priced together from your material library and crew rate. Pick an assembly, enter the quantity.
+ Build your own assembly
Openings — Doors & Windows by SizePro
Every size, individually: pick the type, choose a standard size (width × height) or enter a custom one, set the count. Each size prints as its own line on the quote and materials summary.
+ Add your own opening type
Demolition, Allowances, Alternates & ExclusionsPro
The renovation-specific line types professionals use: Demolition (labour-only removal of existing work, Division 02), Allowances (budget sums for undecided selections — included in the total), Alternates (optional add-ons priced separately — not in the total), and Excluded items shown at $0 for transparency.
Demolition prices as 100% labour. Alternates and Excluded items never change your totals.
Preliminaries & Site SetupPro
Supervision, welfare, plant and skips — the running costs of the site, driven by contract time. These are spread invisibly across every client price, exactly like a professional QS estimate.
Contract time
weeks
| Item | Type | UoM | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|
?Step 4 · Review, Documents & Save — Step by StepShow guide ▾Hide ▴
Check the numbers
- Compare the two cards: Basic Tier and Premium Tier. Each shows subtotal, tax and total.
- Scroll to Technical Breakdown to see every single line, its quantity, and both prices. Crew-hours show next to lines that use labour costing.
- Press CSI view above the table to regroup every line into CSI MasterFormat divisions (Division 03 Concrete, 09 Finishes, 22 Plumbing…) with a subtotal per division — the structure US professionals expect. Press again for the simple trade view.
- Two new rows above the Subtotal show your Labour content and Material content totals for each tier.
- Press 🖨 Print above that table for a printable breakdown.
- Sanity checks — the box above the tier cards tests cost per sq ft, labour share and division balance against your bands, and explains the Accuracy class (ROM / BUDGET / DETAILED / TENDER) shown in the right rail. The class is inferred from the project — measured quantities, verified scale, blank prices, allowances — never picked by hand, and it prints on the quote and Technical Notes.
- Per-line markup — press it to reveal a markup % box on every line. Leave blank to use your normal margin, or type a number to override just that line (it gets a “custom mk” badge).
- Internal margin view — switch it on to see your full cost build-up: cost → builders contingency → preliminaries → overheads & profit → insurance. This is for your eyes only and never appears on client documents.
Produce the documents (one click each)
- Quote — the branded client quotation for that tier.
- PDF — opens the print dialog; choose “Save as PDF” to keep or email it. Both PDFs prints Basic and Premium together.
- 🧾 Materials Summary — every material with stage, unit, quantity, rate and total.
- 📦 Grouped Materials — the same materials merged into one shopping list.
- 📐 Quantified Schedule — all measured quantities with no prices (for tenders, ordering checks and site use).
- 🔒 Cost Summary — internal only: your cost build-up per stage. Never send this to a client.
- 📝 Blank Takeoff Sheet — the most-requested industry deliverable: every line with quantity and unit but empty blue price columns and the legend “Review or input price”, for contractors who price it themselves.
- 📊 BOQ Summary — one page per tier: Material / Labour / Total per CSI division, subtotals and grand total, plus your pricing basis.
- 📄 Technical Notes — the methodology document: project information, drawings used, measurement basis & assumptions, scope summary by division, inclusions, exclusions and pricing basis. Auto-generated from the estimate; override any section in the Professional documents content box above.
- 📌 Assumptions & Qualifications — the standalone assumptions / exclusions / pricing-basis page that accompanies a quotation.
- 📦 Bill of Materials — every material consolidated with Required vs ORDER columns: the required quantity (waste included) is rounded up to real purchase lots — full 4×8 sheets, gallons by coverage, flooring boxes, 16-ft trim lengths, ¼-yard concrete increments — the way suppliers actually sell. Priced at your library rates.
- ✉ Supplier RFQ Letters — one printable Request-for-Quotation page per supplier category (Lumber & Sheet Goods, Paint & Finishes, Flooring, Plumbing Supply…) with your letterhead, the delivery address, the order quantities, and blank price / total / lead-time columns for the supplier to fill. Send them out, compare the returns, buy sharp.
- 🗂 Job Pack (Basic / Premium) — the one-click bundle: client quote + QTO estimate + quantified schedule + materials summary + technical notes + assumptions, each on its own page in a single print/PDF. Sales document and production documents together — hand one file to the client and the same file to the crew.
- ✨ AI spec descriptions — one click writes a professional specification sentence for every line that lacks one (AI when available, otherwise a built-in estimator library) — they print under item names on QTO documents and are editable in Pricing.
- 📋 QTO Estimate (Basic / Premium) — the professional industry format: S#, DWG REF, CSI No, spec descriptions, QTY, UNIT, unit labour / unit material, and total labour / total material per line, grouped by CSI division with subtotals and a three-way grand total (labour + material = total). Fill Drawings & documents used in the Notes panel so it prints in the header.
Get it accepted and save it
- On the quote view, the client can sign on screen (mouse or finger) and press Accept & Sign — the estimate becomes Accepted, with the signature and date printed on the PDF.
- Use the Notes, Inclusions & Exclusions box at the top of this step to state what is and is not covered — the four quick buttons insert standard wording (exclusions, access hours, provisional sums, validity & E&OE). It prints on the client quote.
- Fill in Client name and Job description, then press Save to Dashboard. Each save keeps a revision (up to 20), so you can always go back.
- The payment schedule (deposit / milestone / final) prints on every quote — change the defaults in Pricing & Brand.
💡 Until you press Save, your work is still protected — an interrupted session appears as Pending estimate → Resume on the Dashboard.
Notes, Inclusions & Exclusions
Prints on the client quoteProfessional documents content (Technical Notes, Assumptions, Pricing Basis) — optional, auto-filled if left blank
Basic Tier
—
Total inc. tax · USD
Subtotal—
Sales Tax (0%)—
Total—
Recommended
Premium Tier
—
Total inc. tax · USD
Subtotal—
Sales Tax (0%)—
Total—
Technical Breakdown
| Service | Quantity | Basic | Premium |
|---|
Payment Schedule & Contract Terms
Printed on every quote · the client agrees to these when approving online| Payment stage | % of total | Due when | Amount (Premium) |
|---|
Send to Client & Online Approval
Private link by email · client approves with an e-signature · pays the deposit onlineSave to Dashboard
📊 Job Actuals — what it really cost
When the job is finished, enter the hours and material spend each line actually took. Cadlap compares them with what you estimated,
and after a few jobs starts telling you which services you consistently under- or over-price — your own numbers, not a textbook's.
Nothing here changes the quote the client signed.
🔁 Change Orders & Variations
Extra or reduced work agreed after the client accepted the quote — added walls, moved doors, concealed conditions, spec upgrades.
Each one is priced and signed separately, and the revised contract sum below is what the client actually owes.
Negative amounts are credits (work removed). Change orders never alter the signed original.
📦 Purchase Orders — one per supplier
Materials are taken from your assemblies, takeoff, openings, hardware and custom materials, rounded up to real purchase lots, and split by the supplier set against each material in Pricing → Material Library (unassigned items are grouped by category so you can still send them). Each PO gets a number, a ship-to address and your supplier price where you entered one; otherwise the library cost. Mark them sent / received as the job runs.
BasicUSD
—
PremiumUSD
—
📐 TAKEOFF MODE — quantities only, no pricing
Line items0
Accuracy class—
Market index1.00×
Sales Tax0%
Market Intelligence
Select scope to generate market advice.
📊 Your Calibration — learned from closed jobs
Actual hours and material spend from every job you close, compared with what you estimated. This is the data a bought cost book can never give you: how your crews perform on your jobs.
?Pricing & Brand — Full Setup GuideShow guide ▾Hide ▴
Do these five things once, in this order
- 1. Pricing Market (top of the page) — choose United States · $ or United Kingdom · £. Every table below switches currency. If you later make an estimate for the other country, prices convert automatically.
- 2. Company Brand — enter Your Name (prints as “Prepared by…”), Company Name, contact email, phone and address, and upload your logo (under 2 MB). These appear on every quote and document.
- 3. Margin Engine — drag the sliders: Overhead (your running costs), Profit, Contingency (BC%) for unforeseen work, and a flat Insurance amount. These are folded invisibly into client prices — the client never sees the split. Below them set your default payment schedule (deposit / mid / final — they must total 100%).
- 4. Prices — press Load Cadlap cost book to fill all 176 items with realistic values instantly, then edit the ones you know. Enter BASE cost (what the work costs you) — not the client price.
- 5. Check the warning bar at the top of the page. If it says prices are missing, you have items still at zero.
The five tables and what they do
- Crew Library — your trades and their base hourly rates (GL general labourer, CJ carpenter, EL electrician…) plus a Burden % per crew (payroll taxes, workers’ comp, insurance, benefits). Leave blank to use the Default Labor Burden %. The Loaded / hr column is what every labour calculation actually uses. Add your own with the row at the bottom.
- Sanity-check bands — cost per sq ft / m², labour share and single-division limits. Step 4 compares every estimate against them and warns when something is outside the range.
- Per-service productivity & crew — how many units one crew-hour completes, which crew does it, and a switch to price that service from labour hours instead of a flat rate. The row underneath lets you add a new service together with its productivity and crew in one go (labour costing switched on automatically).
- Material Library — unit costs (paint per gallon, drywall per sheet…) used by Assemblies.
- Services & Scope Pricing — the 48 services shown in Step 2, each with Basic and Premium base cost, a Labour % (how much of the cost is labour — blank uses a smart default; the rest counts as material), and a spec description under the name that prints on QTO documents (e.g. “Two coats acrylic latex over primer, cut-in and rolled”).
- Hardware & Units Pricing — the 40 hardware items shown in Step 3.
The same five controls work on every table
- Rename — click the item name and type. The new name appears everywhere, including on client documents.
- + Add — the row under each table adds your own service, hardware item, material or crew. New services appear in Step 2 immediately; new hardware in Step 3.
- 🔒 Lock — freezes that row’s value so it cannot be changed by accident. Click again to unlock.
- 👁 Hide — removes the item from your estimates without deleting it (the row stays greyed out here, ready to bring back).
- ✕ Delete — only on items you added yourself; it asks for confirmation.
- 🖨 Print — at the top of each table, prints that price list as a branded document.
Saving
- Everything saves automatically about 2 seconds after you stop typing. The Rev counters track how many times you have updated each table. Save now forces an immediate save.
💡 Tip: lock the prices you have carefully researched, and hide the services you never offer — your Step 2 list stays short and fast to use.
Your price tables are empty
Load the Cadlap cost book — ready US/UK rates for every service, unit and material, adjusted to each city automatically — then tune anything you like.
Cost Book — ready local prices
Every new account starts with Cadlap's cost book: installed rates for — services, units and materials, national average for the market above, then multiplied by the city index of each estimate (e.g. New York City ×1.35, Birmingham AL ×0.90) with local sales tax / VAT. Basic = standard-grade, Premium = upgraded spec. Type below to look up what a job will be priced at in a given city, or edit any rate in the tables further down — your edits always win, and closed jobs recalibrate them over time.
| Item | Type | Unit | Basic (national avg) | Premium (national avg) | Basic local | Premium local |
|---|
Pricing Market
All rates below are in US dollars. Estimates for the other market convert automatically (≈ £0.80 per $1).
Company Brand — shown on client quotes & PDFs
Autosaves 2s after changesPNG, JPG, WebP or SVG · max 2 MB
Margin Engine
BC% = contingency · OH&P = overhead + profit · spread invisibly into client prices with preliminariesOverhead10%
Office, vehicles, insurance, admin
Profit15%
Your net margin target
Contingency (BC%)5%
Builders contingency on cost
Insurance (flat)0
Contract works / site insurance
Deposit30%
Due on acceptance
Mid-project milestone40%
Due at rough-in / halfway
Final on completion30%
Auto-balances to 100%
Labor Engine
Optional — cost from crew-hours$
%
Payroll taxes, workers’ comp, insurance, benefits on top of base wage. US typical 25–40%, UK employer NI + holiday + pension typical 20–30%. Verify with your accountant.
When a service's Labor switch is on, its cost = (quantity ÷ productivity) × crew rate, added to material. Set productivity below (units of work per crew-hour).
Cadlap compares every estimate against these ranges and warns when it falls outside. Edit them to your market — these are reasonableness checks, not cost data.
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| Code | Crew | Base rate / hr | Burden % | Loaded / hr |
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| Service | Units / crew-hr | Crew | Use labor costing | Controls |
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Suppliers
Who you buy from · assign them to materials below · purchase orders are built per supplier| Supplier | Contact / email | Phone | Account no. | Supplies (categories) |
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Material Library
Used by Assemblies · city index applies to the library cost · a supplier price is used as quoted (no index)| Material | Unit | Unit cost | Supplier | Supplier price | Controls |
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Services & Scope Pricing
Rev 01Enter your BASE cost (labor + materials). The Margin Engine adds overhead/profit/contingency on top automatically.
| Line Item | Unit | Basic (base cost) | Premium (base cost) | Labour % | Controls |
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Hardware & Units Pricing
Rev 01| Line Item | Unit | Basic (base cost) | Premium (base cost) | Controls |
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?Settings — GuideShow guide ▾Hide ▴
- Your Account — who you are signed in as, your plan, and your details. Change your name or company here; email support to change your sign-in address.
- Change Password — enter your current password and the new one (10+ characters).
- AI & API Key — only needed when the app runs on your own domain; it powers the AI Scope Builder and AI market advice. Leave it empty inside this workspace.
- AI — AI features are included in your plan and metered in credits (a text request is 1, reading a plan drawing is 3). Your usage this month is shown under Your Account. No key is needed.
- Legal — view the full Terms & Conditions every account accepts (estimation-only service, no site visits, E&OE).
- Reset all app data — wipes prices, brand, estimates and accounts on this device. Use it only for a clean start; it cannot be undone.
Your Account
Who you are signed in as, and your plan?
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TRIAL
Danger zone
Deleting your account removes every estimate, plan and setting permanently. There is no undo. Take a backup first.
Get Paid Online
Clients pay the deposit by card from the quote link — money goes straight to youUsed when Stripe is not connected. The client sees a “Pay online” button that opens this link.
Change Password
AI & API Key
Only needed for the optional AI features — 🤖 AI Read Rooms and ⚡ Auto Build. Everything else, including all measuring, snapping, ✎ Type dim, roll-up and every document, works without it. The key is stored in your workspace and sent only to Anthropic; that usage is billed to your own Anthropic account.
Used for the AI Scope Builder and AI market advice. Inside claude.ai this app works without a key. When you host it on your own domain, either paste a key here (it stays in your workspace storage) or — recommended for production — route AI calls through your .NET backend so the key never touches the browser.
Legal
One free trial per customer. Duplicate trial accounts are blocked under the Terms.
Data
Demo password: cadlap123. All data is stored in this workspace. In production this connects to your .NET backend with real accounts.
Erases every estimate, price list and setting in your account. This cannot be undone, so take a backup first.
Leads
Enquiries that are not estimates yet. Convert one when you are ready to price it.| Lead | Job | Source | Status | Added | Actions |
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Material orders
Every purchase order across your jobs. Build them inside an estimate (Step 4 → Purchase orders).| PO | Supplier | Job | Date | Status | Total | Actions |
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Request for quotes
Ask a supplier or subcontractor to price part of a job. The reply goes into the estimate as a sub-quote.Tip: choose a job that already has purchase orders and press Use PO lines to fill this in.
| Request | Job | Sent to | Reply by | Status | Quoted | Actions |
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Clients
Everyone you have estimated for, with their jobs and totals. Details you add here pre-fill new estimates.| Client | Contact | Jobs | Accepted | Quoted value | Last activity | Actions |
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Subcontractors
Trades you bring in · they appear in Request for quotes| Name | Trade | Phone | Notes |
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Communications
Quotes you have sent to clients, and what they did with them.| Quote | Client | Sent | Opened | Status | Amount | Actions |
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Job templates
Ready-made scopes (kitchen refresh, bathroom reno, basement finish…) plus the ones you save yourself.Accounting exports
Each estimate's Technical Breakdown has QuickBooks (IIF) and Xero / QuickBooks Online (CSV) invoice exports, plus Excel.Open any estimate → Step 4 → Technical Breakdown → QuickBooks or Xero CSV. A live two-way sync with QuickBooks Online and Xero is on the Preview features list.
Preview features
What is coming next. Press Notify me and we will email you the day it goes live.Reminders
Follow-ups you do not want to forget. Due ones show a count in the menu.| Reminder | Job | Due | Actions |
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