TakeoffIQ Plumbing™ prices a house's plumbing from the plans: open the PDF, check the fixtures on the plan, and send the proposal. This manual covers every screen, button, setting and report. In the program, type in Where is…? at the bottom left to jump straight to any of them.
Sign up and your free trial
Where: plumb.takeoffiqai.com/signup
- Go to plumb.takeoffiqai.com and choose Start a free trial.
- Type your company name, your e-mail and a password (at least 8 characters), tick that you agree to the terms, and press Start free trial.
- Your free trial is 14 days or 3 houses, whichever comes first. No card is needed.
- The bar at the bottom right always shows your plan, the days and houses left, and links to Billing and Sign out.
Set your hourly rate (first sign-in)
Where: Shown the first time you sign in; any time later on the Estimate tab
- The first time you sign in, TakeoffIQ asks Set your hourly rate. The numbers are samples until you change them.
- For the plumber, helper and foreman, type Your cost per hour and what You charge per hour.
- Share of hours % is how the hours on a job split between them. Leave helper and foreman at 0 if you work alone.
- Press Next: material prices, then check the main material prices against what your supply house charges you (before tax), and press Use these prices.
- Press Later to skip; the sample rates are used until you set yours.
Jobs home
Where: Top left: ← All jobs
- ← All jobs brings you here from any job.
- + New takeoff opens a plan PDF and starts a new job (see Start a new takeoff).
- Tap any job to open it. Your jobs are saved to your account, so they open on any computer, tablet or phone you sign in on.
Start a new takeoff (open plans)
Where: Jobs home → + New takeoff
- On the jobs home press + New takeoff and pick the plan PDF.
- TakeoffIQ finds the floor plan in the set and opens it. The job name is the file name; change it on the Proposal tab.
- Each new set of plans counts as one house on your plan (fair use is 60 houses a month per trade).
- The job and its plan are saved to your account right away.
The plan screen: place fixtures
Where: Open any job
- Pick a fixture in the Add list, press + Place, then tap the plan where it goes.
- Tap a fixture to select it; Remove selected deletes it.
- Move water service and Move sewer: press, then tap where they come in on the lot.
- Water, Drain & vent and Price Check show or hide those layers. Fit, − and + zoom.
Price Check box
Where: Top left of the plan
- Lists every fixture type with how many are on the plan and whether they are priced. Tick a type to show or hide it.
Measure (ruler)
Where: Toolbar → 📏 Measure
- Press 📏 Measure, tap the first point, then the second. The length shows on the plan at the plan's scale.
- It snaps to the center of a fixture when you tap close to one, and otherwise to the nearest wall face: tap just outside a wall for its outside face, just inside for its inside face. Lettering is ignored.
- Square keeps the line straight across or straight up and down. Snap turns snapping off.
- Set scale…: measure a dimension printed on the plan, type its real length (like 24'-0") and press Apply scale. Every measurement after that uses it.
- Clear removes the lines; Done closes the ruler.
Summary
Where: Summary tab
- Fixture count, demand, water and drain sizes, pressure at the farthest fixture, water heater and cost-built price.
- Wet groups shows each bathroom or kitchen group with its fixtures, DFU, WSFU and pipe sizes.
- Job inputs: street pressure, PEX or CPVC, service and sewer length, bedrooms and stories.
Fixtures
Where: Fixtures tab
- Every fixture type: how many on the plan, how many priced, and which rooms.
Pipe sizing
Where: Pipe sizing tab
- Water service and meter loss, then the cold and hot mains segment by segment: WSFU, GPM, size, speed and length.
- Drain, waste and vent: every branch, the building drain, vents and trap arms with their DFU and size.
Water heater
Where: Water heater tab
- The recommended tank from the peak-hour use, gas and tankless options, and a check of the heater shown on the plans.
Code check (FBC Plumbing 8th Ed.)
Where: Code check tab
- What to fix and what to verify: service size, pressure, water/sewer separation, drain size, cleanouts, venting, water heater relief and pan, expansion tank and more.
- These are notes to check; nothing is priced from them automatically.
Estimate
Where: Estimate tab
- Cost-built price, Break-even, Your bid and Per fixture.
- Each fixture line has material and underground, rough and trim hours, plus the water heater and the pipe and fittings from the computed lengths.
- Fixtures themselves (toilets, faucets, tubs) are by others unless you add them to the price book.
Fixture schedule
Where: Fixture schedule tab
- DFU, WSFU, trap, supply size and flow limit per fixture.
Your rates & markup
Where: Estimate tab → Your rates & markup
- Labor: Your cost and You charge per hour for the plumber, helper and foreman, and each one's Share of hours %.
- Then Material markup, Sales tax on material, Overhead (added to the price) and Profit (added after overhead).
- The box underneath shows your crew rate and how the price and break-even are worked out. Every change saves at once and updates the estimate.
Price book: material prices and labor hours
Where: Estimate tab → below Your rates
- Every material price and labor hour is editable. Type a new number and it saves.
- Reset price book puts back the starting sample values (a copy of your list is kept; see below).
Supplier price sheets
Where: Estimate tab → Supplier price sheet
- Drop the supply house's file on Drop a price sheet here (or click it to choose): Excel, CSV, PDF, a saved e-mail (.eml) with the sheet attached, or a photo.
- Each line is matched to your materials; sizes must agree, and C (per 100) and M (per 1000) prices are converted. Coils, sticks and boxes are converted to a price per foot.
- You see Your price, New price and the Change, big changes first in red. Untick any line you don't want, or tick keep to lock your price on every later sheet.
- Press Apply ticked prices. Nothing changes before that, and your price list is copied first.
- Lines that didn't match can be added as your own materials. Price sheet history keeps every sheet and every copy of your price list; Restore this copy puts an old list back.
Company Setup (your logo and terms)
Where: Proposal tab → Company Setup
- Open Company Setup at the top of the Proposal tab.
- Fill in company name, license number, address, phone and e-mail, choose your Logo (PNG or JPG), and your standard payment terms and exclusions.
- It goes on every proposal and report from this program and is saved with your account.
Proposal
Where: Proposal tab
- Fill in Customer and job: customer, company, address, phone, e-mail, job address, date and the price. The price starts at your bid (or the cost-built price).
- Change this job's payment terms, what's not included, and notes.
- Download PDF saves the proposal with your logo; Copy text copies it to paste into an e-mail. The preview below shows exactly what they'll get.
Outputs: takeoff list, material list, marked plans
Where: Outputs tab
- Takeoff list: everything counted and measured, as PDF or Excel.
- Material list: quantities only, no prices, for the supply house: PDF, Excel or Copy for e-mail.
- Marked plans: a PDF of the plan with every counted item marked in color and a key with the counts, so anyone can check the count.
- Open Proposal goes to the Proposal tab.
Rough-in layout (dimensions for the installer)
Where: Rough-in tab
- Step 1: pick Front or Back, press Set, and tap just outside that wall; it snaps to the outside face.
- Step 2: pick Left or Right, press Set, and tap just outside that side wall.
- Every toilet, lav, tub, shower, sink, washer box, water heater and hose bibb fills in from the takeoff, plus the water service and sewer exit.
- Step 3: anything not on the plan shows a Place button; you can also add your own point (Other) or Move any point.
- Check scale: tap both ends of a dimension printed on the plan and type its length; the sheet then shows Scale checked.
- Download PDF gives page 1 with the plan, numbered points and dimension lines, and page 2 with the list. Copy text is for texting the installer.
- All dimensions are from the outside face of the wall to the center of the pipe or box, scaled from the plan. Check them against the printed dimensions before the slab is poured.
Duplexes and townhomes (attached units)
Where: + New takeoff → tick several sheets; jobs home → Buildings
- Press + New takeoff and pick the plan set. When it has several pages, Which sheets? shows them all; tick the sheet for each unit type (it reads "Unit A", "Unit B" off the sheets).
- Leave These are the units of one building ticked and give the building a name, then press Open. Each sheet becomes its own takeoff.
- Count each unit's plan like a house. The building is listed under Buildings on the jobs home; press Open.
- In the building, set How many of each unit (a mirrored unit counts as the same unit), and type Your price per unit if it differs from the cost-built price.
- Add Shared items priced once for the building (water meters and service, building sewer).
- The building total and the average per unit show at the bottom. Proposal PDF makes one proposal for the building, unit by unit, with your logo and terms; Copy text copies it.
Plans and billing
Where: Bottom right bar → Billing
- Plumbing: $99 a month or $990 a year. All three trades (Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing): $179 a month or $1,790 a year. One house: $29.
- Plans include unlimited houses for your own company's bids, fair use 60 houses a month per trade.
- Press Billing in the bar at the bottom right, choose a plan and pay securely with Stripe. Manage card, invoices or cancel on the Billing page changes your card, shows invoices or cancels.
- If you cancel, your saved jobs still open; new houses need a plan.
Sign in, sign out, password
Where: Bottom right bar → Sign out; sign-in page
- Sign in at plumb.takeoffiqai.com/login with your e-mail and password.
- Sign out is in the bar at the bottom right.
- Forgot your password? Use Forgot password on the sign-in page; we e-mail you a link.
Help and "Where is…?"
Where: Bottom left: ? Help
- Type in Where is…? at the bottom left of every screen (for example "labor rate") and pick a result: Go there jumps to it and highlights it.
- Press ? Help to ask how to do something; answers come from this manual.
- Something wrong? Press Send to TakeoffIQ in Help. It sends your note and a picture of the screen to the TakeoffIQ development team; you'll hear back as soon as it's looked at.
- Or e-mail homes@takeoffiqai.com.