TakeoffIQ Electrical™ prices a house's electrical from the plans: open the PDF, check the devices 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: electric.takeoffiqai.com/signup
- Go to electric.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 Price book tab
- The first time you sign in, TakeoffIQ asks Set your hourly rate. The numbers are samples until you change them.
- For the electrician, 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.
Check your main material prices
Where: First sign-in, step 2; any time: Price book tab → Check main material prices
- Change any price that doesn't match your supply house (before tax), then press Use these prices.
- To update many prices at once, drop the supplier's price sheet on the Price book tab instead (see Supplier price sheets).
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.
- Set each job's status (Counting, Ready to send, Sent, Won, Lost). The cards at the top add up what is out for bid and what you clear if they all hit.
Start a new takeoff (open plans)
Where: Jobs home → + New takeoff
- On the jobs home press + New takeoff and pick the plan PDF (or a zip of PDFs).
- TakeoffIQ finds the electrical sheet 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
Where: Open any job
- Every counted device is a colored dot; a red ring means it is priced in the bid. A dashed ring with +code was added for code and isn't on the plans.
- Tap a dot to remove it. To add one, press + next to its kind in the Priced check box, then tap the plan where it goes.
- Undo takes back the last add or remove. Detect devices looks over the sheet again.
- Use −, + and Show all to zoom. The menus (File, View, Takeoff, Circuits, Pricing, Reports) hold the same commands.
Priced check box
Where: Top left of the plan
- Lists every kind of device with the count This sheet and on All sheets.
- Tick or untick a kind to show or hide its dots; All and None do every kind at once.
- Dots on the plans vs priced in the bid must match; anything in red was counted but not priced (or the other way round).
- Price Check: ON/OFF at the top right shows or hides the whole layer; Circuits shows the wiring runs.
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 device 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.
Estimate
Where: Estimate tab
- Cost-built price: material with tax, markup, labor at your rate, then overhead and profit if you set them.
- Market range is a $/SF check from the square footage.
- Type Your bid; You clear at your bid shows what's left after material and labor at your break-even rate (and overhead).
- The table lists every line with quantity, material and labor hours.
Circuits & wire
Where: Circuits & wire tab
- Every circuit with its breaker, cable, devices and feet of cable, routed by the circuit rules and the ceiling height.
- Change the Ceiling height if the plans differ; the wire lengths follow.
- The cable summary gives feet and 250 ft rolls by size.
Panel schedule
Where: Panel schedule tab
- The 42-space panel filled in from the circuits: load, breaker type and cable for each space.
- The order line at the bottom counts dual-function, standard and 2-pole breakers and the SPD.
Code check (NEC 2020 + FBC)
Where: Code check tab
- Lists what to fix, what to verify and what passes: 20A circuits, AFCI and GFCI, receptacle rules, surge protection, outdoor disconnect, smoke and CO alarms and more.
- These are notes to check against the plans and your inspector; nothing is priced from them automatically.
Your rates & markup
Where: Price book tab → Your rates & markup
- Labor: Your cost and You charge per hour for the electrician, 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: Price book tab → below Your rates
- Every material price and labor hour is editable. Type a new number and it saves.
- Restore defaults puts back the starting sample values (a copy of your list is kept; see below).
Supplier price sheets
Where: Price book 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 per house. 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 layout 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.
- The island receptacles (pipe stub-ups), the wall behind the refrigerator, disposal, dishwasher and the panel feed fill in from the takeoff. Untick the panel if it's on an outside wall.
- 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 (meter center and unit feeders, house panel, site lighting).
- 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
- Electrical: $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 electric.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.