Tutorial: start a takeoff from the quote's attachments in Simpro
The builder's drawings are already attached to the quote in Simpro. Take them straight from there, choose the pages, and add more pages later from the plan library.
Chapters
What you'll learn
- Start a project that updates an existing Simpro quote
- Take the plans from the quote's attachment folders
- Choose pages, with sheets, sections and scales read for you
- Add another page later from the plan library
Each step below has a ▶ time: it plays the video from that step.
The steps
- New project: under Simpro quote or job choose Update an existing quote and type the Quote #. Its customer and site are used, so you don't choose them. Click Continue to plans.
- In Add the drawings, click From the quote's attachments…. The quote's attachment folders open, with each file's date and size. Click a folder to open it, and the breadcrumb (starting at Attachments) to go back. Only plans are listed: PDFs and images.
- Open the folder with the drawings, tick the plan set and click Add 1 plan. It downloads from Simpro and each page is read, the same as a file you upload.
- Continue to sheets: each page is a drawing, with its Sheet, Title, Section, Scale and Rev read from its title block. Clear unticks every page and Select all ticks them again; untick the pages you don't need yet.
- Click Continue, turn off Run AI takeoff when the board opens if you'll count by hand, and Open board. Each level is its own section, and the header shows the quote (Q-…) the takeoff will update.
- To add a page later, open the Drawings tab: below the sheets, Plan files lists each file with pages not on the board yet. Click Add pages…, tick the pages and click Add to the board.
- The takeoff stays linked to the quote: opening Takeoffs from that quote in Simpro brings you back to it. Nothing is written to Simpro until you update the quote in 3 Update quote.
More to watch
Every tradeEstimators and service teamsDesktop, tablet and phone
Takeoffs in three minutes
A takeoff from plans to a Simpro quote, then a site asset map on a phone. Start here if you're new.
ElectricalEstimatorsDesktop
Price a house's electrical
A whole house, from an empty floor plan to a priced takeoff that says how many devices and how many feet of cable the job needs.
SecurityEstimatorsDesktop
A commercial security install
Cameras, intrusion detection, access control and the panels in an office, with all the low-voltage cabling in its own cost centre.
Fire and safetySurveyors and service techsTablet or phone, on site
A fire and safety survey
A surveyor's first visit to a site: walk the building once, mark each fire asset on the floor plan as you reach it, then create them all in Simpro in one go.
Every tradeEstimatorsDesktop
A revised drawing arrives
Rev B of the lighting plan lands after you've priced Rev A. Swap it in under your takeoff, see exactly what changed, and fix only that.
ElectricalEstimatorsDesktop
Count a fit-out by symbol
Box one downlight and one power point and every match on the plan is counted for you to check, then place banks of switches with one click each.
Fire and safetyEstimatorsDesktop
Price a fire alarm installation
A two-storey unit's fire alarm, counted zone by zone from the designer's layout, with the cable loop and its drops, then handed out as a marked-up PDF with a legend.
ElectricalEstimators and pricing editorsDesktop
Review and price a takeoff
A small lighting and power job priced step by step: labour, a fit time, your company's cable rules, markup, discount, fee and a Simpro price tier.
Interiors and liningsEstimatorsDesktop
Wall linings under different ceilings
Plasterboard and paint by wall area in a fit-out with three ceilings: a 2.7 m office, a double-height foyer and a raked meeting room, with the doors and windows taken out.
Fire and safetyProject managers and service teamsDesktop
As-Built and assets on a job
The install is done: record what went in on an As-Built, then tie every detector, extinguisher and exit sign to an asset on the customer's site in Simpro.









