Features · seven pillars

Everything TakeOn does,
in the order it matters.

The flagship is the property system. Everything else is what makes a takeoff tool genuinely usable for an eight-hour day.

№ 01

The basics, done right

Counts, linear, area, ortho.

↳ Pixel-precise · ortho-snapped · undo / redo

Click to drop a count. Drag to measure a wire run. Snap to ortho when you want a clean rectangle. Trace a region for area.

Scale calibration is one click and one type-in. Once set, every measurement on the page reports in feet (or meters), not pixels.

Undo and redo behave like a real editor — no stuck states, no surprise resets.

№ 02

The flagship

Templates with real properties.

↳ Schema-driven · conditional · sticky · auto-formatted labels

Templates are reusable definitions of the things you count and measure. Each one has its own custom properties — wire type, gauge, circuit, fixture model, mounting style, anything you want.

Value lists keep input consistent. Conditional properties hide fields that don't apply. Sticky properties carry forward to the next placement so you don't re-enter circuit numbers all day.

Bracket-name formatting builds annotation labels from property values automatically — "L-1 [Type A] [277V]" instead of you typing the same string a hundred times.

fig. 03 — properties
TakeOn property panel showing a Lighting fixture template with type, watt, volt, circuit, and mount fields
№ 03

Where TakeOn pulls ahead

Group by anything.

↳ n-dimensional rollups · per-group color overrides

Two annotations with the same template but different property values land in separate groups. Each group gets its own color, its own count, its own running total.

Roll up by template ("all lighting fixtures") or drill in by property ("only Type C, 277V on circuit L-1"). One takeoff supports any breakdown your estimating spreadsheet wants.

No competitor — across open source or commercial — does this. It's the single biggest reason estimators move to TakeOn.

fig. 04 — group rollup drwn TKO · scale 1:1
Takeoffs panel showing three groups: Type A · 42W · L-1 (5 ea), Type B · 32W · L-3 (4 ea), Type C · 60W · L-2 (3 ea)
№ 04

Computer vision and OCR, on a leash

AI that doesn't get in the way.

↳ OpenCV · mupdf · Tesseract · everything reviewable

Find Similar matches one symbol you draw against every instance on the page. Confidence is a slider, false positives dismiss with a click, and nothing lands in the takeoff until you accept the set.

Auto-name a 200-sheet set by dragging a box over one title block — the same extraction runs on every page, and the results land in a preview you edit before any of it sticks. Auto-organize the named pages into folders by prefix when you want.

Note OCR pulls text from any region on the PDF straight into a note. Works on rasterized scans and native PDF text both. Edit it, keep it, scrap it.

№ 05

Start before the set's final

Snapshots. Overlays. Change orders.

↳ Named checkpoints · overlay tint · export diff

Save a named checkpoint before addenda land or change orders come in. Restoring is one click — your current state is auto-saved first, so jumping back doesn't lose work.

When a revised plan arrives, upload it to the same project and overlay it on the old set. Tint each one a different color, drag, lock, and spot what changed in seconds.

Export the takeoff against any checkpoint to compare line-item quantities — Added, Changed, Removed, with exact deltas. Price the change order without redoing the takeoff.

fig. 05 — checkpoints panel drwn TKO · scale 1:1
Project checkpoints panel showing four named snapshots: Before change order #1, After addendum 2, Before addendum 2, Initial bid
№ 06

Where the desktop tools fall down

Two estimators. One takeoff.

↳ Realtime · presence · per-resource sharing · follow mode

Open a project in two browsers and you'll see each other's cursors in real time. Annotations, property edits, page navigation — all live. No saving, no refresh, no "are you in the file right now?"

Share individual projects or plans by link. Per-resource permissions mean you can hand a single plan to a sub without giving them the whole workspace.

Follow another estimator's view to walk a plan together — useful for handoffs, training, and bid-day check-ins.

№ 07

Output

Real-time totals, three levels deep.

↳ Group · page · plan · click-through to source

Every count and measurement updates totals as you go. No "compute" button. No waiting for a recalc.

Totals exist at three levels: per group, per page, and across the whole plan. Click any number to see the contributing annotations.

Export to Excel and PDF report formats is on the active roadmap. The data model already supports the breakdowns; the export UI is what we're working on next.

Last sheet

Stop wrestling with software
older than the iPhone.

Open the app and run a real takeoff in under fifteen minutes — no install, no credit card, no demo call.