Takeoffs in your browser. Not in a spreadsheet.
Upload the plan set, count and measure by scope, apply your pricing, send the proposal. No install, no license seat, no three-day training course.
Runs on the laptop you already have
The way it works now
You mark up the PDF by hand
Highlighter over every fixture, a tally in the margin, and a hard recount from zero if you lose your place.
Then you retype it into Excel
The counts live in one place and the pricing lives in another, joined by whatever you typed correctly at 10pm.
Then the GC questions a number
And there's nothing to go back to. No record of what you counted, on which sheet, or why the figure is what it is.
Four steps, start to proposal
Upload the plan set
Any PDF, any size. Pick the sheets you're bidding and leave the rest alone.
Draw to calibrate
Trace one known dimension and everything else follows. Works on scanned and reduced prints, where preset scales don't.
How to set the scale on a scanned planCount and measure by scope
Counts, linear feet and areas, each scope its own color, across as many sheets as the job has.
Price it and send it
Unit costs against your quantities, material and labor split out, markup applied. Out as a PDF or a CSV.
What's in it
Scopes that stay separate
Base cabinets, uppers, tops, hardware. Each one counted in its own color and totalled on its own line.
Draw-to-calibrate scale
The only method that survives a scanned print. Set it off a dimension you can read on the sheet.
Linear and area
Wall runs, toe kick, crown, floor area. Polylines for the runs that aren't straight.
Material and labor, split
Two columns against every quantity, so the number you defend is the number you can explain.
Pricing templates
Your unit costs, saved once. The next job of the same type starts already priced.
Out as PDF or CSV
A proposal you can send, or a file that drops cleanly into the spreadsheet you already trust.
Sheet index
What does a full plan set look like in here?
One project holds the whole set. Every sheet keeps its own markers and quantities, and the totals roll up by scope — so the number you send out traces back to a sheet and a marker, not a cell someone typed.
Against what you're using
| PDF markup + Excel | Desktop takeoff software | FastBid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Nothing beyond what you own | Several hundred to a few thousand per seat | Free to start, monthly after |
| Getting started | Already running | Install, license, and a real learning curve | Sign in and upload a plan |
| Depth of features | Whatever you build yourself | Deep — assemblies, databases, integrations | The takeoff and the price. Not more. |
| Machine you can use it on | Any | The Windows box it's licensed to | Any, including the one at the job site |
| Quantities linked to pricing | By hand, every time | Yes | Yes |
| Record of what you counted | The marked-up PDF, if you kept it | Yes | Yes, tied to the sheet and the scope |
You do the takeoff. We do the arithmetic.
FastBid does not detect anything, guess at anything, or find items for you. Every count on the sheet is one you placed, and every measurement is one you drew.
That isn't a limitation we're apologising for. Your quantities carry your liability, and a number you didn't put there is a number you can't defend in a meeting.
- No auto-detect.Nothing gets counted unless you click it.
- No hidden adjustment.Your quantities go into pricing exactly as measured.
- Everything is editable.Delete a point, redraw a line, override any figure.
- Your plans stay yours.Not used to train anything, by us or anyone else.
Pricing
Tiers are set by how many projects you have open at once. Close a job and the slot comes back.
Pro
- Everything in Free
- Pricing and estimating
- Proposal PDF export
- Pricing templates
Business
- Everything in Pro
- Up to 5 users
- Shared pricing templates
- Onboarding session
Questions
Yes, and this is where draw-to-calibrate matters. A scanned print is usually a reduced copy, so its stated scale no longer holds. You trace one dimension you can read on the sheet and FastBid works from that instead.
PDF, including large multi-sheet sets. Pick the sheets you're bidding after upload rather than splitting the file beforehand.
No. It runs in the browser you already have, on whatever machine is in front of you. There's no license tied to one computer.
Yes. Export to CSV and it drops into the workbook you've spent years getting right. Plenty of people do the takeoff here and the pricing there.
Specialty trades doing count, linear and area takeoffs — millwork, low-voltage, drywall, flooring, electrical. If your work involves assemblies and a cost database, a heavier tool will serve you better.
Your projects are private to your account. We don't use uploaded drawings to train models and we don't share them with anyone.
Run one real bid through it.
Two projects free, no card. If it doesn't beat your spreadsheet on the first job, you've lost an afternoon.