For civil estimators
Tender Portal
The checks an experienced estimator runs — applied to every reach, on every job, under every deadline.
What gets checked on every reach
Service crossings
Each crossing flagged with the precaution for that service — for high voltage, dial before you dig, potholing and a supply-authority permit before anyone digs.
Laterals and stubs
Flagged as separate setups that run below main-line production, rather than lost in the length of the main.
Splays
Picked up on the reach they sit on, with CHECK ANGLE raised where no angle is drawn.
Single or multi-cell
Pipe or box, how many barrels, and the width to carry where the drawing leaves it unstated.
Size, class and type
Pipe size and supplier outside diameter, class, joint and bedding, read from the general notes with where each came from.
The specification that governs
Pay width and measurement basis as the chosen specification sets them, and what that specification leaves unstated.
Bracketed second levels
Where a reach carries two levels, the deeper barrel is the one that digs the trench.
Plan sheets are not long sections
A datum check refuses a plan sheet read as a long section — on one real set it removed six phantom reaches.
A workbook that must agree
The quantities workbook recalculates with live formulas, and is refused if it disagrees with the takeoff.
More than 40 kinds of flag a reach can raise Plus pit and whole-job checks. Most apply only where the drawing calls for them. The full list, as at September 2026: Show every check Hide
Every pipe reach
- Validity: missing chainage, reversed chainages, missing levels, invert above the surface, a trench shallower than the pavement, no or unknown pipe size, existing pipe excluded.
- Grade and levels: uphill fall, below the drawn minimum, below self-cleansing, below the council minimum, drawn grade disagreeing with the levels, grade, length and drop that do not reconcile, drop through a pit.
- Length: longer than the pit-to-pit gap, a gap too wide to be a pit, disagreeing with the sheet scale, far longer than the sheet’s typical reach.
- Depth and cover: cover at the shallow end, not at outlets; shoring or benching depth; a surround wider than the trench.
- Pipe and supplier: outside diameters that differ by 30 mm or more between suppliers, flexible-range sizes, barrel count assumed single.
- Scope and site: not in the base bill, service crossings across seven kinds of service, stubs and laterals, splays, superseded and amended designs, multi-cell width not stated.
Box culverts
- What set the box basis, zone compaction, units from the supplier drawings, base slab and sub-base from the structural drawings, varying or unstated slab thickness, assumed wall thickness, structure wider than the trench, grade below self-cleansing.
Pits
- No depth, deeper than 3.5 m, wall mesh over 1.5 m, step irons, type not stated or not in the series, base not dimensioned, deeper than the type allows — and every pit’s size marked as from the schedule, measured, assumed or non-standard.
The whole job
- Surface not established, pit series not identified, pit sizes assumed, specification read but not applied, a completeness audit of every sheet, and a workbook that is refused if it disagrees with the takeoff.
What the takeoff does
- Reads and sorts the set, and says up front whether it can be measured.
- Builds the pipe network reach by reach off the long sections.
- Trench quantities by depth band, bedding to backfill, pavement deductions and pay length.
- Pits by type, with excavation, concrete, step irons and foundation bedding; box culverts; headwalls.
- Lists runs drawn only on plans and keeps them out of the totals.
- Checks the pit schedule against the long sections, and audits every sheet for completeness.
What stays with you
- Saying what sits above each trench — road, footpath, verge or open ground. It is pre-filled where the pit types settle it.
- Choosing the measurement basis and the contract type.
- Working through the flags, and confirming assumed pit sizes.
- The items listed but not measured: reinforcement outside headwall tables, formwork, dewatering, traffic control and service protection.
- Deciding scope for pits drawn but not taken off — and the rates.
Speed
A takeoff in about a minute
The biggest sets we tested took under three, including triage. Page count alone does not decide how long a set takes.
Against a hand takeoff
4,079 m of pipe read, 4,082 m by hand
Excavation within 0.5% on that set; on another, every reach length within 50 mm. On the sets we tested — a small sample, and yours may differ.
No long sections? You still get a takeoff.
A set drawn on plans alone still produces a takeoff, measured off the plan scale. Without levels it carries no depth and is less accurate, and it says so with its own flags — but you are not left with nothing.
Scope today: stormwater drainage (pipes, pits, box culverts and headwalls) to NSW specifications. Quantities, not a price. Other takeoffs follow once drainage is right.
From tender set to quantities
Your numbers
What a month of takeoffs is worth to you
Put in how you work today. The time you still spend checking each takeoff is taken off before anything counts as saved.
Add how long a takeoff takes you now, and how long you would spend checking one, to see the month.
- Hours back a month
- Labour back a month
- Tender plan and credits
- Net a month
Based on your numbers, not a promise. Each takeoff is counted at 3 minutes of waiting, more than the slowest set we tested took including triage; credits past the plan’s monthly allowance are priced at the smallest pack; excludes GST.
How credits work
A quote first
Every run is quoted in credits before you commit. A full takeoff is 25 credits.
25 to start
A one-off welcome bonus of 25 credits when your workspace first takes the Tender Portal.
Monthly credits
Each plan tops up its included credits every month; unused included credits reset. Credits you buy never expire.
Tender credit packs
- 25 credits $25
- 100 credits $89 -11%
- 250 credits $199 -20%
Pricing
Tender Portal plans
Monthly, in AUD, excluding GST. Compare every suite, add-on and credit pack
Tender Portal
Included from Small Crew up. On any other plan, add it for $10 a month. Takeoffs run on prepaid credits.
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Tender Portal
Tender folders, AI-assisted takeoffs, review and export. Takeoff credits are bought separately and never expire.
3 paid seats · extra seats $5 each · 10 Tender credits a month · 25 GB of drawings
$10 / month
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