This guide walks you through creating your first takeoff in PlanSwift® from start to finish, in under 5 minutes.
You’re not going to learn everything here; you’re going to complete your first takeoff so you can see how it works and trust the results.
By the end, you will:
- Open a Job
- Scale your plan
- Perform a basic takeoff
- View your results
Before You Begin
Make sure PlanSwift is installed and you can log in.
See Downloading and Installing PlanSwift for detailed instructions
Step 1: Create a New Job
- Open PlanSwift
- Sign in to activate your license
- On the PlanSwift tab, click Open (you’ll use the included Sample Job to get started quickly)
- Double-click the Sample Job
✔️ The Project opens.
Need Help? Open an Existing Job
Step 2: Select a Page Without Takeoff
- Under “Commercial Plan Set”, expand the “Architectural” Folder
- Click on “Level 02 Floor Plan - A102 (there Page contains no takeoff)
✔️ You should now see a floor plan on screen
Step 3: Verify the Page Scale
This Page is already scaled, but you must verify before drawing takeoff.
- Locate a wall or other line on the drawing that has a dimension label
- In the Measure section of the ribbon bar, click “Dimension”
- Click the start and end points of the known-length line on the plan
- Confirm the Dimension Line you drew matches the label on the plan
If the scale is wrong, every measurement you create will be wrong. This is the most important step.
✔️ You verified Page scale and are ready to draw takeoff
Need Help? Setting, Calculating, and Verifying Page Scale
Step 4: Perform Your First Takeoff
- In the Takeoff section of the ribbon bar, click on Linear
- Click Ok to accept the defaults
- Click and drag on the drawing to define the measurement
- Double-click to finish the segment
- This creates a quick measurement so you can see how PlanSwift calculates quantities in real time
✔️ You should now takeoff on the plan and a result (LF) in the Pages list, under this Page
Need Help? Check out Using The Linear Takeoff Tool
Step 5: View Your Results
- Go to the Estimating tab
- Confirm your measurement appears in the list (it’ll be at the bottom)
✔️ Your takeoff is now captured as quantities you can use in an estimate
You’ve completed your first takeoff and generated measurable results in less than 5 minutes.
Next Steps
Now that you’ve completed your first takeoff, you can:
- Create Area and Count takeoffs
- Price your Estimate
 Using Right-Click Menus | Exploring the Home Tab  |
Related Articles
- Getting Started with PlanSwift (Full Guide)
- Comprehensive overview of all features and workflows