Help Center
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about our construction estimation platform
💰 Pricing & Plans
5 Questions
PlanEsti offers several subscription plans to suit different team sizes and workloads. Visit our Pricing page for the latest plan details and pricing. All plans include access to the full calculator suite, BOQ generation, and invoicing.
Yes, PlanEsti offers a free trial so you can explore everything before deciding. No credit card is required to start — just sign up with your email and you are in immediately.
All plans include the full calculator suite (13+ tools), project management, BOQ generation, invoicing, and PDF/Excel exports. Higher plans increase the number of projects, team members, and storage you can use. Check the Pricing page for a full side-by-side comparison.
Yes, you can change your plan at any time from Settings → Billing & Subscription. Upgrades take effect immediately. If you downgrade, the change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle.
Yes. Choosing annual billing gives you a significant discount compared to paying monthly. The exact saving is shown on the Pricing page when you toggle between monthly and annual options.
🔒 Data & Security
5 Questions
Your project data is private. PlanEsti staff do not access your project content, calculations, or client information unless you explicitly contact support and grant access for troubleshooting. We never share your data with third parties.
Your data remains accessible for 30 days after your subscription ends so you can log in and export everything you need. After 30 days the account is permanently deleted. We strongly recommend exporting your projects and invoices before cancelling.
Yes. All data is backed up daily on secure cloud servers. In the event of an incident, we can restore from the most recent backup. We also recommend periodically exporting your key projects and BOQs to PDF or Excel as your own local backup.
Yes. You can export any calculation, BOQ, or invoice to PDF or Excel at any time. For a full data export of your account, contact support and we will prepare a complete export of your project and invoice data.
Change your password immediately from Settings → Security. If you have 2FA enabled, review your active sessions and revoke any you do not recognise. If you believe your account was compromised, contact our support team straight away and we will help you secure it.
🚀 Getting Started
5 Questions
Start by completing your company profile in Settings → Company so your name and logo appear on exports. Then create your first project from the Projects page. From there, open any calculator from the Tools menu, run your first estimate, and save it to your project.
Everything runs in your browser — no installation required. PlanEsti works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. For the best experience we recommend Chrome or Edge on a desktop or laptop.
Yes. Go to Settings → Preferences and set your unit system to Imperial. All calculators will switch to feet, inches, ft², ft³, and lb. You can change this at any time without losing any of your saved data.
Yes. PlanEsti covers a wide range of construction types. The calculator suite includes structural (concrete, BBS, structural steel), finishes (tiles, paint, flooring), MEP (electrical, plumbing, HVAC), site works (earthworks, landscaping), and more. Most contractors and QS professionals will find it covers their day-to-day estimation needs.
Yes. Our Help Center has step-by-step guides for every major feature — from setting up your profile to running your first BBS or generating a BOQ. You can access it from the Help Center link in your dashboard sidebar.
📋 Team & Access
4 Questions
Yes. Go to Settings → Team and invite members by email. You can assign each person a role — Admin, Manager, or Staff — to control what they can access. You can also assign team members to specific projects only, which is useful for subcontractors.
Yes. The Staff role does not have access to financial data — they can view and work on assigned project calculations but cannot see invoices, rates, or billing information. Use the Manager or Admin role only for people who need financial access.
Go to Settings → Team, find the member, and click Remove. Their access is revoked immediately. Any work they created (calculations, saved estimates) remains in the account and is not deleted.
Multiple team members can access and view the same project simultaneously. For editing, we recommend coordinating to avoid one person overwriting another's changes on the same calculation. Different team members can work on different calculations within the same project at the same time without conflict.
📋 Invoicing & Clients
5 Questions
No. When you send an invoice, your client receives a link to a secure client portal where they can view and download the invoice as a PDF — no account or login needed. The link is unique to that invoice.
You can do either. Click "Send Invoice" and PlanEsti emails the client directly with a link to view it online. Or click "Export PDF" to download it and attach it to your own email if you prefer.
Open the invoice and click "Mark as Paid". Enter the payment date and method (bank transfer, cash, cheque, etc.) and confirm. The invoice status changes to Paid and moves to your paid invoices list.
Yes. You can set a tax rate (VAT, GST, or any local tax) on each invoice. The tax amount is calculated automatically and shown as a separate line in the invoice summary. You can also set a default tax rate in Settings → Invoice Settings so you do not have to enter it every time.
Yes. When creating an invoice you can select specific line items from a BOQ rather than billing everything at once. This lets you issue progress claims or milestone invoices for the same project across multiple billing cycles.
📋 Calculators & Results
6 Questions
Yes. Open your project, go to the Calculations tab, and click on the saved calculation. All your original inputs are there — edit whatever you need and save again. The updated quantities will reflect in your BOQ on the next generation.
The calculators use industry-standard formulas and mix ratios. Accuracy depends on the dimensions you enter. We recommend adding a waste factor (5–10% is typical) when ordering materials to account for cuts, breakage, and site wastage. For structural work, always have a qualified engineer review the results.
Most calculators include a "Custom" option where you can enter a direct volume, area, or length value. Alternatively, break the element into simpler shapes and calculate each part separately, then use the Material Aggregator to combine the totals.
Yes. Go to Settings → Rate Library and add your local material and labour unit rates. Once saved, the calculator exports and BOQs will automatically apply your rates and show a costed material schedule.
Yes. In metric mode you select bars by diameter in mm (Ø8, Ø10, Ø12, Ø16, Ø20, Ø25, Ø32, Ø40). In imperial mode you select by bar number (#3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8). Switch your unit system in Settings → Preferences and the BBS dropdowns update automatically.
Yes — that is exactly what the Material Aggregator tool is for. Save individual calculations to a project, then open the Aggregator to pull all material quantities together into one consolidated schedule. You can then export the combined list as PDF or Excel.
📋 Projects & Documents
4 Questions
The number of active projects depends on your subscription plan. Check your plan details on the Pricing page. If you reach your limit, archiving completed projects frees up a slot without deleting any data.
Yes. Each project has a Documents tab where you can upload any file — PDFs, DWG drawings, Word documents, Excel sheets, and images. Files can be organised into folders and shared with clients via a secure download link.
Deleted projects are moved to trash and held for 30 days before permanent deletion. During that period you can restore a project from the trash. After 30 days the project and all its data are permanently removed.
Yes. Open the project, click the ⋯ menu, and select Duplicate. A copy of the project is created with all its calculations, structure, and settings. You can then rename it and adjust the quantities for the new job.
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John D. from New York
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