Create your own templates

If your crews price a job a particular way, put it in a template once and apply it on every project. Your own templates are available on every plan, including Free Forever, and they belong to you, not to a project.

Make a library

1. Open a page in Plans & Takeoffs and click the Templates tab in the right sidebar.
2. Click the library selector at the top of the panel. It reads All libraries to begin with.
3. Click New library, type a name and press Enter.

Your library appears as a section in the panel. Select it and a New button appears next to the search box. Make as many libraries as you like, for example one per trade. To rename or delete one, use the pencil or trash icon on its row in the selector.

Create a part

1. With your library selected, click New and choose the part type: Material, Labor, Equipment, Subcontract or Other. (Folder is also on this menu.)
2. The authoring drawer opens. Give the part a Name.
3. Choose its Takeoff Type: Area, Linear, Segment or Count. This is what the part can be applied to. It's fixed after the first save.
4. Under Calculation, fill in:
   • Formula (Qty). How the measurement becomes a quantity. Type it, or click Insert to pick a measurement such as Area, Linear, Segment Count or Wall Area, a unit, or a function like RoundUp. Drywall sheets from a wall area might be [Area:SF] / 32.
   • Display name and Display Unit. What the line is called and measured in, such as EA or BAG.
   • Cost Each. The price of one unit of the billable quantity.
   • Waste. Raises the quantity before it's priced. At 5%, 100 becomes 105.
   • Round up to. Rounds the quantity up to a multiple of this, after waste. At 10, 42 becomes 50.
   • Markup. Raises the total after pricing. At 10%, $100 becomes $110.
5. Check the Preview. It shows Formula Qty, Billable Qty and Total cost for a sample measurement.
6. Click Save template.

Variables

If a formula needs a number that isn't a measurement, like stud spacing, click + Add variable under Variables, name it, choose Number and type the value, then use it in the formula as [Name]. When you apply the template, Plankore asks for the value as an input. A variable set to Inherit takes its value from the part above it, so an assembly can ask for wall height once and use it in every part.

Build an assembly

An assembly is a part with parts inside it. Right-click a part in your library, and under New child choose the type of part to add. Fill it in and save. Repeat for each part, or drag a saved part onto another to nest it. Parts nest three levels deep and can only contain other parts. Applying the top part applies the whole tree.

Edit, rename and organize

• Edit. Double-click a template to reopen the drawer. The status shows Unsaved or Saved. Click Save changes when you're done. Closing with unsaved edits asks Discard unsaved changes?
• Rename. Right-click the template and choose Rename.
• Folders. Click New and choose Folder, or right-click a folder for New child, Rename and Delete folder. Drag templates into folders, up to five levels deep, or right-click a template and use Move to folder.

Objects you've already applied a template to keep the version they were applied with. Apply the template again to use the new definition. See Apply a template.

Delete

Right-click a template and choose Delete, then confirm Delete 1 template permanently? Parts inside it go too. Deleting a folder or a library deletes everything in it. Objects the template was applied to keep their priced lines.

If something goes wrong

• "Enter a quantity formula." or "Choose Area, Linear, Segment, or Count before saving this Part." Fill in the highlighted field and save again.
• "This formula combines incompatible units or dimensions." You've added an area to a length, or similar. Use a unit-free number for multipliers.
• "Unable to load My Templates." Reload the page. If it keeps happening, email hello@plankore.ai.