The problem: depth turns area into volume, and nobody does that in their head
- Mulch, topsoil and base are ordered in cubic yards, which means every bed area has to be multiplied by a spread depth and divided by 27.
- Two inches in the front beds and three inches in the back is two different conversions on the same plan.
- Sod comes on pallets with a real coverage figure, and irregular lawn shapes waste more than rectangles.
- Edging and irrigation main lines are linear and follow the same bed outline you just traced for area.
Landscape plans are full of curves and irregular shapes. That is exactly where hand measuring with a scale rule and a calculator drifts, and where the mulch order ends up two yards short on a Friday afternoon.
How the tool handles it
Trace the real shape — curves and all — and the area comes from the full-precision point list. Each bed condition carries its own spread depth, so cubic yards fall out of the trace: square feet times depth in inches divided by 324, which is the conversion the trade already uses as shorthand. One cubic yard covers 108 square feet at three inches. The same outline gives you edging linear feet, and drip lateral length comes from the bed area divided by your row spacing rather than from the perimeter.
One trace, the whole material list
A condition is a named, colored layer you trace on the drawing. An assembly turns that one condition into every part it drives, each with its own formula, coverage rate, waste percentage and rounding rule. A Planting bed with 3in mulch condition looks like this:
| Part | Unit | Driven by |
|---|---|---|
| Plant material | EA | counted by species and container size |
| Tree | EA | counted by caliper |
| Staking kit | EA | tree count |
| Mulch | CY | bed SF × depth in ÷ 324, rounded up |
| Topsoil amendment | CY | bed SF × depth in ÷ 324 |
| Landscape fabric | SF | bed SF + 10% laps |
| Fabric pins | EA | fabric SF ÷ pin spacing |
| Steel or poly edging | LF | bed perimeter |
| Edging stakes | EA | edging LF ÷ spacing |
| Sod | PALLET | turf SF ÷ coverage per pallet, + waste |
| Drip line | LF | bed SF ÷ row spacing, + header LF |
| Emitters | EA | plant count |
| Zone valve | EA | zone count |
| Install labor | HR | area SF ÷ production rate |
Change a coverage rate, a waste percentage or a unit cost and every job using that assembly re-prices. You are not editing numbers in twelve places.
Depth per bed, converted correctly
Two inches in the front and three in the back are two conditions, each converting its own area to cubic yards at its own depth — square feet times inches divided by 324.
Curves measured properly
Irregular and curved beds are traced as the shapes they are, with area from the full point list rather than from a rectangle approximation.
Perimeter drives edging
The bed outline gives area and edging linear feet and stake count in one trace.
Every number traces back to a mark
When the mulch order is short, the marked-up plan shows each bed traced as its real curved shape, with the spread depth labeled per bed. Nobody is re-measuring beds with a wheel.
Every number on the report links back to a specific mark, on a specific sheet, at a specific place on the page. The marked-up PDF export draws every mark in its condition color with the quantity labeled — that is the file you attach to the bid.
Accuracy is held to a stated tolerance: linear measurements within 0.10% of true, straight-sided areas within 0.25%, and calibration repeatable within 0.20% across five separate calibrations of the same page. Geometry is stored in PDF units, never screen pixels, and rounding happens exactly once — at report time.
What it costs
Landscape plans are curves and irregular shapes, which is exactly where scale-rule measuring drifts and the material order goes wrong.
$2,500, paid once. Nothing in year two. Nothing in year three. No per-seat bill and no renewal date.
| Estimators using it | A per-seat subscription, five years | Ours, one-time licence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,745 – $10,000 | $2,500 |
| 2 | $17,490 – $20,000 | $2,500 |
| 3 | $26,235 – $30,000 | $2,500 |
| 5 | $43,725 – $50,000 | $2,500 |
Their column multiplies by headcount and then repeats every year. Ours does neither. Put a fourth estimator on it and the number is still $2,500, because you are not licensing seats — you are buying the software.
And it does not repeat
| Whole company | Per-seat subscription, billed that year | Ours, billed that year |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $2,500 |
| Year 2 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 3 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 4 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 5 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
What you actually receive
- The source code. Not access to it — a copy of it, running on your infrastructure.
- A one-time perpetual licence. It does not expire, it cannot be revoked, and there is no renewal date in your calendar.
- No seat count. Put every estimator in the company on it. There is no user tier to outgrow and nothing that counts logins.
- No dependence on us. Sixty days of support are included. After that you can hire any developer to change it, because you have the code. Most vendors cannot make that offer, because with them you are renting.
Subscription figures are publicly reported PlanSwift prices from software review sites, shown as a representative example of per-seat takeoff pricing. Check any vendor's current pricing directly before you compare. See the full PlanSwift comparison.
What is being built next
- DXF and DWG import is in active development. Today the tool reads PDF. If your drawings arrive as CAD files, ask on the call and we will give you honest timing rather than a guess on a web page.
- Auto-count symbol recognition — box a symbol once and find every match on the sheet — is a later release.
- Multi-estimator assignment, so a supervisor can hand work to specific people, is still being built out.