AI-Powered Quantity Takeoff with Togal.AI

1. Go to togal.ai and click Start Free Trial
2. Enter your name, email, and company information
3. Verify your email and log in
4. You'll land on the Togal dashboard, where all your projects live

What you should see: A clean dashboard with a "New Project" button and any trial projects they've pre-loaded as examples.

1. Click New Project (usually a large button in the center or top-right of the dashboard)
2. Enter the project name (e.g., "Westside Medical Office Building")
3. Set the project type if prompted (commercial, residential, etc.)
4. Click Create or Continue

What you should see: An upload screen asking for your PDF drawings.

1. Click Upload Drawings or drag-and-drop your PDF file(s) into the upload zone
2. Togal accepts multi-sheet PDFs. You can upload the entire drawing set as one file, or upload sheets individually
3. Wait for processing. The AI will analyze and index each sheet. This typically takes 1-5 minutes depending on the number of sheets
4. You'll see a thumbnail view of all sheets when processing is complete

What you should see: Thumbnails of each drawing sheet, with sheet names automatically detected (A1.1, A2.0, etc.)

Troubleshooting: If sheet names aren't detected correctly, you can manually rename them. Very low-resolution scans may produce less accurate results. Vector PDFs work best.

1. Select the sheet you want to start with (typically start with the floor plan)
2. Click Auto Takeoff or the equivalent AI measurement button
3. Togal's computer vision will automatically detect and measure rooms, walls, doors, windows, and other elements
4. The AI will draw color-coded overlays showing what it has measured

What you should see: Colored overlay lines and filled areas on your drawing, similar to what you'd draw manually in Bluebeam but automatically generated. Each color represents a different element type.

1. Click on individual measurements to see the AI's calculated dimensions
2. Compare a few key measurements against what you'd expect from the drawings (e.g., check a room dimension you can visually estimate)
3. If a measurement looks wrong, click it and use the manual correction tools to adjust
4. Validate the total floor area against any area schedules shown on the drawings

What you should see: The AI is typically 95%+ accurate on standard commercial drawings. Common issues: irregular room shapes, overlapping spaces (like mezzanines), or areas outside the main floor plate.

1. If the auto-takeoff didn't capture something you need, use the manual takeoff tools to add it
2. You can draw linear measurements (wall lengths), area measurements (floor areas), and counts (doors, windows, columns)
3. Use the layering system to organize by trade: architectural, civil, mechanical, etc.

1. Click Export or Download when your takeoff is complete
2. Choose your format. Most estimators export to Excel or CSV for import into ProEst, Sage Estimating, or their own workbooks
3. The exported file will have one row per measured item with dimensions and quantities

What you should see: An Excel file with columns for item type, sheet, description, quantity, and unit of measure.