Pile Takeoff & Materials Estimator

v Pile classes (separate counts)

Active pile setupSelect a pile type above

Workflow: select the takeoff area, scan the legend/key symbol, confirm or edit the description, choose the pile type, then click Find marks. The symbol is what the mark looks like; the pile type controls the separate count, materials, and cost.

Estimator tip: keep the green takeoff box around the pile plan only. Use Exclude for schedules, legends, title blocks, and detail views so examples do not inflate counts. Enter each mark's Schedule count to reconcile against the drawings.

v Review marks & count

Candidate actionsClear

Candidates stay out of the reviewed count until accepted. Use Manual Count for a true pile the search missed.

Automatic marks and manual clicks combine in one final count after review: Combined Reviewed Total = Accepted Auto Marks + Manual Added Marks, then multiplied by Count Factor when needed. Found/Possible marks are shown but do not count until accepted.

v When to use manual controls

For manual counts do this:

Load the plan and go to the correct sheet.
Draw the green takeoff area around only the pile plan.
Use Legend/key scan on the symbol shown in the key. Confirm or edit the suggested description, then confirm the pile type and count factor.
Use Click sample on 2-4 actual plan piles, especially faint, crowded, or line-covered marks. Use Teach symbol only when you want to drag the crop yourself.
Click Manual Count.
Click every pile mark that should be counted; each click highlights and counts one reviewed mark. Missed pile clicks also become examples for the next search.
Use Erase or Undo if you click the wrong spot.
Check Reviewed Marks, Reviewed Physical Piles, and the schedule variance before export.

Takeoff area

Use on every real sheet before final count. Box only the actual pile plan so schedules, title blocks, and detail views stay out of the count.

Exclude

Use when the plan box must include notes, keys, callouts, or details. Red boxes are ignored by counts.

Legend/key scan

Use first. Box the legend/key symbol tightly; the app zoom-crops it, suggests a description, and saves it as the first taught visual.

Click sample

Point at one real pile mark and click. The app scans around the pointer, auto-crops the symbol, and saves it as a taught visual.

Teach symbol

Manual backup when the auto crop is wrong. Drag a tight box around one clean mark.

Missed piles

Use Manual Count on true piles the search missed. Those clicks are counted and saved as examples so Find marks can look harder next time.

Sensitivity

Move left when real piles are missing so more possible marks appear. Move right when dimensions, text, or grid marks are being offered as piles.

Find more candidates

Use after the first search misses piles on a vector PDF. Save five real plan examples first. This second pass adds only stable repeated matches to Possible; when the pattern is unreliable, it adds nothing.

Review marks

Turn on when Find marks reports candidates. Keep real missed piles, dismiss junk, then export only after review is clean.

Clear / Reset

Clear marks when the scan is wrong but the taught example is good. Reset symbol when the example itself was bad.

Count factor

Use when the pile schedule says one drawn pad or mark represents 2 or more piles.

Schedule count

Enter the schedule count to catch mistakes before pricing or sending the takeoff.

v Select takeoff area

No takeoff area set. Counts can include schedules or details until you draw one.

X / Y

Width / Height

Draw a green box around the actual pile plan. Exclude schedules, legends, title blocks, and details separately with Exclude.

v Detection settings

Find sensitivity

0.66

Missing symbols? drag LEFT (looser). Marking junk? drag RIGHT (stricter). Re-Detect after each change.

Match rotations

also find symbols turned 90/180/270 deg (slower)

Min spacing (px)

0 = auto. Increase if two marks land on one symbol; decrease if piles sit very close together.

Number marks

show a number on every mark so each one can be eye-checked

Candidate overlay

show found + possible marks; neither counts until accepted

Auto-set scans every sensitivity and parks the slider where the count is most stable. If the schedule count is higher than Reviewed Physical Piles, Review schedule gap turns on candidates and Manual Count mode so you can click only true missed piles.

Find more candidates: use after the first search misses piles on a vector PDF. It needs five real plan examples and checks several crop sizes. Stable repeated matches go to Possible for review; uncertain scans add nothing.

v Review + learn log

Browser-local feedback data. It records what the app found, what was reviewed, and what a person corrected so future symbol libraries can be trained from real estimator decisions.

Logs auto-found, possible, accepted, rejected, manual-added, manual-erased, clear, undo, and redo actions. The plan image stays local; exported events include coordinates and settings, not image crops.

v Image cleanup (faint scans / lines)

Plan too light, or gridlines/columns hard to see? Clean it up here. This also improves symbol detection.

Preview cleaned

show cleaned image on the plan

Brightness

Contrast

Threshold

Invert

white lines on black background

Adaptive is best for faded blueprints with uneven lighting; Otsu makes crisp black/white. Find marks uses the cleaned image whether or not Preview is on.

v Estimator QA

Use this before export: plan area reviewed, schedules/legends/details excluded, amber marks resolved, schedule quantities reconciled, and assumptions written down.

Assumptions / notes

v Design check (per pile, from load + soil)

Uses the selected class's pile type. Preliminary sizing aid based on published methods (torque-to-capacity; individual-bearing). Confirm with your engineer & geotech report.

Service load (kips)

Factor of safety

Soil at bearing

SPT N (blows/ft)

Su undrained (psf)

Eff. unit wt Î³' (pcf)

Machine max torque (ft-lb)

v Bill of materials & cost

Item	Qty	Unit	Unit $	Total $
Project total				$0

Quantities come from your counts x each class's parameters. Edit unit prices to price the job.

v Estimate summary (install + totals)

Production (piles/day)

Crew cost / day ($)

Mobilization ($)

Load tests (#)

Load test each ($)

Spoil disposal ($/cy)

Contingency (%)

Labor = crew-days x crew/day (production rate sets days). Materials pull from the Bill of materials prices. Load-test and mobilization are standard deep-foundation bid lines. Tune to your rates.

v Export & save

Embed plan image in save

Larger file, fully restores the sheet + marks

Project name

Start here

Load a pile plan

Load a PDF, image, or phone photo. Your plan stays in this browser. Counts stay separate by pile type, and nothing enters the final total until reviewed.

Or drag and drop a plan file here.

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