Cubit Estimating AI - Best Practice Guide

Best Practice Guide

The AI Estimating module for Cubit Estimating automates key parts of the takeoff and estimating process including symbol counts, automatic area detection, and scanning plans to automatically find text on plans - so you can quote faster and win more work.

Count Symbols Count repeated symbols like lights and fittings Auto Area Automatically detect and trace floor plan areas Scan Text Rapidly find and count labels and text

What it does

Auto Area analyses your floor plan and automatically detects and traces areas, generating editable shapes in seconds, without requiring manual tracing.

Saves significant timeTraces walls across your entire plan in one click.

Runs in the backgroundKeep working on your estimate while the AI processes.

Fully editable shapesAdjust, move, or remove any point just like a manual shape.

Handles large plansWorks across multi-page sets — no need to split files.

Settings for best results

Before importing your plan, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and check these settings:

• ON Flatten PDF
• OFF Rasterise complex layers

iThese settings affect how your plan is processed. Ensuring Flatten PDF is on and the other settings are off gives Auto Area the clearest possible data to work with — giving you more accurate shapes.

Supported file types

Vector PDF

Image PDF

PNG / JPG

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AI can and does make mistakes. Always review and verify every result before using it in your estimate — AI-generated shapes, counts, and detections may be inaccurate, incomplete, or miss elements entirely. Use your professional judgement to check all outputs.

What it does

Scan Text uses OCR to instantly find and count specific text labels across your plans — room names, door tags, fixture labels, electrical references, and more.

Instant automated countsConverts labels directly into measurable quantities.

Flexible matchingSearch using Contains, Starts with, Whole words, or Case sensitive.

Combine multiple searchesGroup results from different searches into a single count.

Works on all plan typesVector PDFs, image PDFs, PNG, and JPG all supported.

Settings for best results

Before your first scan, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and turn these OFF:

• OFF Rasterise text
• OFF Rasterise complex layers
• OFF Single colour

iThese settings affect how text appears in your plan. Turning them off ensures Scan Text has the clearest possible image to read — giving you more accurate results.

Re-scanning after changes

!Scan Text saves results after the first scan to make follow-up searches faster. If you update your Plan Optimise settings, re-import the plan as new and run a fresh scan to pick up the changes.

Supported file types

Vector PDF

Image PDF

PNG / JPG

✅

✅

✅

AI can and does make mistakes. Always review and verify every result before using it in your estimate — AI-generated shapes, counts, and detections may be inaccurate, incomplete, or miss elements entirely. Use your professional judgement to check all outputs.

What it does

Select any symbol on your plan — a light fitting, power outlet, or fixture — and Count Symbols automatically finds and counts matching instances across the drawing.

Counts hundreds instantlyNo need to click through symbols one by one.

Adjustable confidenceFine-tune the match threshold for the most accurate count.

Easy navigationClick any result to highlight it, double-click to zoom straight to it.

Exceptional on vector plansBest results with clean, vector-based drawings.

Settings for best results

Before importing your plan, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and check these settings:

• OFF Flatten PDF
• OFF
  Rasterise Text

  Only turn on if you're NOT counting symbols from text layers. If results look wrong after enabling, turn it back off and retry.
• OFF
  Rasterise Complex Layers

  Only turn on if you're NOT counting symbols from complex layers. If results look wrong after enabling, turn it back off and retry.

iThese settings affect how your plan is processed. Turning them off ensures Count Symbols has the clearest possible data to work with. The Rasterise options can be turned on if your target symbols aren't on those layers — but if your counts look wrong, turn them back off and retry.

iCount Symbols requires a vector PDF imported using Import as Vector. Zoom in to check — if lines and text stay sharp, you're good to go. If they get blurry, re-export from the source application as a vector PDF. PNG, JPG, and DWG are not supported for this tool.

Tips for an accurate count

Reference symbol

✅ Select a single, distinct symbol as your reference

⚠️ Avoid selecting multiple symbols together or repeating patterns like floor hatching

If your count looks off — even though the preview looks right — hidden vector elements may have been captured. Here's how to clean it up:

1

Match the preview to the tree list

What's highlighted in the mini preview should match exactly what's listed in the tree.

2

Toggle items on and off

Switch each tree list item or group on and off, watching the preview as you go.

3

Remove anything invisible

If toggling an item causes no visible change in the preview, deselect it — it's hidden noise that can affect your count.

Supported file types

Vector PDF

✅Import as Vector

AI can and does make mistakes. Always review and verify every result before using it in your estimate — AI-generated shapes, counts, and detections may be inaccurate, incomplete, or miss elements entirely. Use your professional judgement to check all outputs.