Cubit Estimating AI — Best Practice Guide
The AI Estimating module automates key parts of take-off — auto-scaling plans on import, counting symbols, tracing areas, and scanning text — so you can quote faster and win more work. This guide covers the plan settings and habits that get the best results from each tool.
During plan insertion, AI Auto Scale detects the scale shown on the plan and applies it automatically, while AI Plan Rename detects the plan name shown on the plan and renames the imported plan. Both run in the background and can be used together or separately.
Both options live in Settings → Plans → AI settings and are off by default. Turn them on for new plans before importing.
Off by default. Turn on to detect and apply the scale shown on the plan when importing new plans.
Off by default. Turn on to rename the plan using the detected drawing name. Leave off to keep the original file name and page number.
- Make sure the scale and drawing name shown on the plan are legible and not cropped.
- Always check the applied scale before measuring. The applied scale is shown in the bottom-left corner of the viewport (AI-detected or manually set), and you can also review it in the plan details pane.
- If a plan contains multiple scales, one detected scale is applied — review the plan to confirm it's the right one.
- Plans that have been exported, printed, or resized at a different page size or with "fit to page" settings can end up with a stated scale that no longer matches the actual dimensions. Scanned drawings may also not match their stated scale — always check the applied scale before measuring.
- If AI Auto Scale can't detect a scale, Cubit prompts you to set the plan scale manually.
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.
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.
Before importing, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and check these settings:
Only turn on if you're NOT counting symbols from text layers. If results look wrong after enabling, turn it back off and retry.
Only turn on if you're NOT counting symbols from complex layers. If results look wrong after enabling, turn it back off and retry.
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:
What's highlighted in the mini preview should match exactly what's listed in the tree.
Switch each tree list item or group on and off, watching the preview as you go.
If toggling an item causes no visible change in the preview, deselect it — it's hidden noise that can affect your count.
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.
Auto Area analyses your floor plan and automatically detects and traces areas, generating editable shapes in seconds, without requiring manual tracing.
Before importing, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and check these settings:
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.
Scan Text instantly finds and counts specific text labels across your plans — room names, door tags, fixture labels, electrical references, and more. In v15, detection accuracy and result navigation have both been improved.
For the best results, use a vector PDF imported as vector — v15's detection improvements are strongest on vector plans. Before your first scan, go to Plans tab → Optimise section and turn these OFF:
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.
Select multiple points on a shape at the same time, then delete or move them together. It's the fastest way to clean up AI-generated shapes, and it works with manually drawn shapes too — available to all users, not only AI users.
The editable points appear on the selected shape.
Drag around the points you want to edit, then release to select them.
Press Delete to remove the selected points, or drag them to reposition as a group.
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