AI cost estimating · New Zealand & Australia

Turn a brief into a quote you can defend.

3PM Estimate reads your scope, drawings and specs, then writes the whole estimate in the format your clients already read — every line priced with a quantity and a rate, classified by element, and ready to score against reference costs for your region.

Two-storey dwelling — example

Standard quoteAuckland3 sections

Sub Total (excl. GST)

NZ$488,666

Illustrative output in the Standard quote format. Figures are GST-exclusive to the sub-total, with GST shown beneath it.

Elemental, not trade-based

Cost is grouped by what a part of the building does — the 39 elements NZ/AU cost planning uses (NZIQS, AIQS) — not by CSI trade division.

Metric throughout

m², m³, linear metre, tonne, No. An imperial drawing is converted and the conversion noted, never carried through.

GST on top, never inside

Totals are quoted GST-exclusive the way ANZ budgets are — 15% NZ, 10% AU, taken from the project's own address.

Priced by market

16 New Zealand regions and 16 Australian metro and regional markets, in NZD or AUD.

How it works

Four steps from scope to a document you can send

The estimator is a conversation, not a form. It writes the first estimate from your brief, then edits it with you until the numbers are yours.

  1. 1.

    Describe it, attach what you have

    A paragraph of scope is enough. Drawings and PDFs go to the model as files; Word, Excel, CSV and text are read for their contents. Address autocomplete pins the job to a cost market.

  2. 2.

    Pick the quote format

    Standard quote or detailed cost report. The choice sets how the document is sectioned, where Preliminaries sits and what margin applies to — so it is fixed for the project once created.

  3. 3.

    Watch it price — then push back

    Chat on one side, the estimate building on the other. Every line gets a quantity, a unit and a rate. Ask for a change and the whole estimate is rewritten, never patched.

  4. 4.

    Check it, then export

    Score it against your reference costs, then export a client PDF with no rates, an internal PDF with the full build-up, or an Excel workbook of every line in both readings.

Quote and cost plan

One estimate, two readings of the same money

A builder's quote and an elemental cost plan are different documents for different readers. Every priced line carries an element code, so you get both — and they always total the same.

Quote

What the client reads — sections, then priced packages.

Structural

1Foundation — slab, footings, steel

Slab, footing and pad concrete 20MPa15.6 m³

2Framing — wall frame, rafters, plywood

Cut and fix wall framing, 90x45 H1.2 at 600 cts148 m²

3Cladding — bevelback, exterior painting

Bevelback weatherboard, prime and two coats162 m²

4Roofing — longrun, flashings, spouting

0.55 Colorsteel longrun roofing and flashings112 m²

Interior

1Interior doors — solid core

Single door, frame and hardware6 No.

Elemental

What the benchmarks read — cost by part of the building.

SBSubstructure

Slab, footing and pad concrete 20MPa15.6 m³

EWExternal walls

Cut and fix wall framing, 90x45 H1.2 at 600 cts148 m²

Bevelback weatherboard, prime and two coats162 m²

RFRoof

0.55 Colorsteel longrun roofing and flashings112 m²

NDInternal doorsNo.

Single door, frame and hardware6 No.

Cladding, its insulation, its sealant and its coating all sit under EW External walls even when four subcontractors deliver them and the quote lists them in different packages. That is what makes an estimate comparable with published ANZ cost-per-m² data.

Estimate formats

Two formats, each modelled on a real builder's quote

Two firms quoting the same job lay their documents out entirely differently. Pick the one your clients expect — the structure, the rollup and what a client-facing PDF may show all follow from it.

Standard quote

Sections → numbered packages, with quantities

Structural, Interior and Preliminaries, each split into numbered work packages. Every package lists its measured items with quantities and prices as one figure. Margin is a single line at the foot.

  • Lines: measured items, inline notes
  • Preliminaries & General: a priced, itemised section — never a percentage
  • Contingency: not carried as a separate figure in this format
  • Margin: one line at the foot, on the work and P&G totals combined
  • Client PDF: description and quantity, priced at package level

Detailed cost report

Numbered zones → priced sub-sections, scope-of-works style

Numbered zones (Preliminaries, Site Preparation, Concrete Works, Framing…) each split into priced sub-sections. Reads as a full scope of works, with materials and labour listed separately, inline notes, provisional and PC sums, and a contingency zone.

  • Lines: measured items, material specifications, labour operations, inline notes, extra-overs
  • Preliminaries & General: a priced, itemised section — never a percentage
  • Contingency: its own section, last in the body
  • Margin: carried inside the unit rates, with no margin line
  • Client PDF: description only, priced at sub-section level

Chosen per project and then fixed. The two total on different rules, so an estimate can never end up half in one format and half in the other.

Reference costs

Every line checked against a band, not a number

Build a reference cost library for a market and facility type, and your estimates are scored against it — line by line, element by element, and all-in per m² of floor area. Each rate is a low–typical–high band, because a single “market rate” invites false precision.

  • Verdicts read within, above or below the band, with what the gap is worth across the whole floor area.
  • Matching is deliberately conservative: units must agree, and the element, the CSI code or the description has to line up. A wrong match would produce a confidently wrong flag.
  • One library per region and building type, cached and re-generated rather than forked — so two estimates are never scored against two different versions of the same market.

By element, per m² of floor area

Reference band low–typical–high, with this estimate marked against it.

Example

SBSubstructure

NZ$312 / m²Within band+4.0%

NZ$240NZ$380

EWExternal walls

NZ$705 / m²Above band+38%

NZ$420NZ$640

RFRoof

NZ$214 / m²Within band−4.9%

NZ$180NZ$290

LPElectric light and power

NZ$132 / m²Below band−31%

NZ$150NZ$250
AI-generated reference figures — a sanity check on your own pricing, not a substitute for a subscription cost service or local quotes.

Your workspace

Estimates priced the way your firm prices

A workspace is a tenant: its own projects, estimates, cost bases, people and standards.

Your rates, as the house standard

Currency, cost-basis region, area unit, GST rate and your standard P&G, overhead, contingency and margin percentages — plus free-text pricing rules. The estimating agent is given them as the house standard, so estimates come out priced the way you price.

Roles that match a real office

Owner, admin and member. Admins manage people, invitations and estimating defaults; members create and edit estimates. The last remaining owner can't be removed or demoted.

An overview built from your own work

Pipeline, value, cost per m², element mix and what needs attention — all computed from this workspace's estimates. There is no sample data, and a figure the data can't support shows as a dash.

Security

Secure by default, from sign-in to storage

Passwordless by design

Sign in with a six-digit code emailed to your work address. No password to phish, reuse or leak.

Scoped to one workspace

Every project, estimate, uploaded document and cost basis belongs to a single workspace, and is looked up by it.

Documents stay with the project

Uploads are stored against the project they belong to, and sent to our AI provider only to build that project's estimate.

What it is, and what it isn't

Estimating carries real commercial risk, so it is worth being plain about where the tool stops.

  • It produces a fast, itemised first-pass estimate for a competent estimator to review — not a substitute for a quantity surveyor's signature.
  • Every estimate ships with its assumptions, exclusions and risks, and low-confidence lines are flagged, so a reviewer knows where to look first.
  • Reference cost libraries are AI-generated: a sanity check on your own pricing, not a substitute for a subscription cost service or local quotes.
  • Provisional and PC sums are badged everywhere they appear, and value-engineering alternates are excluded from the totals — an allowance never reads as a firm price.

Ready to price your next job?

Create a workspace, describe a project, and read your first itemised estimate in minutes.

No password to set up. Bring a brief and whatever drawings you have.