How to use PBG Precon

01Quick start

Five steps take you from a folder of PDFs to a reviewed set with findings you can send out as RFIs. Budget about ten minutes for a typical set.

1. 1Sign in with Google or an email address. Your projects are private to your account.
2. 2From the projects home, create a project: name it, and add the client and address if you have them.
3. 3Open the Documents tab and upload the whole sheet set at once. PBG Precon reads each sheet, pulls the sheet number, title and discipline, and indexes the text.
4. 4Open Plan review and run the review. The engine cross-checks plans against schedules and notes using the checklist rule library.
5. 5Read the findings. Each one cites verbatim text and points to the sheet it came from — click a citation to jump to the drawing. Export the RFI log when you're ready to send questions.

02Concepts and vocabulary

A few terms are used consistently across the app.

Project

A container for one bid or one building: sheets, findings, takeoff, scopes and proposals all live inside it.

Sheet

One page of the uploaded set. Each sheet gets a sheet number, title, discipline and extracted text.

Document index

The searchable text of every sheet. Review, Intelligence and Scope all read from it.

Finding

One issue the review engine raised: a conflict, a missing detail, a coordination risk. It has a severity, a description and at least one citation.

Citation

A verbatim quote from a sheet plus its location. Answers and findings are only accepted when the quote matches the sheet text character-for-character, which is what keeps the AI from inventing content.

Checklist rule

A reusable piece of PBG judgment (millwork, envelope, coordination) that the review engine applies to every project.

Scale basis

How the takeoff knows real-world dimensions on a page: a printed scale note, a graphic scale bar, or your manual calibration.

Scope sheet

A bid-ready inclusion/exclusion list for one trade, generated from the indexed set.

Leveling

Comparing subcontractor proposals line by line so you can see who is missing what before you compare prices.

03Signing in and access

PBG Precon uses Google sign-in or an email address and password. Either creates an account the first time you use it.

1. 1Click Sign in in the top-right corner.
2. 2Choose Continue with Google, or enter an email and password.
3. 3You land on the projects home. Everything you upload from here belongs to your account only.

• Projects, sheets, findings, scopes and proposals are owner-only: nobody else — including other PBG accounts — can read them.
• The Quick takeoff workspace in the header runs without an account, but nothing is saved to a project.

04Projects and document ingest

Ingest is where the set becomes searchable. Everything downstream depends on it, so it's worth two minutes of review.

1. 1Open a project and choose the Documents tab.
2. 2Drag in the full set. Multi-page PDFs are split into sheets automatically; you can also drop individual sheet PDFs.
3. 3Wait for each sheet to finish processing. Sheet number, title and discipline are read from the title block area.
4. 4Scan the list. If a sheet came in as "Untitled" or with the wrong discipline, the title block was probably an image — see the note below.

• Text-based PDFs (exported from Revit, AutoCAD, Bluebeam) work best. Scanned or photographed sheets have no text layer, so they index as images and produce few or no citations.
• You can add sheets later — addenda, revised sheets, specifications — and re-run the review. Uploading a revision does not delete the original, so keep your naming clear.

05Plan review

The review engine reads the indexed set the way an experienced preconstruction lead does: it looks for what disagrees, what's missing, and what will cost money later.

1. 1Open the Plan review tab and click Run review.
2. 2Findings appear grouped by severity — high, medium, low. High means it will change price or schedule if it isn't answered.
3. 3Open a finding to read the issue, the reasoning, and the citations behind it.
4. 4Click a citation to open that sheet with the quoted text highlighted on the drawing.
5. 5Resolve findings you've answered, or dismiss the ones that don't apply, so the open count reflects real work.
6. 6Export the RFI log to turn the remaining open findings into a numbered question list for the architect.

• Every finding must be backed by text that actually exists in the set. If the engine can't quote it, it doesn't raise it — that's deliberate.
• The open-findings count on the tab is your live punch list for the set.

06Intelligence (ask the set)

Intelligence answers plain questions about the project using only what the drawings and specs actually say — with the quote attached.

1. 1Open the Intelligence tab.
2. 2Ask a specific question: "What is the interior door hardware set at the corridor doors?" beats "Tell me about doors."
3. 3Read the answer, then check the citations under it. Each is a verbatim quote from a sheet.
4. 4Click a citation to jump to that sheet with the evidence highlighted.

• If the retrieved sheets don't support an answer, you'll get an explicit insufficient or partial result rather than a guess. A set-wide "not in the documents" claim is only allowed after every eligible indexed sheet was evaluated.
• Quotes are verified character-for-character against the sheet text before an answer is shown. Each verified excerpt carries document/sheet identity and an Open drawing action.

07Checklist

The checklist is PBG's institutional knowledge written down: Plan Review rules, not findings. Each rule is enabled or off, and Ready or Waiting for a document discipline.

1. 1Open the Checklist tab to see enabled/ready/waiting counts, then the built-in rule categories. Add a custom rule from the compact control near the counts — reusable on all your projects, or this project only.
2. 2Leave comparison rules enabled if you want them later — they show Waiting for plumbing, structural, or another missing discipline until that set is uploaded.
3. 3A waiting rule does not create a missing or conflict finding just because the other trade was never uploaded.

• Rules are grouped by collapsible category (millwork, envelope, bathrooms, coordination). Counts on the category tell you what is ready now.

08Takeoff

The takeoff workspace turns a sheet into quantities: lengths, areas and counts, with a scale you can trust and show your work on.

1. 1Open the Takeoff tab (or Quick takeoff in the header for a one-off sheet).
2. 2Load a page. PBG Precon runs the auto-scale sequence: first it looks for a printed scale note like 1/4" = 1'-0", then for a graphic scale bar. If neither is found, it asks you to calibrate.
3. 3Check the scale basis badge in the sidebar. It tells you which method was used and how confident it is.
4. 4To calibrate manually, draw along a dimension you know — the longest one on the sheet is best — and type the real length.
5. 5Measure: the length tool for linear items like trim and wall runs, the area tool for floors and finishes, the count tool for fixtures and openings.
6. 6Run AI Takeoff to have quantities derived from the sheet's own text — schedules, room tags, notes. Review each proposed quantity and accept or remove it.

• Auto-scale reads what's printed on the sheet. A sheet printed to a non-standard size, or one whose note disagrees with the geometry, will read wrong — that's why the badge shows the source.
• Manual calibration always wins over the auto-detected scale.
• AI Takeoff cites its evidence. Anything without evidence should be measured by hand.
• Tagged assemblies and member runs feed the same quantity list as ordinary measurements; sloped items are flagged as sloped and carry their pitch factor with them.

09Navigating the sheet

Large-format sheets only work if you can get around them quickly. Every viewer in the app shares the same navigation controls.

1. 1Use Fit page to see the whole sheet, or Fit width when you're reading a schedule column by column.
2. 2Zoom with the mouse wheel — the zoom anchors on the cursor, so point at what you want to enlarge before scrolling.
3. 3Press H (or pick the hand tool) and drag to pan. Holding Space, or dragging with the middle mouse button, pans with any tool active. On a touch screen, one finger pans only in the Pan tool — drawing, select, and lasso stay put. Two fingers pan and pinch-zoom in every tool.
4. 4Use the pan bar under the sheet to slide left and right when you're zoomed in; the ‹ and › buttons nudge in small steps.
5. 5Change sheets with the page navigator: type a page number, use prev/next, or open the searchable sheet list and pick by sheet number or title.

• PageUp / PageDown and the [ and ] keys move between pages from any screen showing the print.
• Zoom, pan and page position are per sheet, so switching back to a sheet returns you to where you were.

10Markup and annotation

The markup toolkit is for redlining and communication: everything you'd draw on a paper set, kept as editable objects on the sheet.

1. 1Pick a tool from the palette: pen and highlighter for freehand, shapes (rectangle, ellipse, polygon, line), arrow, revision cloud, text, callout, or stamp.
2. 2Set the style before or after drawing: color from the palette, line weight, dash style, opacity, and font size for text.
3. 3Finishing a shape switches to Select and selects that markup, so the next drag edits it. Turn on Repeat, or hold Shift as you finish, to place another of the same kind. Count keeps placing until you choose Finish count or Select.
4. 4Use the select tool to move, restyle or delete. Drag a marquee to select several markups at once.
5. 5Undo and redo cover every markup action, so experiment freely.
6. 6Export the markup log to CSV when you need a written record of what was flagged on which sheet.
7. 7Save stores the editable annotations. Print fits the current sheet, with those annotations, to the paper you pick. Download PDF writes a new flattened file and leaves the original PDF and the editable markups unchanged.

• Markups are stored per sheet and stay with the project. Printing or downloading does not flatten that saved copy.
• If a drawing is still in progress, or a project save has not finished, Print and Download PDF stop and tell you to save first.
• Measurement markups and redline markups can share a page — colors are the fastest way to keep them visually separate.

11Snip tool

The snip tool captures any region of a sheet at high resolution so you can mark it up and send it on its own.

1. 1Choose the snip tool and drag a box around the area you want.
2. 2The capture opens in the snip editor, where you can draw, highlight, add arrows and type notes on the image.
3. 3Place the finished snip back on the sheet as an annotation, or export it to attach to an RFI or an email.

• Snips are images, not measurements — quantities taken from a snip must still be measured on the live sheet.
• Capture at the zoom level you want to read at; the snip renders the underlying PDF, not your screen pixels.

12AI measure and sloped takeoff

Anything on any sheet can be measured, not just ceilings. Pick a subject — or describe it in your own words — and the app reads the sheet as an image, proposes what it can measure, and reports true sloped surface area and length instead of flat plan numbers.

1. 1Open a sheet and confirm the page scale.
2. 2Choose a subject: roof planes and perimeter, ceilings, walls and siding, flooring, trim, structural members, sitework, or doors and windows. Anything else goes in the free-text box, e.g. 'exterior roof perimeter and eave/rake lengths'.
3. 3Pick the scope: this sheet, or the whole set. Set scans run every sheet and group the results by sheet number.
4. 4Run the scan. The page is rendered at high resolution and read visually, so it works on sheets with no text layer.
5. 5Review the proposals. Each one shows the category, material, printed size or count, any pitch callout, the exact text it was read from, and how confident the read is. Confirm, correct or dismiss — nothing enters the takeoff unconfirmed.
6. 6After a set scan, run Cross-check. Sheets that disagree about the same element are listed side by side with both quotes; pick which sheet governs.
7. 7Trace anything the scan missed with the area, polyline and count tools, then tag it: an area becomes an assembly, a line becomes a member run.
8. 8Set the assembly's category, material, pitch, waste percentage and opening deductions, then read the quantity card.

• Sloped SF = plan SF x sqrt(1 + (rise/run)^2). An 8:12 pitch gives a factor of 1.202, so a 400 SF plan footprint is 481 SF of roofing or T&G.
• Base and perimeter LF come from the assembly perimeter, with a deduction field for door and cased openings. A raked run on a sloped surface is reported separately from a level run because it's a different install.
• Member runs are grouped by printed size, and sloped runs are lengthened by the same pitch factor.
• Cross-check compares what the sheets print — pitches, member sizes, materials and counts for the same element. Unresolved conflicts stay flagged so an estimate never silently uses the wrong number, and they can be raised as RFIs.
• Tagged assemblies live on their own layer with a hatch fill and a pitch label; use the Assembly layer only filter to work without your other redlines.
• Confirmed quantities flow into the estimate and the markup log exactly like traced measurements, tagged as sloped.

13Estimate

The estimator converts accepted takeoff quantities into priced line items, with different logic for new construction versus remodel work.

1. 1From the takeoff workspace, open the estimate dialog.
2. 2Choose the job category. New construction covers sitework, foundation and framing sequencing; remodel categories assume existing conditions and demolition.
3. 3Review the scale basis panel — it shows how each quantity was measured, so you know what the pricing rests on.
4. 4Generate the estimate, then edit line items, quantities and unit costs directly.
5. 5Export to CSV for your estimating spreadsheet.

• Unit costs are AI-generated starting points, not PBG's cost book. Replace them with your own numbers before anything goes to a client.
• Sloped quantities carry their pitch factor into the estimate, and the assumptions state that ceiling SF is sloped surface area rather than plan area.

14Scope

Scope produces a bid-ready trade scope sheet from the indexed set: what's included, what isn't, and what still needs an answer.

1. 1Open the Scope tab and pick a trade — plumbing, electrical, drywall, and so on.
2. 2Generate the scope sheet. The engine reads every sheet in the set for that trade's work.
3. 3Read the four blocks: inclusions, exclusions, clarifications and allowances. Each is backed by a citation.
4. 4Export the scope sheet as text to paste into your bid package, or keep it in saved history and regenerate after an addendum.

• Clarifications are the questions the documents don't answer — those usually become RFIs or bid qualifications.
• Saved scopes stay with the project so you can diff them after a revision.

15Bid

Bid takes the proposals you receive, normalizes them into comparable line items, and levels them against each other.

1. 1Open the Bid tab and upload a proposal: PDF, Excel or CSV. Enter the vendor name.
2. 2Wait for extraction — the proposal is parsed into structured line items with descriptions, quantities and prices.
3. 3Review the extracted line items and correct anything the parser misread.
4. 4Upload the remaining proposals for that trade, then run the analysis.
5. 5Read the leveling view: side-by-side pricing, coverage gaps (work one bidder priced and another didn't), and exclusion risk (language that shifts scope back to you).

• Comparison is only meaningful once at least two proposals for the same trade are loaded.
• Pair Bid with the trade's Scope sheet: the scope defines what should be covered, the analysis shows who covered it.

16Best practices and troubleshooting

Common situations and what to do about them.

The review found almost nothing

Usually an incomplete index. Confirm the specifications and schedules were uploaded, and that sheets aren't scans without a text layer.

A finding cites the wrong sheet

Check the sheet's number and discipline in Documents. A misread title block sends citations to the wrong place.

Intelligence says there's no supported answer

Read the searched / eligible / indexed coverage first. If retrieval was partial, that is inconclusive — not proof the rest of the set is silent. A full-corpus negative is an RFI candidate.

Measurements are off by a consistent factor

The scale basis is wrong. Recalibrate manually against a long known dimension.

A proposal extracted badly

Scanned or heavily formatted proposals parse worst. Re-upload a text PDF or a CSV export if the vendor can provide one.

Results feel stale after an addendum

Uploading sheets doesn't automatically re-run anything. Re-run review, regenerate the affected scope sheets, and re-ask any Intelligence question that mattered.

A scanned sheet returns no text results

Review, Intelligence and AI Takeoff all read the text layer, so a flattened scan gives them nothing. The ceiling scan reads the page visually instead, which is the pass to use on that kind of sheet.

Before anything leaves the office

Every AI output in this app is evidence-backed but not authoritative. Verify quantities, prices and exclusions against the documents before they go into a bid, an RFI or a contract.