Fire system quantity take-off and bill of materials
A workflow that sets drawing scale, extracts symbols and pipe segments, removes duplicates across overlapping sheets and releases a bill of materials where every line shows the sheet and zone it came from. An estimator verifies before release.
EstimatorManual counts from revised drawings are slow to redo and almost impossible to defend.
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Set the drawing scaleEstimatorQueuedWorkingDoneSign-off
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Extract symbols and segmentsAutomatedQueuedWorkingDoneSign-off
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Deduplicate across sheetsAutomatedQueuedWorkingDoneSign-off
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Verify the quantitiesEstimatorQueuedWorkingDoneSign-off
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Release a traceable BOMEstimatorQueuedWorkingDoneSign-off
- Who uses itEstimator, quantity surveyor
- Lifecycle stagePre-Sales / Tendering · also Engineering / Design
- Buyer groupTrack B · Estimating & Commercial
- RequirementsBRD v0.1, sent as written
What goes in, what comes out
Quantity Take-Off & BOM, step by step
Five steps, one decision point. The last step is a person, every time.
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01
Estimator
Set the drawing scale
Established per sheet so lengths and counts mean something.
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02
Automated
Extract symbols and segments
Devices counted, pipe runs measured, each tied to its sheet and zone.
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03
Automated
Deduplicate across sheets
Devices appearing on two overlapping sheets are caught rather than counted twice.
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04
Estimator
Verify the quantities
The estimator reviews by zone and system, with the basis of every line visible.
Estimator verifies the quantities?
Yes BOM released to purchasingNo Lines queried and re-measured -
05
Estimator
Release a traceable BOM
Exclusions and review status carried through to purchasing.
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Output
What lands at the end
A traceable item and quantity list by sheet, zone and system, showing the count or length basis for every line, plus exclusions and review status.
Who’s involved
What you get
- Traceable BOM
- Sheet and zone per line
- Exclusions
In the wireframe
A duplicate device counted on two overlapping sheets is caught, and the reviewer sees the basis for every line.
Who does what, and who signs
Automated steps prepare the evidence. People make the calls.
Swipe to see the whole diagram
Why this costs you time today
Manual counts from revised drawings are slow to redo and almost impossible to defend. An omission or a double count flows straight into purchasing and into the bid price, and nobody finds it until the variation argument starts.
What this software will not do
Life-safety work. These limits are written into the requirements, not added as a disclaimer.
Specific to this workflow
It supports quantity verification; it does not replace it. The take-off is a draft until an estimator signs it, and the release carries their name.
It does not decide compliance
The software assembles evidence, retrieves source clauses and shows conflicts. It does not determine whether anything complies. A named engineer does.
It does not stand in for an authority
An approval recorded in the software never implies consent from an AHJ, Civil Defence, building control or a building surveyor.
Nothing leaves without a named reviewer
Every output carries who approved it. Anything unverified keeps a draft marker until someone signs it.
It does not do sealed engineering
Hydraulic network calculation, definitive sprinkler layout, sealed design, BIM geometry authoring and final cost estimates are all out of scope by design.
Your standards, not ours
NFPA, EN, BS, ISO, FM, UL, LPCB and Civil Defence appear in the requirements as examples. None is assumed to apply to your projects until you say so.
That is a claim about how fast Colakin builds software with DeX, and it is supported by delivered projects. It is not a claim about what any of these fifteen workflows will save your business. The requirements deliberately leave that to a pilot, measured against your own baseline.
From a question to a pilot, in five steps
Nothing hidden behind a discovery call. Stop at step one and keep the document.
- 01
You ask for the requirements document
The full BRD for the workflow you care about, sent as written.
Same day - 02
A ten-minute wireframe walkthrough
A clickable prototype of that one workflow.
10 minutes - 03
The Fire Fit Check
Five questions: fit, hours lost, who approves spend, whether your documents can be shared, and timing.
One call - 04
A scope built on your rules
Your standards, your document formats, your approval gates.
Within a week - 05
A pilot against your own baseline
One workflow, your data, your engineers.
Q1
Also in Estimating & Commercial
Each one stands alone. Take one first, then decide whether a second earns its place.
Estimation & Costing
Every rate carries its source, so price changes explain themselves.
Customer-Ready Quotations
An approved estimate becomes a branded offer, exclusions checked.
Product & Equipment Selection
Certification scope as a hard filter, not a footnote.
Quantity Take-Off & BOM: questions
Can the estimator show where a count came from?
What happens when the drawings are revised?
Does it handle overlapping sheets?
Will it tell us how much time this saves?
Ask for the Quantity Take-Off & BOM requirements document
The business requirements document as written, including what it refuses to do. No brochure, no drip sequence.
- The requirements document, usually the same working day
- A ten-minute wireframe walkthrough with the people who specified it
- No claimed percentage saving — your pilot measures it