Generate a client-ready proposal in 60 seconds
The Estimator is Arcyon's flagship agent. It reads a full drawing set and produces a complete proposal — covering letter, project overview, trade-by-trade breakdown, line-item cost estimate, optional add-ons, and a professional disclaimer. Here's how to get the best results.
What you'll produce
A fully formatted proposal document with:
- Personalised cover letter addressed to your client
- Project overview with GFA, standards, and confidence level
- Room schedule pulled directly from the drawings
- Trade summary panel (Total Investment per trade)
- 200+ line-item cost estimate in one continuous table
- Optional add-ons section (upsells)
- Assumptions, exclusions, and risk register
- Disclaimer for legal coverage
Before you start
Have these ready:
- A complete architectural drawing set (floor plans, elevations, sections minimum)
- Finish schedule if it exists — Arc will use the product codes (e.g., MRS01, CLA01, TMB01)
- Structural engineer drawings if available — Arc will mark items as PROVISIONAL without them
Step 1 — Open the Estimator agent
From your project workspace, click the E — Estimator tab. Attach your drawings in the sidebar (all of them, for best results).
Step 2 — Pick a template or describe freely
Using templates (fastest)
Click Full Proposal. This loads a complete prompt that tells Arc to generate everything from the covering letter to the final total.
Other useful templates:
- Cost per m² — high-level benchmarking
- Labour Breakdown — just the labour portion by trade
- Provisional & Gaps Report — what's missing from the drawings
- Builder's Price — cost + margin + tax rollup
- Value Engineer — find 10–15% savings without compromising quality
- Trade Package Summary — one-pager per trade for subbie pricing
- Frame & Structure Comparison — timber vs. steel vs. LVL analysis
Using free text
Type what you want in natural language:
"Generate a full proposal for this renovation. We're the builder, we don't have structural engineering yet, mark those items as provisional. Include 10% contingency and 15% margin. Use Australian standards and AUD."
The Scope Questionnaire
If your message is vague (e.g. "estimate this"), Arc shows a quick card with 4 questions:
- Scope — full estimate / specific trade / cost per m² / client proposal
- Your role — builder (cost + margin) / client (total investment only) / consultant
- Engineering drawings? — yes / no (mark as provisional)
- Detail level — summary (20 lines) / standard (100 lines) / full (200+ lines)
Tap your answers and hit Generate document. Arc uses these to tailor the output precisely.
Step 3 — Review the output
Scroll through the response. Pay attention to:
- The PROVISIONAL tag on any items Arc couldn't fully price (these will be highlighted yellow when you export to PDF/XLSX)
- The Critical Items & Gaps table — things you need to clarify before submitting
- The Assumptions & Exclusions section — what Arc assumed vs. what you explicitly excluded
Step 4 — Export
Click PDF to get a professionally formatted, branded proposal ready to send. Click XLSX for a working spreadsheet where every line item is editable and subtotals use live formulas.
Click Email to send either format directly to your client, architect, or subcontractors.
Pro tips
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Upload your company template first. Go to Templates → upload a past proposal PDF. Arc will learn your tone, section order, and formatting — and replicate it on every estimate.
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Iterate in the same conversation. After the first output, ask Arc things like "Remove the pool scope" or "Add 5% more for site access difficulty." It'll update the entire document in-place.
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Use Cost per m² first for a sanity check before the full estimate. If the m² rate looks too low or too high for your market, you know the drawings are missing something.
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The Trade Summary panel is a sales tool. Show the client only this section first — let them digest the headline numbers before drilling into 200 line items.
Common mistakes
- Attaching only the cover sheet. Arc can't cost a project from one page. Attach everything.
- Asking for "everything" without scope. Use the Scope Questionnaire. Answers in → better docs out.
- Ignoring the Provisional tags. These are the biggest risk in any proposal. Address them before sending.