Administration — Projects, Project, New estimate, and Estimate

• Select Open projects to open Projects.
• Select Add project to start a Project.
• Select Build a cost basis to open Benchmarks.
• Select View all to see the full list behind a dashboard summary.
• Use the account menu to open Profile for your personal details.
• Open Settings for workspace and estimating defaults.
• Select Manage the team from Settings, or open Team, to manage access.

Key concepts

• Projects is the list of jobs in your workspace. Each Project has its own location and can hold multiple estimates.
• A Project can contain alternatives or later pricing attempts without replacing earlier estimates. The Project page lists its estimates together.
• New estimate is where you name an estimate, describe its Scope, attach Documents, choose an Estimate format, and select a Model.
• Estimate is the estimating workspace. It combines the conversation with the generated estimate so you can review, ask for changes, and edit values when generation is not running.
• Benchmarks provides reference unit-cost ranges for a region and building type. You can compare a priced Estimate with a cost basis.
• Project status is shown as Ready, Estimating, Draft, or Error. Ready means a priced estimate is available; Estimating means generation is in progress; Draft means the Project has not been estimated; and Error means the last generation failed.
• Workspace roles are Owner, Admin, and Member. Owner has full control, Admin can manage members, invitations, and estimating defaults, and Member can create and edit estimates.

How to manage Projects

1. Open Projects.
2. Review the status filters at the top of the page. Select a status to narrow the list, or select Show all projects to return to the full list.
3. Select a Project to view its estimates, location, totals, and supporting counts.
4. To start a Project, select Add project.
5. Enter a Project name. This is required.
6. Add a Project location if you have one. The location helps set regional labour and material pricing and the GST rate, and is shared by every estimate in that Project.
7. Select Continue. 3PM Estimator opens New estimate for the first estimate.

You can delete a Project from the Projects list if your role permits it. Deleting a Project also deletes every estimate under it, so treat this as a permanent action.

How to manage a Project

1. Open Projects and select the Project.
2. Review the estimates shown on the Project page. Each estimate displays its status, name, building type, area where available, total, cost per area where available, and counts for Documents and estimate lines.
3. Select New estimate to add another estimate to the same Project. You can use this for a base scheme, a value-engineered option, or a later re-price.
4. Select an estimate to open its Estimate workspace.
5. Return to Projects using the Projects link at the top of the page.

A Project does not need an estimate immediately. A Project without one is shown as having no estimates, while a Project with an estimate uses the newest estimate’s status and total in the list.

If you have permission to manage the workspace, you can delete an individual estimate from the Project page. Deleting an estimate removes its uploaded Documents and estimating conversation as well.

How to use New estimate

1. From a Project, select New estimate.
2. Enter an Estimate name. 3PM Estimator suggests a name such as “Estimate 2”, but you can replace it with a clearer label such as “Base scheme” or “Value engineered”.
3. In Scope, describe the project. Include the size, structure, finishes, timeline, and anything else the Estimate should account for. A paragraph is enough to begin.
4. In Documents, attach plans, drawings, specifications, or a scope sheet. These Documents belong to this estimate, so different estimates in the same Project can use different drawing sets.
5. Choose an Estimate format. The selected format is fixed for that estimate once it is created.
6. Choose a Model if you need to change the suggested choice.
7. Select Create estimate.

The Estimate opens after it is created. If the Estimate has not been priced yet, 3PM Estimator begins generating it in the Estimate workspace.

How to review an Estimate

The Estimate workspace has two areas:

• Chat contains the estimating conversation. Use it to add detail, provide constraints, request changes, or ask for items such as site works or Preliminaries & General.
• Estimate contains the generated cost document. On smaller screens, switch between Chat and Estimate using the tabs at the top.

While reviewing the Estimate:

1. Check the status badge. Draft, Estimating, Ready, and Error show where the Estimate is in its lifecycle.
2. Review the generated sections, groups, lines, quantities, units, unit costs, notes, optional items, and totals.
3. Use the available view options to read the Estimate in its quote or elemental presentation.
4. When generation is complete, make manual changes to editable values if needed. Save the changes to protect them from later AI rewrites.
5. If manual changes are available to undo, use the revert action to return to the AI version.
6. Review any visualizations when they are available. You can open a visualization for a closer look or remove it.
7. Open attached Documents from the top of the Estimate workspace.

If generation fails, review the message in Chat, add or correct the Scope, and try again. If the Estimate is still generating, wait until it finishes before editing values.

Tips & things to know

• Put job-specific information in Scope and keep workspace-wide standards in Settings under Estimating defaults.
• Settings can provide the default Model, default Estimate format, Currency, Cost-basis region, Area unit, GST rate, standard adjustments, and House pricing rules for new estimates. Changing these defaults does not change existing estimates.
• A Project location takes precedence for regional pricing and GST when it is available. If no location is set, regional pricing and the GST rate use workspace defaults.
• Use consistent region wording in Benchmarks. 3PM Estimator stores one cost basis per region and building type; generating another basis for an existing region and type replaces the existing basis.
• Only priced estimates can be compared in Benchmarks.
• A cost basis can be deleted from Benchmarks when you have permission to manage the workspace.
• Owner and Admin can manage workspace settings. Member can create and edit estimates but cannot manage workspace settings.
• Owner and Admin can manage invitations. Only Owner can manage workspace deletion, and workspace deletion is handled in the 3PM workspace admin.
• Team membership is shared across 3PM. Removing a member removes their access immediately, but estimates they created remain because Projects belong to the workspace.
• Use Profile to change how you appear to teammates in 3PM Estimator. Profile details are separate from workspace settings.

FAQ