Build the Estimate

An Estimation in Darwin brings everything together:
modules, materials, labor, expenses, quantities (from IFC, 2D, or manual input), a price list, and project settings.

This isn’t a blank sheet. You’re pulling cost logic your company already has — modules that capture how you build a wall, a slab, a system — and applying it to this project’s quantities and today’s prices. Once your project is ready — and your IFC elements are mapped, if applicable — you can generate your first estimation with just a few clicks.

This chapter guides you through:

• creating the estimation container
• understanding the different kinds of line items an estimate can hold
• reviewing quantities
• organizing the estimate into sections with their own margins
• generating a cost summary
• handling revisions

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1. Creating an Estimation

To create an estimation:

1. Open your Project.
2. Click Create Estimation.
3. Give it a name (e.g., “Concept Estimate,” “DD Estimate,” “Revision 01”).
4. Confirm to create the estimation record.

You will be redirected to the Estimation Details page — the workspace where all quantities, modules, and cost logic come together.

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2. What Goes Into an Estimation

An estimate is not only a list of modules. Darwin gives you three kinds of line items, and a real estimate usually mixes all three:

Line item type	What it is	When to use it
Module	A reusable assembly — materials, labor, and expenses bundled together as one recipe (e.g., “Reinforced Concrete Slab 15cm”)	Repeatable construction logic your company has priced before
Module Composite	A named group of modules with fixed quantities, added as a single line (e.g., a “Typical Bathroom” composite made of several modules)	A larger reusable pattern made of modules that are always used together
Material / Labor / Expense (direct line)	A single catalog item added straight to the estimate, with no module wrapping it	A one-off cost that doesn’t belong to a repeatable assembly — an allowance, a specific rental, a material only used once on this project

Modules and Module Composites are how reusable Cost DNA enters an estimate. Direct material, labor, and expense lines exist for everything else — the parts of a project that are real but not (yet) worth turning into reusable logic.

Both kinds of lines behave the same way from here on: they get quantities, they get priced from the active price list, and they belong to an Estimation Section with its own margin.

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3. Adding Line Items

From the Estimation Details page:

• Add a module — search your module catalog and add it as a line. Its materials, labor, and expenses come with it automatically, in the quantities the module defines.
• Add a Module Composite — add a saved composite as a single line; it expands into its member modules underneath, each keeping its own margin and section assignment.
• Add a material, labor item, or expense directly — skip the module entirely and add a catalog item straight to the estimate as a standalone line.

If your project came from an IFC or 2D import, mapped elements appear automatically as module lines (or, when a BIM element was mapped straight to a material with no module in between, as a direct material line) — you don’t need to add those by hand.

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4. Entering or Editing Quantities

If you used IFC mapping or 2D QTO

Quantities will appear automatically.

You can still adjust or override them if needed — Darwin trusts your judgment above the model or drawing.

If you are estimating manually

You can enter quantities directly:

1. Select a line — a module, a composite, or a direct material/labor/expense item.
2. Enter the quantity.
3. Choose the appropriate unit.

Manual, IFC-driven, and 2D-derived quantities can coexist in the same estimation, even across different line types.

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5. Inspecting Cost Breakdown

Click any module row to expand its cost structure — you will see the materials, labor, and expenses it contains, each shown as quantities × unit prices or hours × rates. A direct material, labor, or expense line shows the same breakdown at its own single level, since there’s no module wrapping it.

Each component is clear and traceable. While the estimation is still being prepared, estimators can edit its lines, quantities, rates, and margins.

Once an estimation is approved and becomes the active baseline, Darwin makes the line-level editor read-only. Create or open a later revision when you need to change approved work.

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6. Organizing the Estimate Into Sections

A real project rarely has one uniform margin. Site work, structure, and finishes often carry different risk and different commercial terms. Estimation Sections let you group lines — modules, module composites, materials, labor, expenses — into named categories, each with its own margin per cost type: material, labor, and expense (subcontract resolves through expense margin).

Every new estimate starts with a default section, so no line is ever unassigned. To organize your estimate:

1. Open the Sections view within the Estimation Details.
2. Create sections that reflect trade categories, project phases, or work packages (e.g., “Sitework,” “Structure,” “Finishes”).
3. Set the margin for each cost type on each section.
4. Move lines into the appropriate section, or reassign an entire section’s lines at once.

Margin precedence

Margins resolve in order:

1. Line override — an individual line (module, composite member, or direct material/labor/expense) can override its section’s margin
2. Section margin — the section-level margin for that cost type
3. Estimation default — the estimate-level fallback margin

Margin basis: how the margin is calculated

Each section (or the estimate default) uses one of two formulas:

Basis	Formula	Meaning
Markup on Cost	price = cost × (1 + margin%)	The margin is a percentage added on top of the base cost
Margin on Price	price = cost / (1 - margin%)	The margin is a percentage of the final selling price

These give different results for the same margin percentage, so pick the basis that matches how your company actually quotes work. The basis can be set at the estimate level or overridden per section.

Display mode: Differentiated vs. Blended

Separately from the margin basis, you choose how pricing is presented:

Mode	What it shows
Differentiated	Each section displays its own margin and subtotal — the full picture, section by section
Blended	All sections aggregate into a single blended margin for presentation

Switching between Differentiated and Blended only changes what’s displayed — it never changes the underlying stored margin values or the calculated cost.

Section margins stay open to adjustment during review, and lock in place once the estimate is approved.

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7. The Estimation Summary

Click the Summary tab to view:

• total materials cost
• total labor cost
• total expenses
• overheads or margins
• final project cost

This summary acts as the high-level financial overview of your estimation, reflecting whichever display mode (Differentiated or Blended) you’ve selected.

From here you can:

• export the summary
• revise the price list
• duplicate the estimation
• compare it with other versions

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8. Revising an Estimation

Estimations evolve. Darwin supports revision workflows such as:

• creating a new estimation based on a previous one
• updating price lists
• recalculating costs based on new mappings (IFC or 2D)
• adjusting modules, direct lines, or quantities

A revision keeps the history intact while giving you a clean workspace for the next iteration.

The project container maintains all versions for traceability.

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9. When You Don’t Need IFC or 2D Drawings

You can build complete estimations manually by:

• adding modules, module composites, or direct material/labor/expense lines
• entering quantities
• applying a price list

Darwin does not require BIM or 2D drawings — it simply accelerates the process when they are available.

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10. Next Step

With your estimation created, the final key step is ensuring your prices are up to date:

➡️ Review Prices and Exchange Rates