When you leave a site visit, four things should already be in your pocket: a complete floor plan, accurate dimensions, your handwritten notes, and the quantities you need for a quote. The best floor plan tools make all of that happen before you even start the truck. Polycam does it in one go: a single Space scan on a LiDAR iPhone or iPad generates the plan and Spatial Report, lets you annotate directly on the plan, and instantly turns those measurements into materials and quantities. Magicplan is the other app that brings quoting into the field, building estimates right inside your capture. By contrast, apps like SketchUp and Planner 5D only start once you've measured the old-fashioned way.
This guide is about floor plan tools for contractors on site: what has to happen in the house, which tools do it, and the workflow that ends with a quote the same day. For capture speed alone, see our fast-captures comparison.
Key Takeaways
- On site, the plan, dimensions, notes, and quantities need to come from one capture, or the estimate waits for the office.
- Polycam produces the plan and Spatial Report from the scan, holds notes as annotations on the plan, and feeds room dimensions into free material calculators with a regional price range and a "Copy estimate" button.
- magicplan builds the plan during capture with built-in estimating, at $25 to $40 per project on a 10-project monthly minimum.
- Draw-based tools (SketchUp, Planner 5D) need the measurements first, so the site visit still ends with a tape and a notebook.
What Has to Happen in the House
The site visit is the only time you're in the room with the client, and anything you don't capture costs a second trip. Four things have to leave with you:
- The measured plan, with every room, opening, and ceiling height.
- The dimensions, in a form you can read off later without opening a model.
- The notes: what the client said about each room, where the new opening goes, what stays.
- The quantities, or at least the areas and lengths the quantities come from.
Jake Pieper, Vice President of Esteban Martínez Homes in Dallas-Fort Worth, on what a missed one costs: "Even the most meticulous professional risks missing a critical dimension when relying on manual tape measurements." His firm makes 3X fewer preliminary site visits since switching to scanning.
How the Tools Compare on Site
| Polycam | LiDAR scan, about 2 min per 100 sq ft | Plan generated from the scan, corrected in the Floor Plan Editor | Text, shapes, symbols, and photos as annotations | Spatial Report areas into free calculators; ESX export for Xactimate | $400 per user per year (Business) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| magicplan | Room-by-room capture, LiDAR on iOS Pro | Built during capture | Photos, 360° images, notes, tags | Built-in estimating with quantities from the sketch | $25 to $40 per project by commitment length, 10-project monthly minimum |
| SketchUp | Tape, entered by hand | Full 3D modeling, desktop | Dimensions and labels | Via extensions or export | Go $10.75 or Pro $33.25 per user per month, billed annually; Pro Scan $41.58 adds point cloud import |
| Planner 5D | Tape, or upload an existing plan | 2D and 3D, with rendering | Labels | None | Premium $59.99 a year; Professional (CAD export) $399.99 a year |
The table's first column decides the rest. A tool that starts from a tape measure gives you a good drawing after the visit. A tool that starts with a scan gives you the plan, the dimensions, and a place to add notes while you're still standing there.
The One-Visit Workflow in Polycam
What You'll Need
- A LiDAR iPhone Pro or iPad Pro
- A Polycam Business plan for floor plans, the Floor Plan Editor, annotations, and the Spatial Report
- About 15 minutes in the house after the conversation
- Talk first, then scan. At Polycam, we suggest doing the walk-through conversation before the capture, so you know what the client wants in each room and can scan with the quote in mind.
- Scan in Space mode. One route, every room in scope, about 2 minutes per 100 square feet. Point the camera up so ceiling heights come through, and capture doorways from both sides.
- Correct the plan. Open it in the Floor Plan Editor, fix any wall or opening that landed wrong, and label the rooms.
- Put the notes on the plan. This is the step that replaces the notebook. Use the text tool (the Aa icon) for what the client said, the Arrow symbol for the wall that opens, a Callout for the new island, and a Cloud around the scope. Photograph the panel or the plumbing you're worried about and place it on the plan as a custom symbol.
- Pull the numbers. The Spatial Report lists each room's dimensions and area. Enter them in the free material calculators for flooring, tile, drywall, and baseboard, pick the material grade, and click "Copy estimate" to get quantities with waste and a regional price range for the quote.
- Send before you leave. Share the 3D model link with the client, export the annotated plan as a PDF, and send the quote from the quantities. If the job runs through Xactimate, export the ESX.
4M Construction, a remodeler in West Linn, Oregon, reports square footage takeoffs down from about an hour to 10 to 15 minutes and estimate creation time down 80 percent after moving to this workflow. Founder Dustin Robbins: "Before Polycam, my initial estimates were often 30-40% lower than my subcontractor bids." They now land within 10 percent.
When magicplan Fits Better
magicplan keeps the whole thing in one app: the plan builds during capture, photos and 360° images attach to it, and the estimate comes from the sketch's quantities with a PDF report at the end. For a firm running a dozen or more jobs a month that wants estimating inside the plan rather than beside it, that's the fit. The cost is the model: plans start at 10 projects a month at $25 to $40 per project depending on commitment length, a floor of $250 to $400 a month, and the capture is room by room with corner confirmation rather than one continuous walk.
Where the Draw-Based Tools Belong
SketchUp and Planner 5D aren't site-visit tools. They're what you open afterward: SketchUp for a 3D design model, Planner 5D for a furnished rendering. Both can start from a Polycam export. The plan exports as a DXF for SketchUp, or as a point cloud for SketchUp's Pro Scan tier; Planner 5D uses a PNG or PDF upload, and dimensions come from the Spatial Report.
Prefer numbers over tape?
FAQ
What is the best floor plan app for contractors on site?
Polycam, for a plan, dimensions, notes, and quantities from one visit. A LiDAR scan generates the floor plan and Spatial Report, annotations hold the site notes on the plan, and the free material calculators turn room dimensions into quantities with a regional price range. Business plans are $400 per user per year. magicplan is the alternative with built-in estimating.
Can I take notes on a floor plan during a site visit?
In Polycam's Floor Plan Editor, yes. Text, shapes, symbols, and your uploaded photos appear on the plan as annotations and in the PDF, PNG, SVG, and DXF exports. magicplan attaches photos, 360° images, and notes to its plans. Draw-based tools add labels after you've drawn the plan from measurements.
How do I get a quote from a floor plan on site?
Read each room's dimensions from the Spatial Report, enter them in Polycam's free material calculators, and copy the quantities and regional materials range into your quote. This way, 4M Construction reports square footage takeoffs in about 10 to 15 minutes instead of about an hour.
Do I need a LiDAR phone for a floor plan app?
For Polycam floor plans, yes: an iPhone Pro or iPad Pro. magicplan captures on other phones with LiDAR assist on iOS Pro devices. Draw-based tools run on anything, because you measure with a tape and enter the numbers.
