Cabinet estimating without buying the whole manufacturing suite.
The established cabinet estimating tools are design-to-manufacturing systems with costing attached. If you need the number and the quote — not the CNC toolpaths — that is a lot of software to carry.
Cabinet estimating in this trade has historically meant one of the big design-to-manufacturing suites. You build the job in their library of parametric cabinets, and the estimate falls out of the model along with the machining data.
That is genuinely powerful, and for a shop running panel saws and CNC routers off the same model it is the right architecture. It also means the estimate is downstream of a full modelling exercise: before you can price the job, you have to build it.
PlankCAD inverts that. It starts at the cost lines, because pricing a job and manufacturing it are different questions asked at different times — usually before you know whether you have even won the work.
Estimating suites: the estimate comes out of the model
Installed desktop software built around a parametric cabinet library. You configure the catalogue to match how your shop builds, model the job from it, and the system derives parts, material, machining data and a cost roll-up together. Setup is a project of its own, and the estimate depends on the model being built first.
PlankCAD: the estimate is the starting point
Open a browser and enter what the job costs you — materials, hardware, labour hours against your rates — then apply waste, overhead and a true gross-margin target and export a customer-ready PDF quote. If the job goes ahead, the same parts feed a cut list and sheet optimizer that nests onto your real sheet sizes with kerf and grain respected, offcuts go on a rack for the next job, and you record what it actually cost so the estimate and the outcome sit side by side.
Where the two differ.
| Dimension | cabinet estimating suites | PlankCAD |
|---|---|---|
| What you build first | The cabinet, in their library | The cost of the job |
| Time to a first number | After the model and catalogue are set up | The first session |
| Runs in | Installed desktop software | Any browser |
| Machining output | Toolpaths and CNC data — its core strength | None. It does not drive machines |
| Margin | Part of the cost roll-up | True gross margin — profit over selling price, not markup over cost |
| Output for the customer | Reports from the model | A PDF quote with scope, line items, tax, total and terms |
| After the job | Varies by module | Record actual cost against the estimate and see the difference |
When a full estimating suite is the right tool
- You are driving a CNC router or panel saw and want one model to produce both the price and the machining data.
- You build from a consistent catalogue of cabinet types and want the library to enforce it.
- You have the time to configure that library properly — it is what makes those systems accurate.
- You need shop-floor scheduling, purchasing and ERP in the same system.
Using both
Plenty of shops price early and model later. Quote the enquiry here, and if it converts, build it in whatever suite already drives your machines — nothing here has to be torn out for that to work.
PlankCAD and cabinet estimating suites.
Not to price it. A price is built from costs — sheet goods, hardware, edging, finish, labour hours against your rate — plus waste, overhead and the margin you need. A model is how you build the job, not how you cost it. PlankCAD works from the cost lines, so you can quote an enquiry before committing time to modelling it.
Those are design-to-manufacturing systems: you model the job from a parametric library and the estimate comes out alongside the machining data. That is the right tool if one model has to produce both the price and the CNC output. PlankCAD does not model or machine anything — it prices the job and produces the quote, in a browser, with no library to configure first.
Yes. The parts you priced can be nested onto your real sheet sizes with kerf and grain direction respected, and what a job leaves over goes on an offcut rack so it counts as stock on the next one. It does not generate toolpaths or CNC data.
Gross margin, calculated as profit over selling price. That distinction matters: a 40% markup on cost is roughly a 29% margin, and shops that treat the two as the same quietly underprice every job. The math is visible on screen so you can check it.
Build your first estimate free.
No credit card required. Price the job, save the draft, and export the customer quote.
Deterministic Estimate Math · Your Quotes On Your Account · No Hidden Fees