Estimates and Engineering Notice
Short form
Quantities, prices, and drawings from Eave Desk are material estimates and concept documents produced from the building company's own catalog, price list, and framing selections. They are not engineered, not sealed by an engineer or architect, and not approved by any building department. They do not account for your site, your soil, local snow and wind loads, or local code. Your building company, and the licensed professionals it retains, determine what is built, what is permitted, and what it costs.
What an Eave Desk estimate is
Eave Desk turns a building design into a list of materials, a set of drawings, and, where the company chooses to show one, a budget figure. It does that by applying documented framing rules to the company's catalog: which posts, trusses, girts, purlins, panels, trims, fasteners, and hardware the company stocks, at the company's prices, from the company's suppliers. The result is a planning and sales estimate. It is as good as the company's data and the rules, and it is checked by the company before it becomes a quote.
What it is not
- Not a quote or a contract. A budget figure in the designer or a portal is an estimate unless the company tells you in writing that it is an offer.
- Not a bill of materials to order from without review. Stock lengths, waste, substitutions, and supplier availability are confirmed by the company before anything is ordered.
- Not structural engineering. Nothing from Eave Desk determines structural adequacy, loads, soil bearing, footing or pad design, post embedment depth, connection design, or truss design. Where a sheet shows an embedment depth or a pad size, it is a design assumption to be confirmed against sealed plans, and the sheet says so.
- Not code approval or a permit. Drawings describe the building as designed. A building department reviews sealed plans prepared for the site, not these drawings.
- Not a substitute for the professionals. A licensed engineer, and where required an architect and a licensed contractor, are responsible for the building that is actually built.
Markings and what they mean
| Marking | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NOT ENGINEERED: placement rules overridden by (name), (reason) | Someone at the company turned off Eave Desk's rules that keep doors and windows clear of posts and each other for this design. Every drawing from it carries this line, and the CAD export and document package are withheld. The building shown needs a framing review before it can be quoted or built |
| Preliminary | The document is pinned to a design revision and may be superseded by a later one |
| Sample or unapproved on a price | The price list has not been approved by the company; the figure is a placeholder |
| Priced as (size); confirm the assembly with the engineer | The catalog specifies a member size for which no sourced connection detail exists; the line is priced but must be confirmed |
| Concept allowance, not engineered footing | A pad or footing quantity is a volume allowance from the design, not a footing design |
| Depth is a per-job engineering answer; confirm against the stamped plans | Post embedment shown is one depth for the building, to be confirmed by the sealed plans for the site |
For building companies
You are responsible for confirming quantities, stock lengths, prices, and suppliers before ordering; for obtaining the engineering review, sealed plans, permits, and inspections the law requires where the building goes; and for every representation you make to a customer, a supplier, an engineer, or an authority about an Eave Desk output. Do not present any output as engineered, permitted, or code-compliant unless a licensed professional you retained has made it so, and do not remove or obscure a marking. Where a line carries a note, treat the note as a required review.
Engineer handoff
The engineer handoff packet (PDF, CSV, JSON, and DXF where available) gives the geometry of the building as designed: decimal-foot coordinates from a front-left ground origin, post stations, opening jambs and sills as modeled rough openings, and pole points giving visible height only, not purchased length, embedment, footing, or bearing design. Quantities carry the calculator's assumptions. The packet is a starting point for the engineer's own design and is not a submission for approval. Expected orientation, sheet scale, and coordinate conventions are documented in the packet; the receiving engineer confirms them against one approved job before relying on them.
Questions
About a specific building, price, or quote: the building company whose name is on the document. About this notice or the software: legal@eavedesk.com.