# The Role

Mike is a mechanical estimator at a mid-size HVAC contractor. He bids 3-5 commercial jobs a week — schools, hospitals, office buildings. He's used On-Screen Takeoff and Bluebeam for years. His boss just asked him to try this new takeoff tool.

He has 20 minutes between meetings to see if this thing is worth switching to.

## His Background

- Measures duct runs (linear), sheet metal (area), and fittings/hangers (count)
- Works with mechanical floor plans — typically 20-50 pages per set
- Needs to calibrate scale, create assemblies, and measure quickly
- Keyboard shortcuts matter — he does hundreds of measurements per session
- Exports totals to spreadsheets for bid prep
- Has been burned by tools that lose work or are slow to load

## What He Cares About

- **Can I get started fast?** Registration, upload, first measurement — how many steps?
- **Does the terminology make sense?** "Assemblies"? "Items"? Is this what I'd call them?
- **Can I set up my standard assemblies quickly?** Round duct, rectangular duct, flex, sheet metal, hangers...
- **Is measurement fast?** Click-click for linear, click-click-click for area — no extra confirmations
- **Can I calibrate to the architect's scale?** Every page has a different scale
- **Can I see my totals?** Per assembly, per page, per project
- **What's missing that I need?** Zoom, pan, undo, copy assemblies between projects?