01Create your account
Head to app.trade-scope.net/signup. It's free for 14 days — no credit card.
You'll be asked for:
- Your name — first & last.
- Firm name — your trading entity, e.g. Optimal Energy Pty Ltd.
- Primary trade — Electrical, Data & Comms, Plumbing, or Fire.
- Work email — we'll send the odd update here, never spam.
- Password — at least 8 characters, with a letter and a number.
Click Create account. We'll set up your firm's workspace and sign you straight in.
02Sign in
Coming back? Go to app.trade-scope.net/signin and choose:
- Email and password — what you signed up with.
- Sign in with Google — if your firm uses Google Workspace.
- Sign in with Microsoft — if your firm uses Microsoft 365.
Forgot your password? Click Forgot? next to the password field. We'll email you a reset link, good for 30 minutes.
03Your first tender
Once you're signed in, you'll land on the Tenders page. It's your home base — every job you're estimating lives here.
Click + New tender. A small form pops up:
| Field | Required | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Project name | Yes | The project title from the tender invitation, e.g. Level 4 Commercial Fitout — Collins St. |
| Builder / Head contractor | Yes | The firm asking you to bid. |
| Trade | Yes | Defaults to your primary trade. Change it for cross-trade jobs. |
| Due | Optional | The bid due date — used for sorting and reminders. |
Click Create. You're taken straight to the tender detail page.
04Upload tender documents
The tender detail page has a big drop-zone in the middle. This is where the documents the builder sent you live.
Two ways to add files
- Drag-and-drop — pull files in from Finder or Explorer.
- Click the drop-zone — opens your usual file picker.
What we accept
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Documents | PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx, .xls) |
| Drawings | DWG, DXF |
| Images | PNG, JPG, JPEG, WebP |
Files up to 50 MB each. Bigger drawings? Get in touch and we'll sort it.
Auto-categorisation
TradeScope reads your filename to work out what kind of document it is. The keywords we look for:
| If the filename has… | We tag it as |
|---|---|
drawing or dwg | Drawing |
spec | Specification |
schedule | Schedule |
addendum or addenda | Addendum |
boq or bill | Bill of quantities |
| anything else | Document |
Got it wrong? You can change the tag from the document row.
05Parse the documents
Click the orange Parse documents button at the top right of the tender detail page.
We work through every document you've uploaded and extract:
- The scope tree — sections, sub-items, and the quantities for each.
- Pricing benchmarks — comparable line items from your firm's history and market data.
- Scope gaps — anything missing detail or cross-referencing something the builder didn't send.
- RFI candidates — questions worth raising with the builder before you bid.
How long does it take?
| What you uploaded | Roughly |
|---|---|
| One short PDF (≤10 pages) | 30 – 60 seconds |
| One full spec (50 – 200 pages) | 2 – 5 minutes |
| Whole tender package (drawings + spec + schedule) | 5 – 15 minutes |
You can leave the page and come back — the work runs on our side, not in your browser. When it's done, the document status flips from processing to parsed.
06Review the scope
Once parsed, you'll work across seven tabs at the bottom of the tender page:
| Tab | What's there |
|---|---|
| Scope tree | Hierarchical breakdown of every line item, with quantities. |
| Gaps | Items we flagged as missing detail. |
| RFIs | Suggested questions for the builder. |
| Pricing | Benchmark prices for each line. |
| Benchmark | Your firm's historical pricing on similar jobs. |
| Review | Final pass before export. |
| Export | To PDF, Excel, or your firm's estimating tool. |
You can edit any line — change quantities, swap units, add notes, mark items as excluded, mark them as RFI-blocked. Your edits never overwrite the parsed data; they sit alongside as your firm's call.
07Trade packs
A trade pack is the set of assemblies, benchmarks, and compliance hints that we use to read your tender.
We ship with four packs:
- Electrical — switchboards, lighting, power, containment, safety.
- Data & Communications — structured cabling, active equipment, AV.
- Plumbing — sanitary, water service, drainage, gas, hot water.
- Fire — sprinkler, hydrant, hose reel, detection.
Each pack is aligned with the relevant Australian standards (your account admin can see exactly which from Settings → Trade packs).
By default your account is set up with the trade pack matching the primary trade you chose at sign-up. Need a second pack for a cross-trade job? Get in touch.
FAQ
Is my tender data private?
Yes. Everything you upload is encrypted in transit and at rest, scoped to your firm's workspace, and only used to produce your bids. We don't train on your tenders.
Can my whole team use the same account?
One account per person. Each estimator gets their own login, and you can see who edited what. The first sign-up creates the firm's workspace; invite teammates from Settings after that.
What happens after the 14-day trial?
You'll have time to choose a plan that fits the size of your team and the volume you parse. Pricing is on the homepage.
The parser missed something — can I correct it?
Always. Click any line in the scope tree to edit. Your edits are kept as your firm's authoritative version, separate from the original parse, so you can always see what we read vs what you decided.
Which file formats do you handle?
PDF, Word, Excel, AutoCAD drawings (DWG/DXF), and common image formats. If your tender comes in something exotic, send it through and we'll sort it.
Do I need to install anything?
No — TradeScope runs in any modern browser. Mobile, tablet, desktop, all welcome.
What about my historic estimates? Can I import them?
Yes — talk to us. The more historic pricing we can ingest, the sharper your Benchmark tab becomes. Email [email protected].
I'm trialling and the parse counter looks low — why?
Trial accounts have a sensible parse cap so we don't burn through anyone's first impression. If you hit it, we'll lift it on request — just email us.
Get help from a human
Stuck on something this page didn't cover, or just want to talk through a tender before you commit? We respond inside business hours (AEST).
[email protected]
Tell us your firm name, the tender, and the bit that's tripping you up. We'll come back the same day.
Email support