Estimating software first — everything else is optional

An estimate is built from rooms. Each room holds line items, and each line item carries its own quantity, unit, and review state — not a single block of text describing the job. Measurements feed those quantities as server-computed records that a reviewer accepts or rejects, rather than numbers typed once and trusted forever.

The total is computed by the platform, not assembled by hand from figures typed elsewhere. It's calculated in cents using ROUND_HALF_UP rounding, so the same inputs always produce the same output, and it reports its own completeness state — INCOMPLETE_UNPRICED when a line lacks a price, rather than quietly treating the gap as free. Today, every total is RCV-only: no depreciation is applied, and the total says so. Sales tax is a single rate you enter, applied to the subtotal; with no rate the total reports NOT_APPLIED instead of leaving tax out with no explanation, and there is no automatic rate lookup or jurisdiction model yet.

Most estimating software treats a photo as an attachment, a measurement as a number you type once, and a total as whatever the line items add up to. PaxExact keeps the same basic job — rooms, line items, quantities, a total — but stores each piece as its own linked record instead of one flat document. That's a structural difference, not a workflow one: you build an estimate the way you already expect to, but the underlying data can be traced from any line item back to the photo or measurement that supports it.

That structure is also what every other module builds on. Nothing about it requires you to use those modules — it's just the difference between an estimate that's a finished-looking document and one that's a set of records a reviewer, a carrier, or a future version of yourself can check.

PaxExact Estimate doesn't require Claim Adjustment, Back Office, or any other module to be useful. If you only need to document a room, build a scope, and get a server-computed total with a clean review workflow, that's the base product, in full — nothing here is gated behind an add-on. It's sold first in the category you already know: estimating software.

Everything else on the platform is additive. You add a module when your specific work needs more than the base product does — not because the base product is incomplete without it.

If your estimates are part of an insurance claim that a carrier will review, Claim Adjustment adds the professional approval gate, a case file, and defensible export — see the Claim Adjustment page. If your firm doesn't run an operating platform today, Back Office adds intake, assignments, and reporting once those pieces exist. If you want to share status with a client directly, Client Portal is a separate, optional layer. None of these are required to keep using PaxExact Estimate as-is.