Take-off on drawings · Luxembourg · CRTI-B
You measure on the drawing and PDF Mirror writes the exchange file that the country’s software reads: call for tender or cost estimate, in CRTI-B_V3 format. The bill of quantities is no longer retyped into a spreadsheet.
The whole chain, in one program
Between the PDF drawing you receive and the bill of quantities you send, there is usually a spreadsheet and two hours of retyping. That is exactly where the errors get in.
1 — Measure
You set the scale once, then you draw: lengths, areas, perimeters, volumes. A wall area is worked out from the room perimeter and the ceiling height; windows and doors placed on an edge deduct themselves.
Every measurement carries a label, and labels are gathered into groups — one group per flat, per floor or per trade. The pane folds away and filters, so the list stays readable across a whole building.
2 — Build the bill of quantities
Measurements feed the items of the bill of quantities, trade by trade, with their unit and total quantity. The wording of each item is written in the editor, on A4 pages that never stretch: what overflows moves to the next page, as in a word processor.
Every quantity stays traceable. You can see which zones of the drawing it comes from, page by page, with the calculation spelled out — enough to answer “where does that figure come from” without reopening the file.
3 — Export
The export writes a tender document in CRTI-B format, one chapter per trade and one position per item. The recipient opens it in their own software: nothing to re-import, nothing to realign.
For France, where no standardised exchange format exists, PDF Mirror produces the DPGF workbook — one line per item, numbered, with unit, quantity, unit price and amount.
The format, precisely
Since 2008 the CRTI-B has published an exchange format for tender documents. It distinguishes three contents, and the price is what decides which one you send.
| Content | PDF Mirror | What it is |
|---|---|---|
DEMANDE_OFFRE | Written | The bill of quantities without prices: you are asking the contractor to price it. |
DEVIS_ESTIMATIF | Written | The same bill of quantities with your prices: your estimate, which is not an offer. |
REMISE_OFFRE | No — you are not the contractor being asked | What the contractor you asked sends back to you. |
The file follows version CRTI-B_V3 and its DTD crtib_doc_soumission_v3.dtd, which PDF Mirror places next to the export so the document can still be validated years later. The rules for writing numbers come from the standard, not from our habits: decimal point, at most three decimals for a quantity and four for a unit price, no thousands separator, dates as DD/MM/YYYY.
The mandatory attributes are filled from your settings — company name, address, VAT number, currency. None is invented: a VAT rate is written only if every item carries the same one.
Trade catalogue
The CRTI-B also publishes a second format, not to be confused with the first: the trade catalogue. It is the standardised library for one trade, with its wording and its numbering.
PDF Mirror reads these catalogues in CRTI-B v3 format: the one shipped with the program, and the one you bought for your trade. Items are inserted into the bill of quantities with their original number and wording — the standardised numbering is kept, and it is what lets the recipient compare three tenders line by line.
The specification pre-fills itself from the take-off: the items you measured arrive already quantified, and you complete the clauses.
What it costs
Take-off programs on the market are paid for per seat, then paid for again every year in maintenance. The Métré edition of PDF Mirror is a perpetual licence: 349 € excl. VAT, no yearly fee, and the full PDF editor is included.
The take-off, the bill of quantities, the tender call, the CRTI-B export and the DPGF are all in the Métré edition. It also includes the rest of the program: reading, editing, annotation, smart-card signing, OCR, forms, comparison and e-invoice checking. You are not buying a take-off tool next to a PDF reader — it is the same program.
If you already hold a Pro licence, upgrading to Métré costs only the difference.
Try it first: download PDF Mirror, open one of your drawings and switch to Measure. Without a licence, take-off and Consultation open in demo mode — everything works; only saving and exports are reserved for the Métré edition.
FAQ
No. The take-off, the bill of quantities and the export are all in PDF Mirror. The PDF drawing you receive is the only input file.
No, and that is the point of the format. The tender file is a standardised CRTI-B document: the recipient opens it in their own software.
It reads trade catalogues. Reading tenders sent back to you is not in this version: tell us if you need it, it weighs on what gets built next.
France has no standardised exchange format for take-offs. There, PDF Mirror produces the DPGF as a workbook, item by item, which is the document expected in a lump-sum tender.
You can lock the PDFs you produce — take-off booklet as well as saved drawing — so the areas cannot be moved after they are sent.
No. PDF Mirror works on your own machine. No drawing, no take-off and no bill of quantities is sent to AMS Studio or to anyone else.