When Eano’s AI writes an estimate or runs a takeoff, it can price the job from two sources you trust instead of guessing on its own: your own Cost Book, and verified product data from The Home Depot. You choose which sources it’s allowed to use, once, and Eano remembers. Any line priced from one of them is marked, so you can always see where a number came from.
Why It Matters
AI-generated prices are often close, but “close” is hard to defend when a client asks where a number came from. Pricing from your Cost Book means the estimate uses the rates you’ve already decided on, for the items you’ve already defined. Home Depot data gives material lines a real, current retail price to start from.
And you stay in charge of the mix. If you buy from higher-end suppliers and never want a Home Depot product in your scopes, turn Home Depot off and leave it off.
The Four Settings
Your preferences live under Settings (the gear icon in the top bar) → Project Management → Estimating. There are two groups, and each one has its own pair of switches:
Prompt-Based Estimating, for estimates the AI writes from a description: Use Cost Book and Use Home Depot
Takeoffs, for AI takeoffs from your plans: Use Cost Book and Use Home Depot
The two groups are independent. You might price prompt-based estimates from both sources but keep takeoffs to your Cost Book only. Each switch saves the moment you flip it, and the settings apply to your whole team, not just to you.
The First Time You Use It
You don’t have to visit Settings before you start. The first time anyone on your team runs one of these AI tools, Eano asks:
“We can use your Cost Book and/or verified Home Depot data to ground this estimate’s pricing. Which would you like to use?”
Pick one of four answers:
Both Cost Book and Home Depot data
Cost Book data only
Home Depot data only
None
Click Continue, and that’s it. Eano saves your answer as your team’s setting and won’t ask again. Prompt-based estimates and takeoffs ask separately, the first time each one runs. To change your answer later, flip the switches in Settings → Project Management → Estimating.
Until your team answers, the switches in Settings show as off.
How Eano Uses Your Prices
Your sources come into play at two points.
While the AI sizes up the job. Before it writes line items, the AI works out what similar work usually costs. With a source turned on, it looks up comparable items in your Cost Book or in the Home Depot catalog and uses those as reference points. These are ballpark figures, not prices it copies. If your Cost Book says a sink install runs about $200, the AI knows the neighborhood, then adjusts up or down for what this particular job involves.
When it writes the final lines. Once the estimate is drafted, Eano goes through each line looking for a good match in your sources. When it finds one, that line takes the matched unit price. Your line keeps its own name and quantity.
A few rules decide which match wins:
Your Cost Book comes first. If an item in your Cost Book and a Home Depot product both fit a line, your Cost Book wins. It’s your own data.
Home Depot only prices materials. Labor lines can match your Cost Book, but never a Home Depot product.
No match beats a bad match. If nothing in your sources is a genuine fit, the line keeps the AI’s price. If you spec a high-end built-in refrigerator, Eano won’t swap in a budget model from a store catalog just because one exists.
Spotting a Matched Line
Matched lines carry a small icon next to the unit price, both in the preview before you insert and on the Scope tab afterward:
A book icon means the price came from your Cost Book. Hover over it for “Verified by your Cost Book.”
The Home Depot logo means the price came from The Home Depot. Hover over it for “Verified by The Home Depot.” Click the logo to open the product page on The Home Depot’s website.
The unit price on a matched line is locked to its source, so it can’t drift away from the number it claims to be. You can still change the Quantity and the Markup. If you’d rather price a line yourself, delete it and add your own line in its place.
Generating an Estimate from the Scope Tab
On an opportunity or project’s Scope tab, click Generate Estimate with AI. What you see next depends on your setting:
With at least one source on, you get a single description box. Describe the job, add photos if you have them, and click Generate with AI. Two checkboxes sit beside the button, Use Cost Book Item and Use Home Depot Data. They start out matching your team’s setting, and you can untick one for just this estimate. Doing that doesn’t change the setting.
With both sources off (None), you get the conversational version, where the AI asks a few questions before writing your scope.
Paste Your Scope never uses either source. It builds the scope from the estimate you pasted in.
In Ask AI
Ask AI follows the same settings. Ask it to write or review an estimate, or start a takeoff there, and it uses your team’s choices. If your team hasn’t answered yet, Ask AI shows the same question as a card in the chat, saves your answer, and carries on with what you asked it to do. Ask AI doesn’t have per-estimate checkboxes, so to change which sources it uses, change your settings.
Takeoffs
AI takeoffs use the Takeoffs pair of switches, the same way: your Cost Book and Home Depot data feed the reference prices, then the final lines get matched. See Uploading Plans for an AI Takeoff for running one.
One thing to know: a takeoff started from Ask AI asks the question first, but a takeoff started from the Takeoff Concierge card on the Scope tab or the New Opportunity form doesn’t. If your team hasn’t set a takeoff preference yet, that takeoff uses both sources and doesn’t save an answer. If you want a takeoff priced a particular way, set the Takeoffs switches in Settings before you run it.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Your Cost Book can only help if it has entries. The more items you’ve set up, and the more clearly they’re named, the more lines Eano can match. See How to Setup Cost Book.
Home Depot prices are national averages. They may differ from what your local store charges.
Look over the matches before you send. A match means Eano found the closest item in your sources, not necessarily an exact one. Pay extra attention to quantity and unit on Home Depot lines, since a product sold by the carton or the box won’t always line up with how the line is measured.
Other AI tools don’t use these settings. Magic Edit, uploading an existing estimate, and Video Walkthrough price lines the way they always have.
Web and desktop only. These settings and the matched-line icons aren’t in the Eano Pro mobile app.
FAQ
I clicked an answer the first time and now I want something different. Can I change it? Yes. Go to Settings → Project Management → Estimating and flip the switches. Eano uses your new setting from the next estimate or takeoff on.
Why didn’t Eano ask me which sources to use? It only asks once per team, and someone on your team may already have answered. Check Settings → Project Management → Estimating to see what’s set.
Why can’t I see the Estimating settings? Settings is available to Owners and Admins. Anyone who runs an AI estimate can still answer the first-time question, though.
Why didn’t a line match my Cost Book even though I have that item? Eano only uses a match when it’s confident the item really is the same thing. A differently named entry, a different unit (per hour versus per each, say), or a different quality tier can all keep a line from matching. Clearer, more specific Cost Book names help.
Why can’t I edit the unit price on some lines? Those lines are priced from your Cost Book or The Home Depot, and the icon next to the price tells you which. The unit price stays tied to its source, but you can still change the quantity and markup, or delete the line and add your own.
Can I keep Home Depot out of my estimates completely? Yes. Turn off Use Home Depot under both Prompt-Based Estimating and Takeoffs.
Does Eano use my Cost Book for takeoffs and prompt-based estimates both? Only if you’ve turned it on for both. The two groups are separate, so you can use your Cost Book in one and not the other.
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