RGA Estimator help

Common Questions, Tips & Tricks

(NEW) Measurement Tails

Measurement tails are useful shorthand abbreviations after dimensions that help indicate what style, installation methods, and gutter protection are on any run of gutter.

They are formatted as follows:

Dimension' [size/style/installation type]

The legend on the estimate goes into the exact definition of each variable tail on a given drawing.

Tails can be selected and dragged around the canvas, turned off or on via cycling through the DIM button, or individually turned off for shorter runs via the select menu once an object is selected.

Canvas Scale


"Zoom" level is determined by the scale of the canvas. You can see this measurement in the "scale across" button at the top left of the screen.

The number in between the - and + signs displays the visible length of the top ruler above the canvas.

A larger measurement means you have a larger canvas (zoomed out), while a smaller measurement indicates you are zoomed in and drawing in a smaller area.

(New) Reset Canvas


To reset the canvas, click the CLR button by the scale across toolbar. This will bring up a dialogue box giving you the option to clear the canvas (while preserving your price inputs and customer information),  clear canvas only (preserving customer information and price information), and reset (clearing all information and resetting the app).

This feature became necessary once the app was updated to use Local Storage across sessions.

Modifying Descriptive Text


Any areas highlighted in green from the estimate preview page (accessed by selecting "complete" from the canvas) can be changed as required. 

Use this to indicate colors, special instructions, or non-standard work to prospects.

Use this same functionality to add one-off charges from the line item report.


Moving Around the Canvas


The "select" icon has several purposes in the estimator - you can select objects to bring up their associated control bar to modify their length, duplicate them, rotate their dimensions, or other controls specific to various objects.

The select tool also allows you to "grip" the canvas to pan or scroll to different areas.

Hold the select tool down to re-center the canvas to your gutter map. This is helpful in case you get lost in the canvas.

(NEW) While in select mode on phones and tablets you can utilize pinch-to-zoom mechanics.

(New) Modify Pricing


To change unit pricing on a particular object or change its unit pricing across the app, first place the object on the canvas, select it with the select tool, and then hit the $ icon.

This will give you the option to modify the pricing for that particular object or for all instances of that object on the canvas.

Freehand Drawing Mode

Tap the straight line icon in the bottom control bar to cycle between straight line and freehand mode.

This is ideal for drawing bushes, quick shapes, and more. Freehand drawing mode also has a unique brush to further differentiate these lines from other, scaled lines on the drawing.

A future will update will allow you to change the color of these lines by holding the line icon down. I am considering adding other brush types, but this is not a priority.

Selecting Objects


Select the cursor icon and tap on objects to select them.

You can move objects by selecting and then dragging them into new positions.

Selected objects (gutters, lines, etc) will bring up various controls - the best way to learn what these controls do is to experiment with them.

For example, you can change the distance of lines and gutters by grabbing the blue boxes on either end and dragging them in different directions.

Developer Journal

Want to learn more about the estimator? Read the dev journal by RGA Director Noah Lantz.

Updated 10/01/26

October - Agent Steps
The next evolution of the RGA Estimator is coming close with the advent of AI agents.

AI agents are essentially AI employees who work for you, 24/7, around the clock.

The plan is to enroll a team of these agents to work on the application, build out features, test them, and then release those to the public. They will also control marketing.

Previously, I was steering the ship - determining which prompts to use, coming up with concepts, and then shooting blindly with the assistance of several tools and hoping for the best, then reacting to the changes (good or bad) accordingly.

Quality control became an issue - for example, I entirely missed a bug where the app itself would reset after five minutes or so, causing users to lose their drawing. This persisted for about two weeks, and no one informed me about the issue - because they weren't paying for the service.

This new workflow will enable the RGA Estimator to scale with quality control in place. I'll still be the head of the ship, but most of the decisions will be made at a lower (and more capable) agentic level.

This will enable the app to scale across industries, starting with specialty trades and then diving into other spaces outside construction entirely.

This is an important step to continued growth for the product.

This new direction requires absolutely nailing the experience the user has on the canvas first and foremost.

To that effect, near term, future updates will be highlighting the actual drawing experience and the appearance and functionality of the canvas itself. The spacetime canvas is the first step in that direction, but this will also be important for canvas interactions and animations.

This also steps into monetization. I do not believe tools like the RGA Estimator can survive as a business for much longer given the ease of coding with AI agents and how much capable they are going to become in the near future.

My solution? The software itself becomes a funnel for social and business networking services.

September - Design Philosophy
The front end design of the RGA Estimator has two principles guiding it.

1. Pool UI - the user interface of the RGA Estimator is shallow, but deep once you step into it - like the inviting shallow end of a swimming pool. 

This design tenant makes the UI approachable and intuitive, while rewarding continued exploration and self discovery.

2. Momentum - from both a design and user perspective, I am looking for ways to reduce the number of screens and menus a user needs to navigate to take full advantage of the tool. 

V1 of the estimator required users to navigate 3 menus to complete the estimate workflow. I am currently at 2 screens. I would like the experience to flow from 1. 

This is both to reduce cognitive load on the user and further create a distinct, animated experience.

Future updates will build on this with dynamic shapes, takeoffs, and animated visuals. The spacetime canvas is important to this, and future updates will continue to lean into it.

Momentum, for me, means that the app itself drives you through to the end state.

For the September 26' update, I removed the Save Gutter Map functionality to reduce cognitive load and preserve that sense of momentum. Instead of having multiple paths the user has to choose to navigate when completing their drawing, they are now simply steered through to the Complete Estimate workflow. 

Takeoffs and Cut Sheets

I'd like to incorporate a basic takeoff into the system, including brackets, endcaps, miters, elbows, and extensions.

There does need to be a careful balance between ease-of-use and useful information - an exact takeoff requires user input and extra steps when drawing the gutter map. I'm hesitant to work these into the system until I am completely satisfied with the current drawing and proposal experience.

"Cut Sheets" - a list of gutter runs that need to be cut for the job - are much simpler. Ideally, I'd like to create a cut sheet that has both lengths from the drawing and an empty space installers can input the actual cut length - the idea being they would print this document off and bring it with them to the job.

This will probably involve a reimagining of the "save gutter map" feature, which was intended as a document to hand off to installers. From what I can gather, this feature is currently not being used as intended - I either need to remove it, make it more useful, or potentially bundle it in with the estimate workflow.

I'm leaning towards the latter. This will further clean up the canvas UI.

Estimate Preview - intended purpose 

The estimate preview allows users to customize their estimate - they can create a document with signatures, customize how pricing is shown, and add notes.

In the future, I'd like the user to be able to quickly scroll through different formats for the estimate.

This will be more intuitive for users, and will quickly convey how powerful this feature set can be.

Additional Drawing Functionality

There is an opportunity to further differentiate the estimator from competition by adding drawing styles, AI assisted estimate creation, and photos/images. 

Some of this work was completed in a previous project I abandoned in December 2025. 

Paid Version

I've had several companies reach out regarding a paid version of the RGA Estimator.

This will require building out a backend, seat management, admin controls, and an entire list of other features for the estimator to have the desired functionality a paid product should have.

And although we don't associate the gutter industry with creatives, the act of designing one is inherently creative. This in mind, I would like a paid system to lean into this idea and become a uniquely social experience within companies - where users showcase their work, progress, and more.

Creating all this is an expensive endeavor - the RGA Estimator is vibe coded, which means I need to pay for AI software to built these features out. 

Sensitive areas (ie the backend) will require the RGA to subscribe to a third-party service to ensure that confidential information remains secured - both in storage and in-transit. 

My estimated timeline to complete a project like this is roughly two months - as such, I'm waiting for several companies to sign on to the project before commencing that work.

If you are interested in discussing this or teaming up with other gutter companies to fund development by pre-paying for subscriptions, please reach out to me at noah@raingutterassocation.org
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