Tools to think
a project through.
The master directory of our planning tools, calculators, wizards and interactive guides — for the questions that come up early in a serious project. Conservative, well-documented, useful before any conversation begins.
- Calculator
- 15
- Configurator
- 14
- Interactive
- 6
- Reference
- 5
Built at the engineering desk
Each tool was first built for our own desk — sized to NBC, IS code and the kind of conservative assumption a defensible BOQ rests on. We made them public because the early-stage questions an architect or owner needs answered should not require an enquiry form first.
Reply window
2 working days
Cost to use
Free, no signup
Three common questions —
three quick paths.
Most browsers arrive with a specific question. Pick the row that fits and the three tools most useful for it appear with a one-line reason.
Designing a building that faces a Fire NOC?
Sizing a network or AV deployment?
Modelling energy resilience and efficiency?
7 disciplines,
one toolkit.
Each category has its own landing page with the full engineering brief behind the tools — assumptions, code citations, sizing logic.
7 tools
Fire & Compliance
NBC 2016, state gazette rules and IS-code-backed checkers.
Open category14 tools
AV & Acoustics
Sabine, screen geometry, AV-IP vs HDBaseT and scene-based planning.
Open category8 tools
Networking & IT
Switch sizing, PoE budgets, racks and enterprise Wi-Fi planning.
Open category4 tools
Energy & BESS
Energy efficiency, BESS sizing, DG → solar+BESS crossover.
Open category21 tools
Planning & Estimation
Brief intake, phase Gantt, specification tiers and AMC tier matching.
Open category1 tools
Brand Intel
Side-by-side brand comparisons across seven disciplines.
Open category6 tools
Operational
Symptom triage, ELV system maps, maintenance checks.
Open category
03 / Featured tools
Where most projects
begin.
Flagship-tier · most-used at the desk
Project Brief Wizard
Six structured questions, a written response within two working days. The fastest path to engaging the practice on a real project.
Energy & Efficiency Estimator
Adjust building variables and see indicative energy and CO₂ savings (kWh) for a BMS-driven energy upgrade plus daylight-harvesting LED retrofit. Conservative; defensible in a first conversation.
BESS Sizer
Peak demand + solar + storage strategy in, indicative LFP battery size, inverter rating, daily throughput and cell life out. Vertiv, Delta and Fuji-class deployments.
CCTV Coverage Calculator
Building dimensions and risk profile in, recommended camera count, retention storage and bandwidth out. Sized to NBC and IS-grade specifications.
NBC Compliance Checker
Building height, type and occupancy in — list of mandatory life-safety and ELV systems out, citing NBC 2016 and the relevant IS codes.
Network & PoE Calculator
Sized to year-three load — switches, Wi-Fi 7 access points, PoE budget (watts), Cat6A run count, port/AP sizing. Cisco / HPE Aruba / Juniper-class enterprise gear.
03b / Discovery & coordination
Scope the project —
before the brief firms up.
Advisory consoles for owners, architects, consultants and project teams. Qualitative starting points that point to the right disciplines and documents — never a scope, BOQ or design.
System Need Finder
Pick a building type, stage and goals and see which disciplines to consider and what to share first. Advisory only — a starting point for a conversation, not a scope or BOQ.
Consultation Prep Checklist
Assemble the drawings, site information and people to prepare before the first conversation. Copyable for your own notes — a preparation aid, not a scope.
Architect Brief Builder
For architects, consultants and project teams — assemble a plain-language coordination brief. A draft input for a conversation, not a statutory submission or final BOQ.
Boardroom Solution Selector
Pick the room, how it is used and the platforms in play, and see a broad meeting-room direction with what to share. A planning starting point — not a final design, model list, quantity or budget.
Smart Home Discovery Wizard
For villa and apartment owners — pick your home, the zones that matter and the experiences you want, and map a coordination scope and room checklist. Not a final design, device count or security layout.
03a / Room & experience studios
See the room
before you scope it.
Guided room and venue explainers that live inside our service pages — illustrative, design-direction scene explorers, not measurement or BOQ tools. Each opens the page where the module lives.
Multi-room audio explorer
Walk room to room — lounge, cinema, kitchen, study — and picture the speaker, source and listening level each space asks for before any speaker is specified.
Home cinema scenes
See how a reference cinema shifts between Film, Sport, Concert and Reference — projector source, screen aspect, processor preset, lighting and seating moving together.
Lighting automation scenes
Tap Welcome, Dinner, Film, Goodnight and watch every circuit, shade and zone resolve across a reference plan — a feel for what a scene-based lighting backbone does.
Auditorium acoustic coverage
Picture how an auditorium or boardroom is laid out for even coverage and intelligibility — the spatial intent behind a room that begins on time.
Professional audio & voice-evacuation
Explore how PA and EN 54 voice-evacuation coverage is conceived for a large venue — the design thinking behind intelligible, code-aware sound in every seat.
Conferencing & boardroom scenes
See the grammar of a digital-conferencing chamber — mic management, voting and interpretation routing — rendered as a guided concept rather than a price.
Architectural & façade lighting
Picture a building and its grounds after dark — graze, uplight, cove and perimeter composed as scenes that move through the evening.
Home & bedroom automation
A feel for how lighting, drapery, climate and audio resolve into named moments across a home — the experience an automation backbone is built around.
Fire cause-&-effect cascade
Picture how an addressable fire system coordinates a building on alarm — detection, PA, dampers, door-holders and lifts as one choreographed response.
Building energy & BMS timeline
See how a building management system frames a day of plant, comfort and energy on one dashboard — the operating picture behind the analytics.
03a-i / Lifecycle & support tools
After handover —
keeping a system in service.
The lifecycle does not end at handover. These two planners help an owner or facilities team shape ongoing operations support once a system is already commissioned — preventive and corrective upkeep, periodic health checks and AMC scope planning.
AMC Selector
Shape an annual maintenance scope after handover — preventive visits, corrective cover and the support tier a commissioned system asks for. Response targets are documented in the AMC scope, not assumed.
Maintenance Health Check
Walk a structured readiness review of a system already in service — what to inspect, what tends to drift, and where a periodic check protects an installation through its operating life.
03a-ii / Safety & readiness checks
Plan for readiness —
then verify with the AHJ.
Early-stage planning and self-assessment aids — they help you understand likely provisions and scope before a brief firms up. They are not approvals and not pass/fail proof; every output is subject to drawings, AHJ/consultant review and project scope.
NBC Fire State Check
Map which fire-safety provisions a building is likely to attract by state and occupancy — fire hydrant, fire alarm and fire extinguisher works where applicable to project scope. A readiness map to confirm with the AHJ/consultant, not an approval.
Compliance Checker
Build a first-pass list of the life-safety and systems provisions a project may need to plan for — a structured starting point for scope conversations, subject to drawings, AHJ/consultant review and project scope.
Sprinkler Zoning
Explore zoning strategy at concept stage to think a suppression approach through early. A planning aid for scope alignment — final design is subject to drawings, AHJ/consultant review and project scope.
Fire Readiness Checklist
A readiness self-check before a fire alarm, hydrant or extinguisher conversation — how ready you are and what to prepare. It produces no device counts, layouts, zoning or NOC / AHJ pass/fail; design and approvals stay with the fire consultant and the authority.
CCTV Readiness Checker
A readiness self-check before a surveillance conversation — how ready you are and what to prepare. It produces no camera counts, placements, coverage maps or pass/fail; final design follows a site survey and the appointed consultant.
03b / Recently published
Newest at the desk —
four planners added this season.
Brief-stage planning tools — useful before the architect calls the engineering meeting. Conservative assumptions, documented.
Wi-Fi AP Planner
Floor area, ceiling height, wall material and client density in — AP count, PoE budget, switch ports and channel-plan advice out. Wi-Fi 6 / 6E / 7 with material-derated coverage and hex-packed cell preview.
UPS Runtime Estimator
Critical load in kW + redundancy target in — runtime per battery string at 100/75/50% load, recommended VA rating and the load-vs-runtime curve. Online double-conversion UPS only.
Hotel Technology Planner
Pick the property archetype — boutique, 4-star, 5-star, resort — and the planner maps each space (guest floor, lobby, banquet, F&B, spa, BoH) to systems, AP density, AV grade and lifecycle cost.
Sprinkler Zoning Planner
Building height, occupancy and hazard class in — recommended sprinkler zone count, riser strategy, valve room count and reference NBC clause out. Brief-stage planning only — not a fire-engineering submission.
03c / By lifecycle stage
Where each tool sits
in the project arc.
The same toolkit, organised against the engineering lifecycle. Useful when you know which stage you are on but not which discipline you need first.
Stage · 01
Brief intake
Stage · 02
Design
Stage · 03
Planning
Stage · 04
Estimation
Stage · 05
Brand selection
Stage · 06
Commissioning
Stage · 07
Operations
Planning aid only
Every tool here is a design-stage scoping aid. None of them replace a site survey, a licensed engineer’s stamp, or a regulatory submission pack. Outputs are conservative, documented and useful before a brief reaches the engineering desk — but a project decision is still a human-engineering decision.
04 / The full toolkit
40 tools
we use ourselves.
Free · no signup · documented assumptions
04.01 · Fire & Compliance
Fire & Life-Safety Compliance
NBC 2016, state gazette rules and IS-code-backed checkers.
Fire Readiness Checklist
A readiness self-check before a fire alarm, hydrant or extinguisher conversation. No device counts, layouts, zoning or NOC/AHJ pass/fail — design and approvals stay with the fire consultant and the authority.
CCTV Coverage Calculator
Building dimensions and risk profile in, recommended camera count, retention storage and bandwidth out. Sized to NBC and IS-grade specifications.
NBC Compliance Checker
Building height, type and occupancy in — list of mandatory life-safety and ELV systems out, citing NBC 2016 and the relevant IS codes.
CCTV Storage Retention Calculator
Multi-brand, codec-aware CCTV storage retention sizing across Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Hanwha, Bosch, Honeywell, CP Plus and Prama. Computes storage TB, HDD count plan, recorded bandwidth and an NVR/VMS class recommendation against camera count. Pairs with the CCTV Coverage Calculator.
ELV / Life-Safety Building Map
Interactive cross-section of a building. Toggle between CCTV, access control, fire, PA, IP-PBX, server room and BMS — see device locations and where each cabling backbone lands.
NBC Fire-Safety by State
State or union territory, building height and occupancy in — list of sprinkler, addressable FA, voice-evac PA, wet-riser and Fire-NOC triggers out, with explicit source-status tiering across all 28 Indian states and 8 union territories.
Sprinkler Zoning Planner
Building height, occupancy and hazard class in — recommended sprinkler zone count, riser strategy, valve room count and reference NBC clause out. Brief-stage planning only — not a fire-engineering submission.
04.02 · AV & Acoustics
AV, Cinema & Acoustics
Sabine, screen geometry, AV-IP vs HDBaseT and scene-based planning.
Boardroom Solution Selector
Pick the room, how it is used and the platforms in play, and see a broad meeting-room direction with what to share. A planning aid — not a final design, model list, quantity or budget.
Smart Home Discovery Wizard
For villa and apartment owners — pick your home, the zones that matter and the experiences you want, and map a coordination scope and room checklist. Not a final design, device count or security layout.
RT60 Acoustic Calculator
Room dimensions and finish materials in, indicative reverberation time and recommended absorber area out. Sabine equation; defensible for early-stage acoustic planning.
Speaker Coverage Planner
Engineering-grade speaker coverage and SPL planner across K-array, KGEAR, JBL Professional, d&b audiotechnik, L-Acoustics, Fonestar and Ecler. Predicts SPL at listener distance, coverage radius on the -6 dB dispersion axis and quantity needed for the room. Sources cited.
Room Acoustic Simulator
Drag speakers and subs onto a to-scale room plan and see a free-field broadband SPL heatmap, per-speaker coverage footprints and a plain-language coverage verdict. A fast tentative-coverage estimate across the full K-array, KGEAR, JBL, Bose, QSC, Yamaha and Sonance catalogue — not a measured acoustic simulation; engineering-grade results via EASE Focus or the brief wizard.
LED Wall Size Calculator
Direct-view LED wall sizing across Samsung, LG MAGNIT, Leyard, Absen, Unilumin, Panasonic, Delta, Christie and Barco. Cabinet count, native resolution, brightness adequacy, power and weight — with pitch-vs-distance honesty and camera-refresh flags. Sources cited per model.
Projector Throw Calculator
Engineering-grade throw distance calculator across 14 brands and 30 verified models — Sony, JVC, Epson, BenQ, LG, Optoma, ViewSonic, Panasonic, Barco, Christie, Hisense, Samsung, XGIMI, Formovie, AWOL Vision. Throw range, lens-shift envelope, viewing distance, pixel density and feasibility flags. Sources cited per model.
Cinema Sizer
Room dimensions in, recommended screen size, seat layout, Atmos format and projector throw out. Reference / Premium / Media-room tiers.
Lighting Scenes Interactive
Tap a scene — Welcome, Dinner, Film, Rest, Away, Goodnight — and watch every circuit, shade, AC zone and AV source shift at once across a reference 4 BHK plan. KNX + Rako + DALI.
Multi-Room Audio Explorer
Tap a room — Lounge, Home Theatre, Kitchen, Study — and hear the speaker, source and SPL appropriate to it. Sonance flush ceilings, KEF Reference, Waterfall glass-cabinet, Polk Reserve. Specify the rooms before you specify the speakers.
Cinema Scenes Interactive
Tap a scene — Film, Sport, Concert, Music, Reference, Standby — and watch projector source, screen aspect, processor preset, room lighting and seating shift in concert across a reference 10-seat home cinema. Trinnov + JBL Synthesis.
Rack & Architecture Explorer
A reference AV cinema rack, IT/network rack and BMS panel. Hover any unit and we tell you what it does and why it's sized that way. The boring rack that runs the room.
AV-over-IP vs HDBaseT
Six questions about endpoints, distance, growth, network, control and budget — and a scored recommendation between AV-over-IP and HDBaseT, with platform candidates.
Hotel Technology Planner
Pick the property archetype — boutique, 4-star, 5-star, resort — and the planner maps each space (guest floor, lobby, banquet, F&B, spa, BoH) to systems, AP density, AV grade and lifecycle cost.
04.03 · Networking & IT
Networking & IT Infrastructure
Switch sizing, PoE budgets, racks and enterprise Wi-Fi planning.
CCTV Readiness Checker
A readiness self-check before a surveillance conversation. No camera counts, no placements, no coverage maps, no compliance pass/fail.
Network & PoE Calculator
Sized to year-three load — switches, Wi-Fi 7 access points, PoE budget (watts), Cat6A run count, port/AP sizing. Cisco / HPE Aruba / Juniper-class enterprise gear.
Structured Cabling Estimator
Estimate total structured-cabling length, patch panel count and IDF closet count against floor area and drop count. Panduit, CommScope, Belden, Legrand, Corning, Furukawa, R&M. Cat6, Cat6A, Cat7, Cat8 copper plus OM3, OM4, OS2 fibre. TIA-568 compliant.
Rack & Architecture Explorer
A reference AV cinema rack, IT/network rack and BMS panel. Hover any unit and we tell you what it does and why it's sized that way. The boring rack that runs the room.
PoE Budget Calculator
PoE-powered device counts in — total watts, switch tier (PoE+ / PoE++ Type 3 / Type 4), and SKU class out. 30% headroom built in.
AV-over-IP vs HDBaseT
Six questions about endpoints, distance, growth, network, control and budget — and a scored recommendation between AV-over-IP and HDBaseT, with platform candidates.
Wi-Fi AP Planner
Floor area, ceiling height, wall material and client density in — AP count, PoE budget, switch ports and channel-plan advice out. Wi-Fi 6 / 6E / 7 with material-derated coverage and hex-packed cell preview.
Hotel Technology Planner
Pick the property archetype — boutique, 4-star, 5-star, resort — and the planner maps each space (guest floor, lobby, banquet, F&B, spa, BoH) to systems, AP density, AV grade and lifecycle cost.
04.04 · Energy & BESS
Energy, BESS & Solar
Energy efficiency, BESS sizing, DG → solar+BESS crossover.
Energy & Efficiency Estimator
Adjust building variables and see indicative energy and CO₂ savings (kWh) for a BMS-driven energy upgrade plus daylight-harvesting LED retrofit. Conservative; defensible in a first conversation.
BESS Sizer
Peak demand + solar + storage strategy in, indicative LFP battery size, inverter rating, daily throughput and cell life out. Vertiv, Delta and Fuji-class deployments.
DG → Solar+BESS Crossover
Diesel rate, DG capacity and monthly run-hours in — the kWp solar + kWh LFP BESS that breaks even against running the genset out, plus annual diesel litres displaced and CO₂ avoided.
UPS Runtime Estimator
Critical load in kW + redundancy target in — runtime per battery string at 100/75/50% load, recommended VA rating and the load-vs-runtime curve. Online double-conversion UPS only.
04.05 · Planning & Estimation
Project Planning & Estimation
Brief intake, phase Gantt, specification tiers and AMC tier matching.
Project Brief Wizard
Six structured questions, a written response within two working days. The fastest path to engaging the practice on a real project.
System Need Finder
Building type, stage and goals in — the disciplines to consider and the documents to share first out. Advisory; not a scope or BOQ.
Consultation Prep Checklist
Assemble the drawings, site information and people to prepare before the first conversation. Copyable; a preparation aid, not a scope.
Architect Brief Builder
For architects, consultants and project teams — assemble a plain-language coordination brief. A draft input, not a statutory submission.
CCTV Readiness Checker
A readiness self-check before a surveillance conversation. No camera counts, no placements, no coverage maps, no compliance pass/fail.
Fire Readiness Checklist
A readiness self-check before a fire alarm, hydrant or extinguisher conversation. No device counts, layouts, zoning or NOC/AHJ pass/fail — design and approvals stay with the fire consultant and the authority.
Boardroom Solution Selector
Pick the room, how it is used and the platforms in play, and see a broad meeting-room direction with what to share. A planning aid — not a final design, model list, quantity or budget.
Smart Home Discovery Wizard
For villa and apartment owners — pick your home, the zones that matter and the experiences you want, and map a coordination scope and room checklist. Not a final design, device count or security layout.
Energy & Efficiency Estimator
Adjust building variables and see indicative energy and CO₂ savings (kWh) for a BMS-driven energy upgrade plus daylight-harvesting LED retrofit. Conservative; defensible in a first conversation.
CCTV Coverage Calculator
Building dimensions and risk profile in, recommended camera count, retention storage and bandwidth out. Sized to NBC and IS-grade specifications.
Structured Cabling Estimator
Estimate total structured-cabling length, patch panel count and IDF closet count against floor area and drop count. Panduit, CommScope, Belden, Legrand, Corning, Furukawa, R&M. Cat6, Cat6A, Cat7, Cat8 copper plus OM3, OM4, OS2 fibre. TIA-568 compliant.
Speaker Coverage Planner
Engineering-grade speaker coverage and SPL planner across K-array, KGEAR, JBL Professional, d&b audiotechnik, L-Acoustics, Fonestar and Ecler. Predicts SPL at listener distance, coverage radius on the -6 dB dispersion axis and quantity needed for the room. Sources cited.
Room Acoustic Simulator
Drag speakers and subs onto a to-scale room plan and see a free-field broadband SPL heatmap, per-speaker coverage footprints and a plain-language coverage verdict. A fast tentative-coverage estimate across the full K-array, KGEAR, JBL, Bose, QSC, Yamaha and Sonance catalogue — not a measured acoustic simulation; engineering-grade results via EASE Focus or the brief wizard.
CCTV Storage Retention Calculator
Multi-brand, codec-aware CCTV storage retention sizing across Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Hanwha, Bosch, Honeywell, CP Plus and Prama. Computes storage TB, HDD count plan, recorded bandwidth and an NVR/VMS class recommendation against camera count. Pairs with the CCTV Coverage Calculator.
LED Wall Size Calculator
Direct-view LED wall sizing across Samsung, LG MAGNIT, Leyard, Absen, Unilumin, Panasonic, Delta, Christie and Barco. Cabinet count, native resolution, brightness adequacy, power and weight — with pitch-vs-distance honesty and camera-refresh flags. Sources cited per model.
Projector Throw Calculator
Engineering-grade throw distance calculator across 14 brands and 30 verified models — Sony, JVC, Epson, BenQ, LG, Optoma, ViewSonic, Panasonic, Barco, Christie, Hisense, Samsung, XGIMI, Formovie, AWOL Vision. Throw range, lens-shift envelope, viewing distance, pixel density and feasibility flags. Sources cited per model.
AMC Plan Selector
Four quiz questions about your operation. We recommend Bronze, Silver, Gold or Mission-Critical AMC tier with response targets and PM frequency.
Project Phase Visualiser
Pick a project profile and see the realistic week-by-week Gantt across our seven delivery stages — brief through handover.
Multi-Room Audio Explorer
Tap a room — Lounge, Home Theatre, Kitchen, Study — and hear the speaker, source and SPL appropriate to it. Sonance flush ceilings, KEF Reference, Waterfall glass-cabinet, Polk Reserve. Specify the rooms before you specify the speakers.
Specification Tiers
We don't publish per-square-foot rates. We do publish what changes between basic, premium and enterprise across design, brand stack, redundancy and documentation — for five disciplines.
Hotel Technology Planner
Pick the property archetype — boutique, 4-star, 5-star, resort — and the planner maps each space (guest floor, lobby, banquet, F&B, spa, BoH) to systems, AP density, AV grade and lifecycle cost.
04.06 · Brand Intel
Brand Intelligence
Side-by-side brand comparisons across seven disciplines.
04.07 · Operational
Operational & Maintenance
Symptom triage, ELV system maps, maintenance checks.
CCTV Storage Retention Calculator
Multi-brand, codec-aware CCTV storage retention sizing across Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Hanwha, Bosch, Honeywell, CP Plus and Prama. Computes storage TB, HDD count plan, recorded bandwidth and an NVR/VMS class recommendation against camera count. Pairs with the CCTV Coverage Calculator.
AMC Plan Selector
Four quiz questions about your operation. We recommend Bronze, Silver, Gold or Mission-Critical AMC tier with response targets and PM frequency.
Lighting Scenes Interactive
Tap a scene — Welcome, Dinner, Film, Rest, Away, Goodnight — and watch every circuit, shade, AC zone and AV source shift at once across a reference 4 BHK plan. KNX + Rako + DALI.
ELV / Life-Safety Building Map
Interactive cross-section of a building. Toggle between CCTV, access control, fire, PA, IP-PBX, server room and BMS — see device locations and where each cabling backbone lands.
Rack & Architecture Explorer
A reference AV cinema rack, IT/network rack and BMS panel. Hover any unit and we tell you what it does and why it's sized that way. The boring rack that runs the room.
Maintenance Health Check
Tick the symptoms — Wi-Fi dead zones, false fire alarms, camera downtime — and we suggest the right intervention: tune-up, structured audit or full AMC.
· Curated starting points
Browse the preset typology library
Hand-curated configurations for the engineering-grade calculators — hotel lobby BGM, 300-seat auditorium, home theatre throw, factory CCTV storage and more. Each preset opens a problem-specific narrative with the calculator preloaded.
05 / Or skip ahead
Talk to a project lead
instead.
Tools answer the early questions. The brief itself answers the harder ones. Send the drawings and we will write back within two working days.
