See how it will look. Know what it will take and cost to build. Understand what it may cost to run. ICF Designer connects the visual, the ICF design, the quantities, the build budget and the thermal performance to one live project model.
Flagship model ≈ $155/year heating vs typical NZ code-built home ≈ $1,829/year Indicative—not a guaranteed bill
The look, the take-off, the build estimate and the heating estimate come from the model behind this render.
Start with the plan, inspect the building in live 3D, then show the finished idea—without disconnecting the visual from the build information beneath it.
Change the project once. The visualisation, ICF layout, quantities, build cost and performance evidence stay connected.
"Renders sell the house. Bills of materials build it."
Thermal heat-loss view
Block-course layout
One model gives you two useful x-rays. See where the building may lose heat, and see how the walls are actually coursed and reinforced. The design is resolved block by block, with offcuts from one wall matched to the needs of another.
Those design decisions become the quantities—and the quantities become the cost.
Green means a verified rate. Amber means an honest estimate. You can see the difference before either becomes a commitment.
The budget is built from the geometry: blocks, concrete, reinforcing steel, labour and waste. ICF Designer never dresses an estimate as a fact, so you know which parts of the budget to lean on and which to pressure-test.
| Line item | Quantity | Status | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICF wall materials — blocks, corners and accessories | 259.4 m² | FACT | $48,547.21 |
| Ready-mix concrete and pumping — ICF walls | 38.18 m³ | FACT | $13,872.10 |
| Reinforcing steel — walls | 3,819.0 kg | FACT | $13,748.40 |
| ICF installation labour | 83.8 hrs | FACT | $5,028.00 |
| Bracing & temporary works | 103 braces · 62 planks | FACT | $7,900.80 |
A border moves the price, not the building. Square metres, cubic metres, tonnes of steel — for a given design, those are facts of the building, wherever you build it. Only the price moves: by country, region, even by supplier. Key lines from the flagship build's full breakdown — green because these are rates we verify in our home market; where a rate is an estimate it shows amber and says so.
A budget you can defend — because we showed you which parts to defend.
We ran the same floor plan as this high-performance ICF home and as a typical NZ code-built home. The plain-English comparison shows the yearly heating and cooling each may need—and what that could mean for the cost to run the home.
Lower numbers mean less energy is needed.
See the home you are imagining, then understand the cost behind it.
Test a concept before you commit too far. See blocks, concrete, steel, labour, waste and budget early — while changes are still easy.
See what it may cost to run, not just to build—compare how windows, insulation, airtightness and natural ventilation affect heating and cooling.
Test an ICF concept →Walk into the client meeting with the picture and the price. Same model — no daylight between what they see and what you quote.
Build a take-off from real geometry. Protect margin with explainable quantities, then carry them downstream to ordering and exports.
Build a trusted take-off →PHD Building is New Zealand's Nudura ICF distributor and Australasia's ICF trainer — 250+ projects, including Te Toka, our 2022 International ICF Award winner. Across every one of those projects, the same problems kept appearing before the pour. ICF Designer is the tool we built to fix them, and today it's the same software we use when pricing and planning our own projects.
Te Toka, Lake Wakatipu — PHD Building · 2022 International ICF Award Winner
Every headline number is backed by the model. Inspection views show how bars, laps, openings and quantities were derived — so an early estimate can be questioned and verified rather than taken on faith. Confidence comes from traceability.
Once the model is ready, the quantities carry forward into schedules, ordering lists and export files. Everything flows from the same geometry.
Practical notes on early quantities, cost decisions and build planning from ICF Designer and PHD Building. This list is optional and separate from registering for the app.
Start with the external-wall layout. Then connect the finished look, build quantities, build cost and predicted thermal performance in one project model.
Initial external-wall layout at no charge · full access from $50 one-off for a single project
