Quantity Takeoff Services
Our quantity takeoff services measure exactly what the drawings show - net in place, nothing padded - so the number you carry into bid day is the number the building actually needs. We count. You price.
| Item | Location | Measured Qty | Unit | Waste |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slab on grade, 6" | Level 1 | 412 | CY | - net |
| Metal stud partition, 3-5/8" | Level 2 | 233 | LF | - net |
| Gypsum board, 5/8" Type X | Level 2 | 4,200 | SF | - net |
| Reinforcing steel, #5 | Footings F1-F6 | 6.4 | TON | - net |
| Door, frame and hardware set | Levels 1-3 | 48 | EA | - net |
| TPO membrane roofing | Roof | 84 | SQ | - net |
Illustrative sample. Quantities are reported net in place; waste factors are applied on the material takeoff.
A quantity is never just a number. It is a multiplier. Miss 900 SF of gypsum board on a three-story partition plan and you have not lost 900 SF - you have lost it times your board rate, times your framing rate, times your finishing rate. The error never announces itself either: it sits in a spreadsheet that looks completely normal, survives every review because nothing about it looks wrong, and surfaces at the first pay application, when the contract is already signed. JU Estimating LLC measures the drawings so the multiplier starts from a count somebody has actually checked.
Four documents in one submission - everything an estimator needs to price the work without measuring any of it a second time.
Every measurable item the drawings describe, counted and grouped to CSI MasterFormat so the sheet maps onto your bid form line for line. Volumes in CY, areas in SF, runs in LF, counts in EA, structural steel in TON. Each line carries the sheet number and detail it was measured from, so nothing is a black box.
Quantities converted into installation hours using published crew productivity rates for that assembly and trade. You get hours by activity rather than one lump figure, so you can drop in your own crew composition, your own local rates and your own shift pattern without unpicking a single measurement.
Excavators, pumps, lifts and cranes carry hours too. We report equipment time next to the production rate that generated it - cubic yards per hour, squares per day - so the assumption is visible and you can change it the moment your fleet or your operator works faster than the published rate.
A written list of everything the drawings do not resolve: a detail that contradicts the schedule, an assembly with no section drawn, a finish shown on plan but absent from the finish schedule. Every entry is an RFI you can send before bid day instead of a change order you argue about after.
The measurement half of estimating is the half with a right answer. Here is the convention behind every line we hand you.
A quantity takeoff is the measured count of every item a drawing set describes, stated in the unit that trade prices in. Two estimators using entirely different rates should still land on the same 412 CY of slab concrete. Commonwealth practice calls this quantity surveying and calls the output a schedule of quantities; on a US bid board it is simply the takeoff.
In construction the unit is the argument. Concrete prices by volume, drywall by area, conduit by run, doors by count, steel by weight. Measure the right thing in the wrong unit and every rate downstream is wrong by the same factor, so we state the unit and the convention on every line. Need every trade measured together instead? That is our construction takeoff services. Need them priced? That is construction cost estimating services.
Four unit families cover almost every line on a commercial job. Which family an item belongs to is a decision, not a default - a footing can be measured as volume or as trench length, and the two price differently. We use the family the trade prices in.
Volume. Anything poured, placed, excavated or backfilled goes in cubic yards; fractional items - grout pockets, bedding sand - stay in cubic feet. Concrete is measured neat to the dimensions drawn, with no over-pour built in.
Area. Drywall, flooring, painting, waterproofing and formwork contact area all price by the square foot. Roofing keeps its own unit - one square is 100 SF - so that is how we report it. Openings are deducted to the trade's convention, and we name the convention used.
Length. Anything that runs - conduit, pipe, base, curb, stud track, edge flashing - is measured in linear feet and broken out by size, because 3/4-inch and 4-inch conduit are not the same product to price. Vertical drops are measured, not estimated as a percentage.
Count and weight. Fixtures, devices, doors, frames and hardware sets are counted as each and reconciled against the schedules. Structural steel goes in tons; reinforcing steel in both tons and hundredweight - CWT, 100 pounds - because that is how fabricators quote it.
This is the distinction the page turns on, and the one most often collapsed. A quantity takeoff reports what the finished building contains. It does not report what you have to buy to get there. Two numbers, two documents.
Everything. 4,200 SF of gypsum board means the partitions carry 4,200 SF of face area when the job is done - no cut loss, no lap, no breakage allowance, no rounding up to a convenient bundle. Most trade estimators already carry their own factors inside their unit rates, and a padded takeoff double-counts them.
We round to the precision the trade prices in, and never in the direction that grows the number: concrete to 0.5 CY, drywall to the nearest SF, conduit to the nearest LF, counts to the exact integer. The rule is stated at the top of the sheet, not buried in it.
On the procurement document, not this one. Waste, laps and cut loss are properties of how you buy, not of what the building needs, and they move with sheet size, coil length and crew habits. Our material takeoff services start from this exact net number and document every factor applied.
Because two clean numbers can be audited and one blended number cannot. Net in place checks against the drawings; ordered quantity checks against the net number plus a stated factor. Blend them and neither is verifiable - which is where quantity disputes get expensive.
A takeoff you cannot check is a takeoff you have to trust, and nobody should have to trust a number their margin depends on.
Before anything is measured we calibrate each sheet against a known dimension string on that sheet - a grid bay, a stated overall, a door width. Re-plotted PDFs run one to three percent off routinely, and three percent on a 200,000 SF floor plate is 6,000 SF of finishes nobody priced. We calibrate to the printed string, never the title-block scale.
The written dimension wins, every time, and the conflict goes into the scope gap log with its sheet number rather than being quietly absorbed. Details drawn at a second scale are calibrated separately, view by view. On a scan or a photographed sketch we say so on the line, so you know which quantities carry a wider tolerance than the rest.
A takeoff is only as good as your ability to challenge it. Every line we hand you can be traced back to the exact place it came from, opened in the marked-up PDF, and settled in about a minute - which is roughly how long you get when a subcontractor disputes a number in a buyout meeting.
Each workbook line carries the sheet, the detail or schedule reference and that sheet's revision - it reads A-201 / Detail 4 / Rev 2, not walls. When an addendum reissues A-201 you know at a glance which quantities moved. That is the difference between a fifteen-minute update and re-measuring the floor.
Want to see the format before you send anything? Browse our sample quantity takeoff files.
Three steps, one handoff, and a file you can open and edit the moment it lands.
Send the plan set - PDF, DWG, DXF, most CAD formats, and hand sketches if that is genuinely what exists. We confirm the sheet index is complete, check every sheet for scale, and come back inside the first few hours if something critical is missing rather than measuring around the hole.
One estimator measures the scope. A second, who has not seen the first set of markups, re-measures the high-value assemblies and reconciles any line that differs beyond tolerance. Disagreements get resolved against the drawings, never averaged - averaging two wrong numbers produces a third.
You receive an unlocked Excel workbook with the formulas live, a colour-coded marked-up PDF and the scope gap log. Nothing is flattened, password-protected or exported to something you have to retype. Revisions are included; rush turnaround is available for a fee when a bid date moves.
Platform choice follows the drawings, not the other way round - and whichever tool the measuring happens in, the file that reaches you opens in the system you already use.
Our default for PDF plan sets. Count, length, area and volume tools with dynamic fill, every measurement kept on its own trade layer so markup can be switched on and off by division while you audit.
Used where assemblies carry the work - repeated wall types, floor build-ups, roof systems - so one measured run generates every component and the quantities stay internally consistent across a whole level.
If your team already lives in a particular bid sheet, send it with the drawings and we populate that instead of imposing ours. Estimators lose more hours re-keying somebody else's format than they ever lose measuring.
We measure from: PDF, DWG, DXF and most CAD formats; scanned and hand-drawn sheets accepted. We deliver: unlocked Excel and CSV, marked-up PDF, and files that import cleanly into QuickBooks, Sage and Procore.
Three different deliverables that all begin at the same drawings. Here is exactly where each one stops.
| What you get | Quantity Takeoff | Material Takeoff | Cost Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | How much does the building need? | What do we order? | What will it cost? |
| Quantities measured from the drawings | Included | Included | Included |
| Net-in-place quantities | Included | Starting point only | Input only |
| Waste, laps and cut loss applied | Not applied, deliberately | Included | Inside the unit rate |
| Converted to commercial purchase units | Not included | Included | Not included |
| Labor hours and crew loading | Included | Not included | Included |
| Equipment hours and production rates | Included | Not included | Included |
| Unit rates and dollar totals | Not included | Not included | Included |
| General conditions, overhead, profit, bond | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Scope gap and discrepancy log | Included | Included | Included |
| Colour-coded marked-up plan set | Included | Included | Included |
| Unlocked Excel deliverable | Included | Included | Included |
| Turnaround | 24-72 hours | 24-72 hours | 24-72 hours |
| Starting price | From $149 | From $149 | From $199 |
| Order it when | You price your own work | You are buying the materials | You need a defensible budget |
Turnaround and starting prices per our published rates.
One question, precisely: how much of each item does this building contain? A quantity takeoff is measured net in place. 4,200 SF of gypsum board is what the walls require when they are finished. It is not a shopping list, and we deliberately leave the waste factor off it - that number belongs to whoever is buying, and it moves with the sheet size they buy in.
It stops at the unit. It hands you 412 CY of slab concrete, 233 LF of partition and 48 door openings with the hours to install them, and then it hands you the pen. No rate, no markup, no general conditions, no bond. When you want those, that is a cost estimate - and these quantities feed one directly. Testing feasibility rather than bidding? A preliminary estimate is faster.
Order a quantity takeoff when you already know your own rates and just need the counts right and fast - that is most trade estimators, most weeks. Order our material takeoff services when you are the one placing the order and the factor has to be applied and documented. Order a full construction takeoff when every trade must be measured and reconciled together so nothing falls between two subcontractors.
What can honestly be measured changes with how much the drawings actually commit to. We tell you which stage you are in and what that means for the numbers.
At schematic design the drawings commit to massing, floor plate and primary structure and little else. We measure what is drawn, model the rest as assemblies by area, and label every assumed line as an assumption. Useful for testing whether a scheme is buildable inside a budget - not for bidding it.
By design development the structural grid, envelope build-up and major systems are fixed. Quantities firm up sharply here, and this is the stage where a takeoff earns its money by catching a detail that has quietly grown between design packages before it becomes a priced commitment nobody notices.
Full CD set, all schedules issued, addenda in hand. This is the bid takeoff: measured to the drawing, reconciled against every schedule, with each line stamped to a sheet and revision so an addendum re-measure takes minutes. This is what most plan holders order and it is what the 24-72 hour window is built around.
Single-trade quantity takeoffs start at $149, and the number tracks sheet count and scope complexity rather than project value - a 12-sheet fit-out is not priced like a 400-sheet hospital. You get a fixed quote before work starts, usually within five to ten minutes of receiving the drawings. High-volume bidders use the monthly package; see quantity takeoff pricing for the tiers.
We measure for contractors in all fifty states from offices in North Canton, Ohio and Manassas, Virginia. Measurement is geography-neutral - a cubic yard is a cubic yard in Boise and in Tampa - so your location changes neither the count nor the turnaround. Regional variation only starts to matter once somebody prices it, which is a cost estimating question.
Not because measuring is hard, but because it is the longest, least differentiated part of your week and the part that scales worst. It costs roughly the same hours whether you win the job or lose it, so it caps how many bids you can chase in a cycle. Handing it over buys back that capacity without a salary you carry through a slow quarter.
Four estimating roles, and the specific thing each one gets back.
You get an independent set of quantities to level three sub bids against. When one number is eighteen percent under the others, you can see immediately whether that sub is sharp or has simply missed a scope - before you carry them and inherit the gap.
You get counts in your own units, in your own template, fast enough to bid jobs you would otherwise pass on. Your rates stay yours. Nobody is telling you what your labor is worth or attaching an opinion to your margin.
You get measured quantities early enough to kill a bad scheme cheaply. Quantities from a schematic set will not win a hard bid, but they will tell you whether the structure and envelope are affordable before you commission a full design.
You get a quantity check between design packages, so a detail that has grown since the last issue shows up as a number rather than as a surprise in the contractor's bid. It is far cheaper to defend a design decision than to redraw it at 90 percent.
Not sure which service you need? Talk to an estimator - or start with the full construction takeoff services package if the whole job needs measuring.
Most bids need more than one of these - see every trade we measure - and sending them together means they arrive as one coordinated set.
Every CSI division measured and reconciled in one package, architectural through civil, for a whole-job bid.
ExploreWhere the waste factor lands. Net quantities converted into the units you actually order in.
ExploreThe pricing layer: unit rates, labor burden, general conditions, overhead and profit on top of these quantities.
ExploreFootings, slabs, walls, formwork contact area and rebar weight, measured to the mix design and bar schedule.
ExploreStructural cut and fill, aggregate base, utilities and paving, measured off the civil set and grading plan.
ExploreConduit by trade size, conductor runs, device and fixture counts, taken off the power and lighting plans.
ExploreStill unsure? Ask us directly, or read the full FAQ.
A quantity takeoff is the measured count of every item a drawing set describes, reported in the unit that trade prices in - cubic yards of concrete, square feet of drywall, linear feet of conduit, each of doors, tons of steel. Measurement only: no rates, no dollar totals. That is what makes it fast and independently checkable against the drawings.
A quantity takeoff reports what the building needs in place; a material takeoff reports what you have to buy to get there. The takeoff says 4,200 SF of gypsum board. The material takeoff applies the waste factor and converts that into full sheets in the size you purchase. Two documents, two readers - the estimator and the buyer.
No, and that is deliberate. Quantities are reported net in place, with no cut loss, lap or breakage allowance built in. Most trade estimators already carry their own factors inside their unit rates, so a padded takeoff double-counts and inflates the bid. If you need waste applied and documented, order a material takeoff - it starts from this exact net number.
Quantity takeoffs start at $149. Price tracks sheet count and scope complexity rather than project value, so a small fit-out costs a fraction of a full hospital package. You get a fixed quote before any work begins, normally within five to ten minutes of us receiving the drawings, and it does not move once agreed.
Standard turnaround is 24-72 hours from the moment we have a complete plan set. Single-trade scopes come back at the fast end of that window; multi-level projects with many schedules sit at the slower end. Rush and same-day turnaround is available for a fee - tell us the bid date when you send the drawings.
Every takeoff is cross-checked by a second estimator against the drawings before it ships, and typical variance on our work is plus or minus 5-10 percent. Where a drawing is genuinely ambiguous we flag it in the scope gap log rather than guess, because a documented question is worth more to you than a confident wrong number.
PDF, DWG, DXF and most common CAD formats. Scanned sheets, photographed plans and hand-drawn sketches are accepted too - we tell you up front if resolution or missing dimension strings mean a scope has to be flagged rather than measured. Send the full set, schedules and specifications included.
We flag it; we never quietly pick one. Contradictions between plan, section, schedule and specification go into the scope gap log with the sheet and detail reference, and where a quantity depends on the answer we state the assumption we measured under. You get a ready-made list of RFIs to send while there is still time to get them answered.
Yes. Every workbook line is stamped with its sheet number and revision, so when an addendum reissues a sheet we know exactly which quantities are affected and which are untouched. Revisions are included, and an addendum re-measure is usually a same-day update rather than a fresh takeoff. Send the addendum as soon as it drops.
Measurement only, unless you ask otherwise. Most quantity takeoff clients already hold their own unit rates and specifically do not want somebody else's markup opinions sitting inside their bid. When you do want dollars - rates, general conditions, overhead, profit, bond - that is our cost estimating service, and these quantities feed straight into it without being re-measured.
Yes. Send your bid sheet or estimating template with the drawings and we populate that instead of ours. Otherwise you receive an unlocked Excel workbook with live formulas, organised to CSI MasterFormat, plus CSV. Files import cleanly into QuickBooks, Sage and Procore, and nothing arrives locked, flattened or password-protected.
Yes. Sample takeoffs and marked-up plan sets are published in our samples library, so you can inspect the unit column, the sheet references and the markup layer before committing to anything. If you want to see your own trade in that format, say which one when you get in touch and we will point you at the closest match we can share.
Yes, on request and before you upload anything. Drawings, quantities and any pricing you share stay confidential, and we do not discuss one client's project with another. If you are bidding against somebody, that is precisely what the agreement exists for - ask up front and we will have it back the same day.
Send your drawings today and our quantity takeoff services return measured, net-in-place quantities in 24-72 hours, from $149. You keep your rates, your template and your margin - we just make sure the counts underneath them are right.
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