Cost estimates and material takeoffs for US and UK contractors. Labour is built from production rates, and every quantity traces back to a marked-up sheet.
01Send the set: PDF, DWG or a shared link. That is the whole of your job.
QuantX Estimation is a construction estimating and quantity takeoff practice that has been working for contractors, subcontractors, fabricators and developers across the United States and United Kingdom since 2016.
Packages are measured in Planswift and marked on the sheet in colour, priced with labour built from production rates and material carried at its own rate, and issued as an editable CSI workbook with the assumptions written down. Nothing is a black box: every figure traces back to a line on a drawing.
We are not the cheapest desk you will find, and we do not try to be. We are the one whose numbers survive a client asking where they came from.
General contractors, subcontractors, fabricators, home builders, developers, and land clearing and excavation companies.
United States in imperial and CSI MasterFormat; United Kingdom in metric with UK rates, delivered in GBP.
A fixed project fee agreed before anyone starts measuring. Never an hourly meter, never a surprise invoice.
An editable Excel workbook, a colour-marked drawing set, written assumptions, and the Planswift file on request.
Figures describe typical outcomes on clear drawing sets. They are targets we measure ourselves against, not warranties.
Packages are assigned by discipline. Steel goes to someone who has priced connections; sitework to someone who has priced haul-off and unsuitable soils.
ResidentialSingle-family builds, custom villas, multi-family blocks, remodels, conversions and interior fit-out.
CommercialGround-up commercial, tenant improvement, retail rollouts, pre-engineered metal buildings and light industrial shells.
IndustrialManufacturing facilities, process piping, plant structural steel, equipment setting and heavy MEP distribution.
Civil & SiteworkLand clearing, excavation, cut and fill, wet and dry utilities, roadway, concrete flatwork and asphalt paving.
Anyone can hand you a lump sum. What protects margin is being able to open the file mid-negotiation and show which quantity, which production rate and which sheet a number came from.
Every line carries a production rate in hours per unit, priced at your market’s crew wage. Change the wage and the whole estimate follows.
Wastage is its own column, applied per item: 5% on concrete, 10% on sheathing, none on holdowns. Not one blanket figure at the bottom.
Colour bubbles over each item with a legend carrying the running count, so any quantity can be checked against the sheet in seconds.
Addendum two days before the bid? Send it. You should never hesitate to ask us to be accurate.
If the drawings and specs disagree, it comes back as a stated assumption rather than a silent guess inside a unit rate.
Drag to see what comes back with the estimate
“We handed the coloured set straight to the super and he used it for procurement. First time our estimate and our field team were reading the same document.”
A working version of the estimate structure we issue. Move the markup sliders and the base bid recalculates the way your copy will.
| Row | A | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | M | N | O | P | Q |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | S# | CSI no. | Description | Qty | Wastage | Qty w/ waste | Unit | Unit labour hr | Total labour hr | Wage / hr | Total labour cost | Unit material | Total material | Unit price | Total |
| 17 | DIVISION 03 · CONCRETE | ||||||||||||||
| 18 | Pad footing | ||||||||||||||
| 19 | 8 | 03 30 00 | 30"×30"×18" reinf. concrete pad footing w/ (5) #4 rebar @ bottom each way (2 EA) | 0.69 | 10% | 0.76 | CY | 3.500 | 2.67 | 55.00 | $147 | 265.00 | $202 | 457.50 | $349 |
| 20 | 9 | 03 30 00 | 36"×36"×18" reinf. concrete pad footing w/ (6) #4 rebar @ bottom each way (4 EA) | 2.00 | 10% | 2.20 | CY | 3.500 | 7.70 | 55.00 | $424 | 265.00 | $583 | 457.50 | $1,007 |
| 22 | Continuous footing | ||||||||||||||
| 23 | 10 | 03 30 00 | 15"×22" reinf. concrete strip footing w/ (3) #5 rebar @ top & bottom | 18.30 | 5% | 19.22 | CY | 2.250 | 43.23 | 55.00 | $2,378 | 265.00 | $5,092 | 388.75 | $7,470 |
| 25 | Slab on grade | ||||||||||||||
| 26 | 11 | 03 30 00 | 4" main house slab w/ #3 bars at 18" O.C. each way (1,750 SF) | 21.58 | 10% | 23.74 | CY | 1.265 | 30.03 | 55.00 | $1,652 | 266.00 | $6,315 | 335.57 | $7,967 |
| 27 | 12 | 03 30 00 | 2" of sand | 1,750 | 10% | 1,925 | SF | 0.015 | 28.88 | 55.00 | $1,588 | 0.35 | $674 | 1.175 | $2,262 |
| 28 | 13 | 07 26 00 | 10 mil moisture barrier | 1,750 | 10% | 1,925 | SF | 0.008 | 15.40 | 55.00 | $847 | 0.18 | $347 | 0.620 | $1,194 |
| 29 | 14 | 31 23 00 | Compacted subgrade | 1,750 | 10% | 1,925 | SF | 0.012 | 23.10 | 55.00 | $1,271 | 0.20 | $385 | 0.860 | $1,656 |
| 31 | Subtotal | 150.31 | $8,307 | $13,598 | $21,905 | ||||||||||
| 33 | DIVISION 05 · METALS | ||||||||||||||
| 34 | Holdowns | ||||||||||||||
| 35 | 15 | 05 05 23 | HDQ8 holdown | 8 | 0% | 8 | EA | 0.250 | 2.00 | 55.00 | $110 | 75.00 | $600 | 88.75 | $710 |
| 36 | 16 | 05 05 23 | HDU5 holdown | 3 | 0% | 3 | EA | 0.250 | 0.75 | 55.00 | $41 | 55.00 | $165 | 68.75 | $206 |
| 38 | 18 | 05 05 23 | HDU14 holdown | 4 | 0% | 4 | EA | 0.300 | 1.20 | 55.00 | $66 | 105.00 | $420 | 121.50 | $486 |
| 40 | Subtotal | 5.35 | $294 | $1,515 | $1,809 | ||||||||||
| 42 | DIVISION 06 · WOOD, PLASTICS & COMPOSITES | ||||||||||||||
| 43 | Wood posts & studs | ||||||||||||||
| 48 | 24 | 06 11 00 | 4"×8"×10'-1" post | 7 | 0% | 7 | EA | 1.500 | 10.50 | 65.00 | $683 | 125.00 | $875 | 222.50 | $1,558 |
| 55 | Wood beams | ||||||||||||||
| 56 | 30 | 06 17 00 | 3½"×18" SCL beam | 11.00 | 5% | 11.55 | LF | 0.080 | 0.92 | 65.00 | $60 | 32.00 | $370 | 37.20 | $430 |
| 62 | 36 | 06 17 00 | 3⅛"×25½"×17' GLB or 5¼"×18" SCL beam | 17.00 | 5% | 17.85 | LF | 0.120 | 2.14 | 65.00 | $139 | 70.00 | $1,250 | 77.80 | $1,389 |
| 63 | Sheathing | ||||||||||||||
| 64 | 37 | 06 16 00 | Plywood roof sheathing | 2,051 | 10% | 2,256 | SF | 0.025 | 56.40 | 65.00 | $3,666 | 1.15 | $2,595 | 2.775 | $6,261 |
| 66 | 39 | 06 05 23 | 8d nails at edge spacing 6" O.C. & field spacing 12" O.C. | 6,153 | 0% | 6,153 | EA | 0.001 | 6.15 | 65.00 | $400 | 0.03 | $185 | 0.095 | $585 |
| 73 | Roof framing | ||||||||||||||
| 74 | 44 | 06 17 33 | 14" type "B" I-joist @ 16" O.C. (1,706 SF) | 1,279.82 | 10% | 1,407.80 | LF | 0.025 | 35.20 | 65.00 | $2,288 | 7.00 | $9,855 | 8.625 | $12,143 |
| 75 | 45 | 06 17 33 | 14" type "D" I-joist @ 16" O.C. (34 SF) | 258.81 | 10% | 284.70 | LF | 0.025 | 7.12 | 65.00 | $463 | 7.50 | $2,135 | 9.125 | $2,598 |
| 77 | Millwork | ||||||||||||||
| 82 | 50 | 06 41 00 | (2'-0" D) kitchen base cabinets | 12.00 | 5% | 12.60 | LF | 0.650 | 8.19 | 65.00 | $532 | 250.00 | $3,150 | 292.25 | $3,682 |
| 86 | Subtotal | 166.10 | $10,797 | $34,597 | $45,394 | ||||||||||
| 88 | DIVISION 07 · THERMAL & MOISTURE PROTECTION | ||||||||||||||
| 90 | Roofing | ||||||||||||||
| 91 | 53 | 07 54 00 | RF-1: 60 mil TPO membrane w/ bonding adhesive | 1,930 | 10% | 2,123 | SF | 0.025 | 53.08 | 65.00 | $3,450 | 2.25 | $4,777 | 3.875 | $8,227 |
| 92 | 54 | 07 52 00 | 72-pound underlayment cap sheet | 1,930 | 10% | 2,123 | SF | 0.018 | 38.21 | 65.00 | $2,484 | 0.90 | $1,911 | 2.070 | $4,395 |
| 94 | 56 | 07 22 00 | 4" rigid insulation | 1,930 | 10% | 2,123 | SF | 0.012 | 25.48 | 65.00 | $1,656 | 2.40 | $5,095 | 3.180 | $6,751 |
| 102 | Subtotal | 232.87 | $15,136 | $15,451 | $30,587 | ||||||||||
| 386 | DIVISION 26 · ELECTRICAL | ||||||||||||||
| 400 | Devices & fixtures | ||||||||||||||
| 401 | 268 | 26 27 26 | One-way switch | 7 | 0% | 7 | EA | 0.350 | 2.45 | 55.00 | $135 | 14.00 | $98 | 33.29 | $233 |
| 404 | 271 | 26 27 26 | Duplex receptacle | 15 | 0% | 15 | EA | 0.400 | 6.00 | 55.00 | $330 | 16.00 | $240 | 38.00 | $570 |
| 405 | 272 | 26 27 26 | Duplex receptacle (GFCI) | 15 | 0% | 15 | EA | 0.450 | 6.75 | 55.00 | $371 | 38.00 | $570 | 62.75 | $941 |
| 409 | 276 | 26 51 00 | 4" recessed LED can light: HE | 25 | 0% | 25 | EA | 0.600 | 15.00 | 55.00 | $825 | 62.00 | $1,550 | 95.00 | $2,375 |
| 430 | Conduit | ||||||||||||||
| 431 | 301 | 26 05 33 | 1¼" conduit | 159 | 5% | 166.95 | LF | 0.025 | 4.17 | 55.00 | $230 | 2.75 | $459 | 4.125 | $689 |
| 433 | Allowances | ||||||||||||||
| 434 | 303 | 26 05 19 | Allowance for wiring | 3,150 | 5% | 3,307.50 | LF | 0.020 | 66.15 | 55.00 | $3,638 | 3.50 | $11,576 | 4.600 | $15,214 |
| 437 | Subtotal | 496.32 | $27,298 | $27,712 | $55,010 | ||||||||||
Extract from Divisions 03, 05, 06, 07 and 26 of a 458-row workbook. Column M is never typed in: it is G × I × K, which is quantity including wastage, times hours per unit, times the crew wage. Change the wage in column K and every labour figure in the estimate moves with it.
| Row | C | D | J | M | O | Q | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Div | Description | Labour hrs | Labour cost | Material cost | Total | % of cost |
| 7 | 01 | General requirements | 560 | $30,800 | $19,200 | $50,000 | 3.5% |
| 9 | 03 | Concrete | 74 | $4,070 | $17,830 | $21,900 | 1.5% |
| 11 | 05 | Metals | 5 | $295 | $1,515 | $1,810 | 0.1% |
| 13 | 06 | Wood, plastics & composites | 168 | $10,930 | $34,470 | $45,400 | 3.2% |
| 15 | 07 | Thermal & moisture protection | 233 | $15,140 | $15,450 | $30,590 | 2.2% |
| 17 | 08 | Openings | 96 | $6,240 | $20,760 | $27,000 | 1.9% |
| 19 | 09 | Finishes | 980 | $63,700 | $69,480 | $133,180 | 9.4% |
| 21 | 10 | Specialties | 52 | $3,380 | $3,645 | $7,025 | 0.5% |
| 23 | 11 | Equipment | 46 | $2,990 | $6,810 | $9,800 | 0.7% |
| 25 | 12 | Furnishings | 402 | $26,130 | $58,920 | $85,050 | 6.0% |
| 27 | 22 | Plumbing | 318 | $17,490 | $16,685 | $34,175 | 2.4% |
| 29 | 23 | HVAC | 22 | $1,210 | $1,515 | $2,725 | 0.2% |
| 31 | 26 | Electrical | 496 | $27,280 | $27,730 | $55,010 | 3.9% |
| 33 | 31 | Earthwork | 37 | $2,035 | $910 | $2,945 | 0.2% |
| 35 | 32 | Exterior improvements | 7,474 | $411,070 | $501,470 | $912,540 | 64.3% |
| 452 | Direct cost | 10,963 | $622,760 | $796,390 | $1,419,150 | 100% |
Divisions with no scope are left off rather than zero-filled. On this job one division carries 64% of the cost, the kind of concentration worth knowing before you price the rest of it.
| Row | D | L | Q |
|---|---|---|---|
| 452 | Bid build-up | Basis | Amount |
| 452 | Total labour cost (10,963 hrs) | Hours × wage | $622,760 |
| 452 | Total material cost | Qty w/ waste × rate | $796,390 |
| 453 | Total amount | $1,419,150 | |
| 454 | Contingencies | 5% | $70,958 |
| 455 | Overhead & profit | 15% | $212,873 |
| 456 | Tax | 7.75% | $109,984 |
| 457 | Performance & payment bonds | 1.5% | $21,287 |
| 458 | Total base bid | $576.81 / sq ft | $1,834,251 |
These four rows ship pre-built. Move one and the base bid follows.
Line-item detail, division roll-up, bid build-up and assumptions. Or your own template if you send it.
Colour bubbles over every counted item with the legend on the sheet. Auditable by you, usable by your foreman for procurement.
On request the native takeoff file comes with the package, so your team can re-measure a revision without us.
Estimates typically land inside 95–98% of final measured quantities when the drawings and scope are clear. That qualifier is the actual condition, not fine print.
Nobody controls weather delays, owner change orders, buried site conditions, or a supplier repricing steel between bid and buy-out. We will not sell a guarantee that quietly excludes everything that actually goes wrong.
An error caught before the bid costs a phone call. The same error caught in the field costs rework, schedule and a conversation with the owner.
Run your own numbers. A fee difference of a few hundred dollars rarely survives contact with this arithmetic.
Adjust the three inputs. Everything recalculates instantly.
A 3% estimating error on $5,000,000 of annual bid volume consumes roughly 38% of the net profit those jobs were supposed to produce.
Simplified model for illustration only. It assumes errors run against you and does not account for recovery through change orders or claims.
Five steps. You always know what stage your package is at and who is on it.
Email the set or share a link. PDF, DWG, RVT, scans or a Drive folder all work. Tell us the trades you want, the bid date, and whether you have a template to populate.
If the set is incomplete, send it anyway and say what is missing. We price what exists and write down the rest.
An estimator reviews the set and returns a fixed fee, a firm delivery date, and a written list of what is in and what is out. Fee comes from sheet count, scope density and turnaround. Never an hourly meter.
Nothing starts until you accept both. First engagement is 35% upfront instead of the usual 50%.
Your package goes to an estimator who has priced that discipline. Measurement happens in Planswift, and every item is covered in its own colour on the sheet as it is counted, with the running total carried into a legend on the drawing.
Anything ambiguous goes on a scope-gap log as it is found, not remembered at the end.
Labour is built from a production rate in hours per unit, multiplied out and priced at the crew wage for your market. Material carries its own rate against the quantity including wastage. The two never merge into one number.
A second estimator reviews before release. Then the workbook, the marked set and the assumptions list go out together.
An addendum lands two days before submission. The architect moves the canopy. Send it and we re-measure. Revisions inside the quoted scope are part of the fee.
That is deliberate. Billable revisions make contractors hesitate to ask, and hesitation is how a wrong number gets submitted.
Tell us the sector, the trades and roughly the size of what you are bidding. We will send a sanitised estimate and marked-up sheet from completed work in the same discipline.
Not a one-page sample summary: the actual workbook, with production rates, wastage columns, labour hours and the full bid build-up, plus the assumptions list that went with it. Enough to judge whether the depth matches how you bid.
It arrives within a working day, costs nothing, and does not require you to send drawings.
Same sector, same trades, comparable size. Not whatever is nearest to hand.
Line items, production rates, wastage, labour hours and bid build-up.
Colour bubbles and count legend, exactly as issued on live work.
Names, addresses and title blocks removed. Yours would be too.
Why a sample and not a free estimate: pricing your live project is real work with real hours behind it. Firms that give that away are rarely doing it carefully. A sample proves the standard without pretending the work is worthless.
We are not always the right answer. Here is where each option actually fits.
| QuantX | Lowest-cost estimator | Fully in-house | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour pricing | Production rate × wage, per line | One blended rate for the trade | Depends on your template |
| Wastage | Applied per item, shown as its own column | Usually a flat percentage at the end | Varies by estimator |
| Marked drawings | Colour bubbles and count legends as standard | Rare, or charged extra | Only if someone has time |
| Revisions | Unlimited within agreed scope | Billed per revision, or refused | Absorbed as overtime |
| Capacity at peak | Scales with your bid calendar | You queue behind cheaper work | Capped by headcount |
| Scope gaps | Written assumptions and exclusions | Usually silent | Strong, if the estimator is senior |
Most clients keep their in-house estimator and use us for overflow and validation. Augmenting a good estimator is a better business case than replacing one.
Client names, project numbers and drawing sets are withheld by default. That discretion applies to your projects too.
Complete build estimate across fifteen active divisions, from strip footings and slab through framing, roofing, finishes, plumbing, HVAC, electrical and exterior improvements. Every line carried its own production rate and wastage factor.
Structural and miscellaneous metals alongside a complete electrical takeoff for a public elementary school, produced for a subcontractor bidding both packages against the same deadline.
Clearing, grubbing and mass earthwork for an excavation contractor, with volumes calculated using swell and shrink by material type and haul priced against a stated disposal distance.
Published anonymously by default. Attributed references available on request.
“The sample they sent was a full residential estimate in the same trade we were bidding. We could see the labour hours per item. That answered every question we had.”
“Labour built from hours instead of a lump rate is the difference. When our shop rate moved we changed one cell.”
“They flagged three items our own set had missed and wrote them up as exclusions. Two would have been change orders we ate.”
No hourly meters, no surprise invoices. You approve a number and a date, then we work.
One discipline, one package
Quoted from the set. Driven by sheet count, scope density and turnaround.
All active divisions, bid-ready
Occasionally a percentage of construction value on larger or phased programmes.
Ongoing bid support
For contractors bidding continuously who want reserved capacity and a cost library.
50% on acceptance, 50% before final files are released.
35% upfront on a first engagement.
USD or GBP, with milestone collection on larger programmes.
Including the awkward ones.
Because you are buying different things. A low fee usually buys a quantity list. Ours buys quantities with wastage per item, labour built from production rates rather than a blended number, a marked set you can audit, written exclusions, a second reviewer, and unlimited revisions through bid day.
The gap is normally a few hundred dollars. What a mis-measured package costs on a job you win is not. If price is the only criterion, we are the wrong firm.
Augmentation, not replacement. Two things dominate:
Every line carries its own production rate in hours per unit, multiplied out to total hours and priced at the crew wage for your market. Material carries a separate rate against the quantity including wastage.
Change the wage and every labour figure follows. That is not possible with a blended rate, and a blended rate cannot be defended when a client asks what installation actually costs.
A working target for how close measured quantities and applied rates land to final measured values, conditional on drawing quality and scope clarity. Not a guarantee, and we will not present it as one.
We do not control weather, owner change orders, ground conditions, or commodity movement between bid and buy-out. We do control measurement discipline, regional rates, scope coverage, and honest flagging of what the drawings leave open.
Single-trade takeoffs typically come back in 24–72 hours. Full multi-division estimates run 3–7 working days depending on sheet count and scope density.
You get a firm delivery date with the fixed quote, before work starts.
Yes. UK projects are priced in metric with UK labour rates and British terminology, delivered in GBP. US projects use imperial units, regional US rates and CSI MasterFormat structure.
We do not run UK jobs through a US template with a conversion at the end.
Pick a question and open it in whichever assistant you already use. We do not get to edit the answer, which is the only reason it is worth reading.
What does QuantX Estimation (https://www.quantxestimation.com) do? Summarise their construction cost estimating and quantity takeoff services, which trades and sectors they cover, and which markets they work in.
These open the assistant with the question already typed. We have no relationship with any of them and no control over the answer, which is rather the point.
A sanitised estimate in your trade within a day, or a fixed quote on your live set. Either way you will know quickly whether the numbers hold up against yours.
US & UK · Fixed project pricing · Unlimited revisions within scope
