Material takeoff services
The measured quantities converted into what actually gets bought: sheets, stock lengths, bags and boxes, with the accessories nobody draws.
What material takeoff covers
A quantity takeoff tells you how much work the drawings show. A material takeoff tells you what to order. The two start from the same measurement, but 2,400 square feet of wall board is not an order: 66 sheets of 4×10 Type X, with screws, tape and compound, is.
Quantities are converted into the units your supplier sells, with laps, cut waste and purchase rounding applied item by item, and the consumables that never appear on a plan listed alongside them. The list is grouped the way it will be bought, by supplier category and, where the drawings allow, by level or phase, so it can go straight into a request for quotation.
Turnaround
24–72 hours on a single-trade package
Who it is for
Suppliers and lumber yards quoting packages, contractors buying materials directly, and fabricators ordering stock.
Material takeoff
- Quantities converted to purchase units: sheets, stock lengths, pieces, bags, rolls, boxes
- Laps, overlaps and cut waste applied per material, not as one percentage
- Rounding to whole purchase units, with the rounding shown
- Fasteners, adhesives, tapes, hangers and consumables listed
- Product sizes and grades taken from the schedules and specification
- Grouping by supplier category, and by level or phase where the drawings allow
- Stock lengths and sheet sizes set to your supplier, US or UK
- Colour-marked drawings so every line traces back to the plan
The deliverable.
Consistent whatever the engagement, so it drops into how you already work.
Excel material list by supplier category, ready for an RFQ
Measured quantity and order quantity side by side
Colour-marked PDF set with count legends
Assumptions list covering stock sizes, laps and waste
Common material takeoff mistakes
These are the errors that turn up most often when work of this kind is checked. None of them are exotic, and all of them are cheaper to find before the number goes out than after.
For a longer list with examples, read nine takeoff mistakes that only show up on bid day.
- Ordering the measured quantity rather than the purchase quantity, so the job runs short by the laps and offcuts
- Mesh and membrane laps drawn on the section but never added to a takeoff done from plan area
- Stock lengths ignored, so a list of cut lengths cannot actually be ordered
- Fasteners, adhesives, hangers and tape left off because they are not drawn
- US sheet and stock sizes used on a UK job, or the other way round
Common questions on material takeoff
A quantity takeoff is measured work in installed units, such as square feet of board. A material takeoff converts that into purchase units, such as sheets of a given size, and adds laps, waste, rounding and accessories. The measurement underneath is the same.
Yes. Tell us what your supplier carries and the list is converted to those sizes. Where nothing is specified, common stock sizes for the market are used and written into the assumptions.
Not by default, because suppliers usually price the list themselves. Material pricing, or a full estimate with labour, can be added to the same measurement without re-measuring.
Work that usually sits alongside this
Most engagements combine more than one of these.
By trade, by sector, and further reading
Trades this applies to
- Framing & carpentry estimating servicesDivision 06
- Concrete estimating & takeoff servicesDivision 03
- Masonry estimating & takeoff servicesDivision 04
- Drywall & metal stud estimating servicesDivision 09
- Roofing estimating & takeoff servicesDivision 07
- Flooring & tile estimating servicesDivision 09
Estimating by sector
- Residential construction estimatingHomes, villas & apartments
- Commercial construction estimatingOffices, retail & warehouses
- Industrial & process estimatingProcess, structural & plant MEP
- Civil & sitework estimatingLand clearing to final grade
Further reading
- Quantity takeoff vs material takeoffTakeoff
- Waste factors by materialReference
- What to send for an estimateRunning a bid room
Tell us what you need priced.
A fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope statement, usually back the same working day.
Fixed project fees · Written scope before work starts · Unlimited revisions within scope