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Every successful construction project starts with accurate quantities. Whether you are pricing a residential build, a commercial fit out or a civil infrastructure project, the numbers need to be right. Overestimate and you price yourself out of the job. Underestimate and you eat into your margins or worse.
Our construction take off and quantity measurement service delivers detailed, accurate quantities from your project plans and specifications. We measure everything from concrete and reinforcement to finishes, fixtures and site works.
We use digital take off software to measure quantities directly from your drawings, whether provided as PDF, CAD or BIM files. Every measurement is checked and cross referenced against specifications and notes on the drawings to ensure completeness.
Our estimators have hands on construction experience. They know how to read drawings and spot discrepancies. If something does not add up on the plans, we flag it rather than just measuring what is there.
We provide quantities for all building trades and civil works. Structural concrete and reinforcement. Masonry and blockwork. Structural steel. Architectural finishes. Mechanical, electrical and hydraulic allowances. External works including earthworks, pavements and landscaping.
For civil projects, we handle earthworks calculations, road quantities, drainage, utilities and infrastructure elements. Our civil cost estimation service extends this into full cost analysis for infrastructure projects.
We deliver quantities in the format that suits your workflow. Spreadsheets, bills of quantities, trade summaries or direct import into your estimating software. We can also work to your company template or standard format.
Our take off service feeds directly into our tender and bid support and quantity surveying services. Or you can use our quantities with your own pricing team. Either way, you get a solid foundation of accurate measurements to build your estimate on.
Building Information Modelling is changing how quantity take offs are conducted. For projects designed in BIM software, quantities can be extracted directly from the model. This reduces the time required for take off and eliminates some of the measurement uncertainty inherent in 2D take offs. However, BIM take offs require careful interpretation. Model quantities are only as accurate as the model itself, and models frequently contain errors, missing elements and design development gaps that require experienced interpretation.
We use both traditional digital take off from 2D drawings and model based quantity extraction depending on what is available for your project. For projects designed in Revit, ArchiCAD or other BIM platforms, we can work directly with the model files provided by your design team. For older drawings or projects still in 2D, our digital take off process delivers accurate results efficiently.
Clash detection between structural, architectural and services elements is another benefit of BIM coordination that affects quantity accuracy. When structural and services elements clash in the model, the as built quantities will differ from the as designed quantities. We flag these issues during take off so your team can resolve them before tendering or construction.
For repetitive building types like multi residential projects, modular construction and staged developments, we develop reusable measurement frameworks that accelerate take offs for subsequent stages. A client building a series of similar townhouse developments benefits from standardised measurement templates that can be adapted for each site rather than starting from scratch each time.
A construction take off, also called a quantity take off or material take off, is the process of measuring quantities from construction drawings and specifications. These quantities form the basis for cost estimation, material procurement and labour planning. A take off identifies every material and work element in the design and quantifies it in the appropriate unit, whether that is cubic metres of concrete, linear metres of framing or square metres of render.
Digital take off tools allow measurements to be made directly on calibrated PDF or CAD files with sub centimetre accuracy, assuming the drawings are accurately drawn and to scale. This eliminates the scaling errors common in manual take offs. Digital tools also allow quantities to be checked, revised and updated quickly when drawings change. Accuracy ultimately depends on the quality of the drawings and the skill and experience of the estimator.
We work from architectural, structural and services drawings along with specifications and project specific notes. Architectural drawings provide floor plans, elevations and sections for building element quantities. Structural drawings give reinforcement and concrete quantities. Civil drawings provide earthworks, drainage and external works quantities. The more complete the drawing set, the more comprehensive and accurate the take off. We flag any gaps in the documentation that affect quantity completeness.
Turnaround depends on the project size and complexity. A residential dwelling typically takes 2 to 4 days. A medium commercial project takes 1 to 2 weeks. Larger or more complex projects take longer. We discuss turnaround requirements at the start of each engagement and manage our workload to meet agreed deadlines. For very tight timelines, we can often arrange priority scheduling.
We deliver quantities in formats compatible with most estimating software including Buildsoft, Cubit, Databuild, CostX and Excel based systems. We can work to your specific format requirements or provide quantities in a universally readable spreadsheet format that can be imported into your system. Speak with us about your specific format requirements before we start and we will accommodate them.