Accurate measured quantities from your drawings — structured, trade-by-trade, ready to feed straight into your pricing. Send drawings, get quantities back. As simple as that.
What a take-off is
A quantity take-off is the process of reading construction drawings and extracting measured quantities for each item of work — lengths, areas, volumes and numbers — trade by trade, ready to have rates applied. It is the essential foundation of any accurate cost estimate.
A pricing schedule is only as good as the quantities underneath it. If the take-off is wrong — items missed, areas under-measured, items described incorrectly — the pricing built on top of it will be wrong. The error might not surface until the job is on site and the discrepancy has to be absorbed.
An accurate take-off gives the estimator confidence that every item is measured, described correctly and accounted for. It also provides a clear audit trail — if a rate is queried, the measurement behind it is visible and defensible.
Scope
Take-offs completed across the full range of construction trades — single trades or full project measurement, residential and commercial, new build and refurbishment.
Excavation volumes, concrete foundations, drainage runs, chambers, external slab areas and earthworks. Including basement construction and retaining structures.
Concrete frames, steelwork, blockwork, brickwork and masonry. Reinforcement schedules, formwork areas and structural steel tonnages measured from structural drawings.
Flat and pitched roof areas, upstands, rainwater goods, insulation, deck and coverings. Cladding panel areas, curtain walling, render systems and external envelope.
Metal stud partitioning, plasterboard, acoustic walls, fire-rated partitions and ceilings. Stud centres, board areas and linear metre runs all clearly set out.
Plaster to walls and ceilings, sand/cement screeds, self-levelling floor screeds, beads and stops. Areas broken down by room or zone for easy pricing.
Carpet, vinyl, LVT, ceramic and porcelain tiling, timber flooring, raised access flooring and specialist finishes. Areas measured and broken down by finish type.
Internal and external doors, frames and ironmongery schedules, fitted joinery items, skirtings, architraves and bespoke millwork. Door schedules cross-referenced and enumerated.
Internal and external redecoration — wall and ceiling areas, linear metres of woodwork, number of doors and specialist finishes. Separated by area or floor level.
Ductwork areas, pipework runs, cable containment and light fittings — measured from M&E drawings for subcontractor enquiry purposes or budget cost plans.
Hard and soft landscaping, paving, fencing, retaining walls, car park areas and drainage. Measured and broken down by surface type and element for clear subcontractor enquiries.
Grid ceiling areas, tiles, perimeter trim, shadow gap detail and access panels. Areas measured zone by zone, useful for separating tenanted floors or phased completion.
All trades measured in a single engagement — the complete set of quantities for a project, ready to price trade-by-trade or pass to subcontractors for competitive enquiries.
Process
Three steps from enquiry to quantities in your hands. No lengthy onboarding, no project management overhead.
Email your drawings in PDF or DWG format — along with any specification notes or schedule of works relevant to the take-off. Tell me which trades you need measured. I'll confirm the fee and turnaround time the same day.
Quantities are measured trade by trade from your drawings. Each item is described, dimensioned and totalled. If something is unclear — a conflict between drawings, an area not covered by a detail — I'll raise a query rather than assume. Marked-up drawings are produced alongside the Excel as the measurement progresses.
The completed take-off is sent as an Excel workbook with a separate tab per trade — dimensions, descriptions and totals. Marked-up PDFs are included. The format is designed to feed directly into your pricing schedule or subcontractor enquiry packages. Most jobs are returned within 24–48 hours.
Pricing
Every take-off is priced as a fixed fee based on the scope and number of drawings. Send the drawings and I'll quote a fixed price — no hourly rates, no open-ended costs.
Also see: QS Services and Tender Pricing & Estimating
Get in touch
Send your drawings and tell me which trades you need measured. I'll confirm the fixed fee and turnaround the same day.