Accuracy and speed have taken another leap forward. Do you recall the time when blueprints literally meant white lines or images on black or blue backgrounds with notes?

Before the era of BIM or electronic spreadsheets, desktops, and compound formulas, conventional tools like protractors, pencils, column ledger pads, graph papers, erasers, calculators, and highlighters were used for takeoffs.

The toughest part for those going the way was keeping the focus on their counts. Imagine the frustration when someone interrupts with a question or the phone rings just when you are about to grab your notepad to write the precise count, such as ’42 doors’ for a project.

Thankfully, today, estimating and takeoff software has made it easier to count as you click, allowing you to visually see whether a component is counted. Here’s how the journey towards digitization has led to quantity takeoffs becoming easier and faster than ever before.

Pre- and Post-Digitization Era: The Main Differences

Before digital takeoffs, it was difficult to measure complex volumes. It required the use of several tools along with intimate knowledge regarding how pi, diameter, and radius work in tandem. With takeoff software, it has become easier to measure whatever you highlight. This means you can stop mid-wall, mid-sneeze, or mid-sentence and attend that phone call or engage in a conversation attentively without losing your place. There is an option to choose the complication takeoff formula type, after which the software automatically calculates the surface area and volume based on built-in formulas.  

Manual takeoffs of linear measurement, for instance, require the estimator to first measure the concrete trench or wall’s length, then go back to the same areas to mark with a highlighter that the takeoff was completed. They would have to add a line to the accounting ledger sheet, go back to count, measure, and make calculations for the rebar in a column, another line for the concrete, and more lines for waste, labor, and form removals. This was not only tedious but also prone to human error. By comparison, the software enables them to count accurately as they click so that they can virtually see if everything was counted or not.

Drawing Takeoffs Once

Quantity takeoff services today utilize various options for using assemblies of multi-function takeoffs. This can include haul-offs, excavation, rebar tie wire, nails, concrete pump, formwork, concrete volume, rebar, compaction, and labor for every item. This quick setup takes only a few minutes for modern estimators, whereas the actual takeoff can be completed within seconds. Using multi-takeoff complexities to count the entire building’s columns within minutes helps justify the counts and enables estimators to produce a detailed report to show things like the number of tie wire rolls needed to complete the project.