Quantity take-off (UK): what it is and how to do one

A quantity take-off is a list of everything you need to measure off the drawings to price a job: square metres of wall, linear metres of drain, numbers of sockets. You measure each item, deduct openings, add waste, and price the result. On a small extension, a careful take-off by hand takes an hour or two and decides whether the price is right.

What is a quantity take-off?

A take-off is the measured list of quantities in a job, taken from drawings and the specification. It is the step between "here are the drawings" and "here's my price". Quantity surveyors use the term for the same work they do when they prepare a bill of quantities.

There are two kinds you'll meet:

• Your own take-off. You measure the drawings to price a domestic job or a subcontract package. You choose the units and the detail.
• A take-off already done for you. On larger tenders, the client's QS sends a bill of quantities measured to the RICS rules (NRM2). You price their quantities, and should still check the big ones. See what a bill of quantities is and how to price one.

NRM2 is the RICS standard for detailed measurement. It became operative on 1 January 2013 and replaced SMM7. It uses four units throughout: m², m, m³ and nr (number). If you use the same units, your take-off will line up with any bill you're sent later.

How do you do a take-off from drawings?

Work trade by trade, in the order the job is built, and write down every dimension you used so someone else can check it.

1. Get the full drawing set and the spec.

   Plans, elevations, sections and any details. Note each drawing number and revision. If you can't read a drawing, start with how to read construction drawings for pricing.

2. Check the scale before you measure.

   The scale is in the title block, with the paper size it applies to. Use written dimensions where they exist; only scale off where there's no figure. Check one known dimension with your rule first.

3. Set up your sheet.

   One row per item: description, how you measured it, quantity, unit. Use the take-off sheet below.

4. Measure gross, then deduct.

   For walls, take length × height, then deduct each door and window opening. For floors, take the room sizes. For electrics, count points from the layout.

5. Add waste separately.

   Keep the measured quantity and the waste on separate lines. It makes the take-off checkable and lets you change the waste figure later.

6. Convert to order quantities.

   Turn m² into bricks, blocks, sheets or tiles using the manufacturer's coverage, then round up to packs.

7. Check it.

   A second pair of eyes, or a rough check: does 16 m² of wall look right for a 4 m extension? Big errors are usually missed openings or a wrong scale.

A worked take-off: a single-storey rear extension

Here's the brick-and-block take-off for a simple rear extension: 4 m wide, projecting 3 m from the house, walls 2.4 m high to the wall plate. It has a 3.0 m × 2.1 m bifold door and one 1.2 m × 1.2 m window. Cavity wall: facing brick outside, 100 mm concrete block inside.

Four packs is 216 blocks for a need of 170, so ask whether the merchant sells loose blocks. Three packs plus 8 loose would do. That kind of rounding is where ordering waste creeps in, and it's covered in more detail in turning a bill of quantities into a material order.

What should a take-off sheet look like?

One line per item, with the working shown. You can copy this into a spreadsheet, a notebook or a WhatsApp message to yourself.

Job: job name and address
Drawings used: drawing numbers and revisions, e.g. 101 rev B, 102 rev A
Taken off by: name   Date: date   Checked by: name

Ref | Item | Drawing | Working | Quantity | Unit
1 | e.g. Facing brickwork, half-brick skin | 102 | 10.0 × 2.4 − 6.30 − 1.44 | 16.26 | m²
2 | e.g. 100 mm blockwork inner skin | 102 | as item 1 | 16.26 | m²
3 | e.g. 110 mm drainage | 103 | MH1 to MH2 | 8.5 | m
4 | e.g. Double sockets | E01 | count from layout | 12 | nr

Assumptions: e.g. wall height 2.4 m taken from section A-A; no drawing for foundations, priced as provisional
Queries for the client: e.g. window W2 size not shown

Keep the assumptions and queries lines filled in. They become your tender qualifications later. The guide on pricing a tender when drawings are indicative shows how to turn them into wording.

How long does a take-off take, and should you pay someone?

A small domestic extension takes an experienced builder one to two hours by hand. A commercial package with dozens of drawings can take days, which is why firms pay a quantity surveyor or buy take-off software.

Paying a QS is worth it for big or unfamiliar work, but it's money spent before you know whether you'll win. One builder and roofer in the North East paid a QS £1,200 to £1,300 plus VAT to price a single commercial tender, and didn't win it. An electrical contractor in Essex, a one-man band in his second year, prices tenders from drawings himself and tracked 60 to 70% of his time going on admin.

If you tender often, the real cost of tendering helps you work out how many tenders you can afford to price, and whether you still need a QS covers the trade-off.

Can software or AI do the take-off for you?

Measuring software does the scaling and adding up: you click round the outline on a PDF and it gives the area. Bluebeam's UK plans, as of October 2026, start at £264 a user a year including VAT for basic length and area, with count and volume tools from £330. The guide to measuring PDF drawings covers that method.

AI tools go a step further and try to read the drawing for you. They're useful for a first pass, but they need checking against the dimensions. See whether AI can do a take-off from architect's drawings for what to test before you trust one.

Common questions