Two ways to order the same measurement work: quantities broken out by trade for a bid you price yourself, or one consolidated buy list for a job you are buying out. Both are measured straight off your drawing set, checked twice, and delivered 24-96 hours from an approved fixed quote.
What ships with every package
Outsourced takeoff services for contractors are worth it at a specific point in a bid week, and not before it.
Outsource when measuring is the thing stopping you from bidding more. A mid-size drawing set eats a night or two out of somebody's week, and that somebody is usually the person who should be walking jobs and answering GCs. Sending the measurement out turns fixed payroll into a per-bid cost you carry only in the weeks you bid.
Order the measurement once you have numbered sheets, a stated scale and enough schedules to resolve the conditions. A single-room remodel or a two-page service order is faster to measure than to brief out, and paying anybody to do it, us included, is not a saving.
Skip it too if what you want is somebody to own the bid decision. We measure, and on the estimating desk we price. We do not choose your markup, we do not pick which invitations you chase, and we do not put a number in front of a GC with your name on it.
Same drawings, two different outputs.
One trade or every trade on the set, from a residential remodel to industrial takeoff services on a plant expansion.
| CSI 01-02 | General requirements and existing conditions | LS, EA, SF |
|---|---|---|
| CSI 03-04 | Concrete and masonry | CY, SF, TON, EA |
| CSI 05 | Metals | LF, TON, EA |
| CSI 06 | Wood, framing and composites | EA, LF, SF, BF |
| CSI 07 | Thermal and moisture protection | SF, LF, SQ |
| CSI 08 | Openings | EA, SF, LF |
| CSI 09 | Interiors and finishes | SF, LF, GAL |
| CSI 10-12 | Specialties, equipment and furnishings | EA, SF, LS |
| CSI 13-14 | Special construction and conveying | EA, LS, SF |
| CSI 21-28 | Mechanical, electrical and plumbing | LF, EA, LB |
| CSI 31-33 | Sitework, utilities and paving | CY, SF, SY, TON |
| CSI 40-49 | Process equipment | EA, LF, LS |
Send one drawing set and see the package first
Name the trades and your bid date. An estimator scopes it and sends back one fixed price in writing.
You are about to send plans to people you have not met.
An estimator who works that trade. A masonry package does not go to whoever is free, and an electrical package does not go to the person who measured your slab.
To that person. Scope questions, a walk through the assumptions sheet and revisions all go to the estimator who did the work rather than to somebody relaying it. On a monthly partnership or a dedicated estimator it is the same person job after job.
Point at the line. Every line names its markup and the sheet it was read from, so the geometry opens in seconds and the disagreement becomes a specific one instead of an argument about a total. If it is our error we rerun it.
A takeoff your own estimator cannot open, edit or audit is worth less than no takeoff at all. Everything ships open.
Columns, units and totals stay live and editable. Drop your own rates into the pricing column, or send your template or CSI coding with the drawings and the package comes back in it. Source takeoff files are available on request.
Every quantity is tied to a labeled markup on the sheet it was measured from, color-coded by trade. Pull any single number out of the workbook and you can find the exact wall, run or footing behind it.
What was counted, what was assumed, and what was deliberately left out, on one page beside the workbook.
Measurement is done in PlanSwift, Bluebeam and Xactimate, the platforms your own estimators and the carriers you deal with already read. Conduit, gear and device counts run on Accubid, McCormick or ConEst, flooring on Measure Square or RFMS Measure, and cut and fill on Kubla Cubed. On-Screen Takeoff is used where the trade calls for it.
See sample deliverables
No portal to learn, no account to create, no minimum order.
Almost no set arrives complete.
The condition is measured to the boundary of what the set actually shows, and the gap is written onto the assumptions sheet with the sheet number it belongs to. You get a quantity plus a named hole.
The conflict is flagged, not resolved silently. Where plan, schedule and detail cannot be reconciled, both readings and the quantity impact of each go to you before delivery. You decide which one the bid carries.
No. Order against the issue in your hands and name the issue date at upload, so when the next issue lands only the conditions it touches get reopened. Waiting for a final set is how a bid date arrives with nothing measured.
Ask an estimator before you upload anything
Ask the estimator who would measure it, and expect an answer inside 30 minutes of the working day.
The next step, whether pricing, steel detailing or the whole bid, comes off the same measurement pass, so takeoff estimating services stay one job with one scope conversation.
Labor, material, equipment and burden priced onto the measured quantities, with overhead and profit at your percentages.
See construction estimating servicesMitigation and rebuild scopes price by a carrier ruleset rather than a CSI build-up.
Xactimate insurance estimatesIf your job carries a wage determination, the labor line is built from classifications and fringe.
Prevailing wage estimating servicesOnce the steel is measured, the fabricator needs it drawn: shop drawings, erection and anchor bolt plans, and an advance bill of material.
Structural steel detailing servicesTrade package breakout, invitations drafted and chased, addenda logged and quotes leveled. The pricing decision and the signature on the bid stay with you.
Outsourced bid management servicesAfter the award the same team can carry on with a buy list for buyout, change order pricing and a project schedule.
Project scheduling servicesRun three or more bids a month on a retainer
Tell us how many jobs a month you bid and we size the retainer against it.
Using an outside takeoff service should not mean handing over control of the bid.
Per bid, monthly, or a dedicated estimator. Same output and the same two-step check on all three.
| Best for | A first job with us, or a shop that bids occasionally | Shops running three or more bids in a month | Volume that justifies a person but not a hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commitment | None, one job at a time | Flat monthly retainer | One estimator assigned to your work |
| Delivery | 24-96h, scheduled to your bid date | 24-96h priority queue | 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on your cadence |
| Typical saving | ~25-35% against in-house | ~40-55% against in-house | ~35-45% against the loaded seat |
The questions contractors ask right before they upload a set.
Short, practical write-ups on the questions that come up before a bid goes out.
Name the trades, name your bid date, and attach the set.
