What the tool does
You open one or more PDF drawing sets. Each page becomes a sheet. The tool reads the title block text to name sheets (A-101, S-201) and to find scale notes such as 1:100 or 1/4" = 1'-0". You then measure on the drawing with three tools: length, area and count. Every measurement belongs to a condition, for example "Interior wall 100 mm" or "Floor finish, office". Conditions add up across all sheets, and each can carry assembly items with formulas, such as drywall on both sides or studs at 400 mm centres.
If part of the project exists as a BIM model, add its IFC file next to the drawings. Its elements become conditions grouped by element type and material, with the volumes, areas, lengths and counts read the same way as in the IFC quantity takeoff tool, so model quantities and drawing quantities end up in one bill.
Drawings are read with pdf.js inside your browser and kept in the browser's own storage on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
Where it fits in a project
Estimators at contractors and subcontractors receive bid documents as PDF sets, measure quantities from them, price them and send a proposal. The measuring step is usually done in desktop takeoff software that costs hundreds to thousands of dollars a year per seat, and the pricing step is often rebuilt in Excel because many viewers measure but cannot price. This tool does both steps in one place and hands over an Excel file with the formulas still working.
Setting the scale
A PDF stores drawings in points (1/72 inch). To turn points into metres, the tool needs the drawing scale. There are three ways, and each sheet keeps its own scale:
- Scale found on the sheet: when the title block or a view label says 1:100 or 1/8" = 1'-0", the tool offers it, and applies it by itself if only one scale is found.
- Standard scales: pick a metric ratio (1:1 to 1:5000) or an imperial architectural scale.
- Calibrate: draw a line over a known dimension and type its real length. Use this when the sheet was printed to fit, or when a view has its own scale.
At 1:100 one point on paper is 0.3528 mm, which is 35.28 mm in the building. A sheet without a scale shows "Not scaled" in red, and its measurements are listed separately instead of being counted as zero.
Measuring
| Tool | Key | How | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | L | Click points, double-click or Enter to finish | Metres. With a height on the condition, wall area in m² |
| Area | A | Click corners, double-click or Enter to close | Square metres and perimeter. With a depth, volume in m³ |
| Count | C | Click each symbol | Number of items |
| Cut-out | X | Draw inside an area | The hole is deducted from that area |
| Calibrate | K | Draw over a known dimension | Sets the sheet scale |
Snapping (S) pulls the cursor to line ends, line crossings and points on lines of the drawing itself, so measurements follow the drawn walls instead of your hand. Ortho (O, or hold Shift) keeps lines at 0, 45 and 90 degrees. Backspace removes the last point, Esc cancels, Delete removes the selected measurement, Ctrl+Z undoes. Number keys 1 to 9 switch to the matching condition, and PageUp or PageDown move between sheets. A multiplier on a measurement covers typical floors.
How quantities are calculated
Lengths are the sum of segment lengths. Areas use the shoelace formula on the polygon corners, minus any cut-outs:
A = | Σ (xᵢ + xᵢ₊₁)(yᵢ − yᵢ₊₁) | / 2
Values in points are converted with the sheet scale (metres per point, squared for areas). Assembly items are written with the names L (length), A (area), P (perimeter), N (count), H (height), D (depth) and V (volume), and the functions ceil, floor, round, min and max. For a wall 12 m long and 2.7 m high, drywall on both sides is L*H*2 = 64.8 m², and studs at 400 mm are ceil(L/0.4)+1 = 31.
Prices and cost statement
Each condition and assembly item can carry one unit price, or a price split into material, labour and expense. The split matters wherever indirect costs are calculated from labour, as in public works estimates in Korea, Japan and many other countries.
A cost statement adds those indirect costs and markups below the bill. Two templates are included. "Markups" adds overhead, profit, contingency and tax as percentages of the rows above. "Korean public works cost statement" follows the cost categories of the Korean estimating rules: material, labour (direct plus indirect labour), expense (direct expense plus the statutory insurance and safety rows), general administrative cost and profit, then VAT. Every rate is entered by you, because the published rates change with project size, duration and new notices. Amounts calculated from rates are rounded down to whole units, as in public cost statements. In the Excel file the statement is a separate sheet whose formulas point at the bill totals, so changing a rate or a price there updates everything.
Unit price analysis and waste
A unit price analysis works out what one unit of an item costs, for example one cubic metre of placed concrete: each row is a resource (a trade, a material, a piece of equipment) with its quantity per unit and its material, labour and expense prices. Link an analysis to a condition or an assembly item and the bill takes its prices from there, so a price change in one analysis updates every line that uses it. This is the 일위대가 (numbered 제1호, 제2호 and so on) of Korean estimates and the unit rate build-up used elsewhere.
A row can call another analysis, so a placing analysis can be reused inside several concrete grades. A row can also be a percentage of the material, labour or expense rows of the same analysis, such as tool wear as a share of labour or sundry materials as a share of materials; the percentage goes in the column where the amount belongs. Each category can be rounded down to whole units. Circular references are flagged instead of being counted. Analyses can be imported and exported as CSV with the columns no, name, spec, unit, item, item_spec, item_unit, qty, material, labour and expense, one line per resource.
A waste allowance in percent raises the billed quantity of a condition; the bill shows the net quantity in its basis column. In the Excel file the bill prices point at an analysis list sheet, which points at the analysis sheet, and a quantities-by-sheet sheet lists each condition per drawing with its net subtotal, waste and total, in the layout of a quantity summary.
Worked example
The sample drawing is our own plan of a 10 m by 6 m office at 1:100 on an A3 sheet, sheet number A-101. Open it, and the tool names the sheet A-101 and sets 1:100 from the title block. Tracing the centre line of the four 200 mm outer walls gives 32.00 m. The room OFFICE 1, measured between the inner wall faces, is 4.805 m by 5.80 m, so its area is 27.87 m², the same as the label on the drawing. Clicking the four column symbols with the count tool gives 4.
Files you get
- Bill (XLSX): one row per condition with code, item, unit, quantity, unit price (or material, labour and expense prices) and amount formulas, assembly items under each condition, a total formula, and a "Basis" column showing what each quantity came from. A second sheet lists every measurement with its sheet, file and page, and a cost statement sheet is added when you pick a template. A quantities-by-drawing sheet is always included, and the analysis list and analysis sheets are added when you use unit price analyses.
- Marked-up PDF: the measured pages of your drawings with every measurement drawn in its condition colour and a legend with totals per sheet. Send it with the bill so others can check the takeoff.
- CSV: every measurement with its coordinates, for your own spreadsheets.
- Project: a JSON file with sheets, scales, conditions and measurements. Projects are also saved automatically on this device.
Before you rely on the numbers
- The scale decides every number. Check one known dimension on each sheet after setting the scale, especially on drawings printed to fit or scanned.
- Scanned drawings have no lines to snap to. Measuring still works, but accuracy depends on your clicks and the scan.
- Snapping uses the lines stored in the PDF. Very large sheets with hundreds of thousands of lines may take a few seconds to prepare.
- Drawings and projects live in this browser. Clearing site data deletes them, so save the project file and keep your PDFs.
- The bill contains measured quantities. Waste, laps and rules of a standard method of measurement are not added unless you put them into assembly formulas.
This tool is for estimating and checking. Quantities used for contracts or payments should be checked by the person responsible for the estimate.
Software used
- Mozilla, pdf.js, Apache-2.0, for reading and drawing PDF pages.
- pdf-lib, MIT, for the marked-up PDF.
- ExcelJS, MIT, for the Excel bill.
Last checked 2026-10-19