Accuracy: what to check before ordering

A LumberSet takeoff is measured from the drawings and checked by an estimator. It is still your order. Spend a few minutes on the places where drawings most often fall short.

Start with the flags

Flags list every assumption made where the drawings were silent, and anything that could not be quantified. Read them first. Each one is a question for you or the builder.

Then the low confidence elements

Elements are marked by how sure reading was. Low confidence is where to look: open the element, see the sheet region it came from, and confirm or correct it.

The usual suspects

• Wall heights. Drawings often leave them out. A missing height is assumed to be 8 feet and flagged.
• Roof trusses. Span, run and count are often on a truss layout that is not in the set. Check whether trusses are in your scope at all.
• Remodels. A remodel set shows existing work and new work. Make sure only the new work is counted.
• Hardware. Holdowns, straps and hangers are read from schedules, and counts are sometimes missing. Check the schedule.
• Sheathing and subfloor scope. Confirm what you supply and what the framer supplies.
• Stock lengths. Order quantities are packed into the stock lengths in your standards. If you carry different lengths, update your standards; the new ones apply to your next takeoffs.

Compare with the drawings

Open a sheet beside the takeoff and scan the big numbers: wall lineal feet, floor area, roof area, beam schedule. If one is off, the elements behind it are where to correct.

Correct the takeoff, not the quote

When something is wrong, correct the element and the takeoff recomputes. Changing a number on a quote does not change the takeoff, and a quote keeps its lines until you create it again from the corrected takeoff.