Product tour
Reading is done by AI. Counting is done by arithmetic.
That split is the whole design. AI turns the drawings into a model of the building. A rules engine turns the model into a takeoff you can check line by line. Here is each part, in the order your plan set meets it.
01 / 08
It reads the whole plan set, not one page.
A takeoff built from the floor plan alone misses what the structural sheets say. LumberSet reads every sheet and knows which is which.
Upload the PDFs as the builder sent them. Each page becomes a sheet with its number and title, such as S2.1 Floor Framing Plan, and is classified by kind: floor plan, foundation plan, framing plan, roof plan, elevation, section, detail, schedule or notes.
From those sheets the reading picks up what an estimator would: walls with their lengths, heights and stud spacing, openings, floor systems, roof planes, beams, posts and hardware callouts, along with the structural notes and schedules that change how they are framed.
02 / 08
Every element points back to the sheet.
The reading produces a building model: a structured description of the building. Nothing in it is anonymous.
Levels, walls, openings, floor systems, roof planes, beams, posts and hardware each become an element. Every element carries its evidence: the sheet, the region on that sheet, and what was read there.
Each element also carries a confidence. Where the drawings were clear, confidence is high and you can move on. Where a dimension was ambiguous or two sheets disagree, confidence is low, and that is exactly where review and your own checking should spend their time.
03 / 08
A rules engine does the counting.
Quantities are never generated by AI. They are computed from the building model by deterministic rules, the same arithmetic an estimator does by hand.
The engine computes studs, plates, headers, blocking, joists, rim, rafters or a truss count, sheathing and subfloor sheets, beams, posts, connectors and anchor bolts. Each takeoff line carries its derivation: the arithmetic that produced it, written so a person can check it.
Because the engine is plain computation, it is fast. Correct a wall height or change a stud spacing and the whole takeoff recomputes instantly, right in your browser.
Wall sheathing
7/16" OSB 4x8
46 sheets
- Wall area
184 LF x 8.094 ft1,489.3 sq ft - Less 9 openings
5 x 15 + 2 x 25 + 2 x 20- 165 sq ft - Net quantity
= 1,324.3 sq ft - Waste 10%
1,324.3 x 1.101,456.7 sq ft - 4x8 sheets
ceil(1,456.7 / 32)= 46
04 / 08
Your estimating standards drive every line.
How your yard frames a corner, what waste you carry on sheathing, which lengths are on the rack: that knowledge becomes settings, not folklore.
- Stud spacing defaults for when the drawings are silent
- Plate layers, corner and intersection framing, studs per opening
- Header rules by opening width
- Waste factors per material
- Precut stud lengths and the stock lengths you carry
Standards are versioned. Every takeoff records the version that produced it, so a quote from last spring can always be explained, even after the standards have moved on.
05 / 08
Quantities are packed into the lengths you stock.
A builder does not buy linear feet. They buy sticks. LumberSet turns the cut list into the pieces your yard actually carries.
The takeoff keeps two numbers apart. Net quantity is what the drawings need. Order quantity is what you should ship: net plus waste, packed into stock lengths and rounded to sellable units.
In this example, the headers for nine openings come to 18 cuts. Pairing each long cut with two short ones fits them into 6 sticks of 12 feet. Bought as 8-footers, the same cut list takes 11 sticks, because no 8-footer holds a long cut and a short one.
Headers
2x10 x 12' DF-L No.2
6 ea
Cut list: 4 at 5'-3", 14 at 3'-3". 18 cuts, 66.5 LF.
- 15'-3"3'-3"3'-3"3"
- 25'-3"3'-3"3'-3"3"
- 35'-3"3'-3"3'-3"3"
- 45'-3"3'-3"3'-3"3"
- 53'-3"3'-3"3'-3"2'-3"
- 63'-3"3'-3"3'-3"2'-3"
offcut
- Needed
- 66.5 LF
- Ordered
- 6 x 12' = 72 LF
- Offcut
- 5.5 LF
06 / 08
Matched to your catalog, priced your way.
A takeoff line asks for a material. Your catalog says what you sell to fulfil it, and for how much.
Each line is matched to an item in your own catalog, under your SKU and in the unit you sell it by. You confirm or change any match, and the quote is priced with your prices and your margin.
Your catalog and your prices are private to your yard. LumberSet does not set prices, suggest prices from other yards, or share yours with anyone.
07 / 08
Your customer receives your quote, not ours.
The result is a quote under your yard's name, sent to the builder as a link and a PDF.
The builder opens a link and sees a clean, itemized quote with your branding, grouped the way the building goes together. The PDF is there for their records and their bank.
Prices moved since you sent it? Re-price and send it again. Editing or re-pricing a quote never costs anything extra.
08 / 08
Estimators review the takeoffs.
LumberSet reviewers are estimators on our staff. Their job is to check takeoffs against the drawings, and to leave a record when they change something.
A review ends in approval, with or without corrections. Each correction is a recorded change to an element or a line, with its reason. Corrections are what make the reading better over time.
You pick the review mode for your yard. In gated mode, takeoffs wait for review before they are released to you. In audit mode, they are released at once and reviewed afterwards.
See it on your own plan set.
The quickest tour is a real one. Sign up, upload the drawings for a project you already know, and check the takeoff against your own.
$200 per quote. No monthly fee. No seat licenses. No contract.