Construction Design Solutions
Material Takeoffs
Send us your plans. We send back exactly what to order — every stick of framing lumber, all the sheathing, and the weather barrier, counted by board foot and by piece.
Price Your TakeoffLumber Takeoffs
Know what to order
before you order it
Framing packages are where custom home budgets quietly go wrong. Order short and the crew stands around waiting on a delivery. Order long and you've paid for lumber that ends up stacked behind the garage or thrown in the dumpster. Neither shows up in anybody's estimate — they just show up in what the house actually cost.
A takeoff is the fix. We read your plan set the way a framer reads it and count what's actually there: every stud, plate, header, joist, rafter and beam, all the sheathing, and the weather barrier that goes over it. You get a list you can hand to any lumber yard — and because it's a real list and not a guess, every yard you send it to is quoting the same thing.
Framing Lumber
Studs, top and bottom plates, headers, floor joists and rim, ceiling joists, rafters or truss counts, ridge, beams, blocking, bracing and posts — broken out by assembly and by size.
Sheathing & Weather Barrier
Wall and roof sheathing counted in full sheets, plus the weather barrier — ZIP System panels and tape, or OSB with Tyvek, wrap tape and fasteners. Tell us which system and we count that one.
Board Feet & Piece Counts
Both numbers, every time. Board feet for pricing the package and comparing quotes; piece counts by length for the actual purchase order your yard needs to pull the load.
Walls & PlatesStuds, plates and headers, counted by length
Beams & JoistsEvery carrying member on the drawings
Roof & TrussesRafters, ridge and truss counts
The Deliverable
What lands in your inbox
- Itemized material list — organized by assembly: floor, walls, roof, sheathing, barrier
- Board feet and piece counts — every line, both ways
- Lengths broken out — 92⅝, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 ft, so the order matches stock
- Waste factor stated on the sheet — 10% by default, adjustable on request
- Excel or CSV — so your yard can paste it straight into a quote
- PDF summary — the version you print and hand to the framer
- Assumptions page — stud spacing, plate count, header schedule, sheathing thickness, every call we made
- One round of revisions — plan changes happen; send the update
Why It Matters
The case for a real takeoff
Three yards quoting off your plans will each count it differently, and you'll never know which number to trust. Three yards quoting off the same list are competing on price — which is the only thing you wanted them to compete on.
Every short delivery costs a trip charge and a half day of a framing crew standing still. The takeoff is cheaper than the second delivery it prevents.
Counting a house forces someone to read every sheet carefully. Beams that don't line up, headers with nothing carrying them, a roof that doesn't close — we find those at the desk, not with a crew on site.
Somebody counted this house before the truck showed up.
Pricing
Priced by the square foot
The Rate
14¢per covered square foot
12¢ per covered square foot if we drew the plan — the set is already in our hands and we know how it's framed.
Total Covered Sq Ft
Total covered square footage — everything under roof. Conditioned space plus the garage, covered porches and patios. It's the same number your designer prices from.
Covered square footage means everything under roof — conditioned living space plus the garage, covered porches, patios and any detached structures. Not the lot, and not uncovered decks or drives. It's the whole area we actually have to count and frame, which is why it's the number we price from.
$250 minimum on any takeoff · Standard turnaround 3–5 business days · 48-hour rush +$150
We read your plan set, confirm the covered square footage and the price, and send it back for your approval before we start any work — so the number never moves after you've agreed to it.
A PDF set is enough. Any designer's plans, not just ours. Tell us ZIP or Tyvek and your stud spacing if you have a preference.
We read the set, total the covered square footage, confirm the price, and flag anything on the drawings that needs an answer before we count.
Three to five business days. Every assembly counted, every assumption written down where you can see it.
Send the same list to every yard you're considering and let them fight over it.
What a takeoff is — and isn't
Worth saying plainly, so nothing surprises you later.
- It's a quantity list, not a bid. We count material. We don't price it and we don't quote labor — your lumber yard and your framer do that.
- It reflects the plans as drawn. Change the plan in the field and the count changes with it. Send us the revision and we'll update it.
- Structural design stays with your engineer. Beam sizing, truss engineering and load paths are their scope, not ours. We count what the drawings specify.
- Verify against your supplier's stock. Yards carry different lengths and panel sizes. Walk the list with your salesperson before the order goes in.
- Framing package only. Concrete, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, insulation, drywall, siding, roofing, windows, doors, trim and cabinetry are not included in this scope.
Send us the plans.
We'll count the house.
Any plan set, from any designer. We'll confirm the price and the turnaround before we start.
Request a TakeoffStill choosing a plan? Browse CDS plans — takeoffs on our own sets are 12¢ a covered square foot instead of 14¢.