Craft Quantities: construction material calculators

Searches the site's construction pages for a question in everyday words, such as how much concrete or tile a job needs, and returns the matching pages: id, kind, title, link, description and slug. It finds; it computes nothing.

Returns the full text of one Craft Quantities page, identified by its id: what the page works out, its inputs or measurements with units and opening values, and its sources.

Returns the input fields of one calculator, identified by its slug: each field's id, label, accepted units, range and default value in metric and US units, with the calculator's version, page and citation. It computes nothing.

Computes the result of one calculator, identified by its slug, from the input values given: the amount of material a job needs, such as the bags of concrete for a slab or the sheets of drywall for a room, counted in bags, sheets, studs, tiles, litres, gallons, cubic yards or m³. Returns it in metric and US units with the inputs used, sources, a citation and the page link. No prices.

Converts one value from one unit to another, for example 2 m³ to cubic yards, with the exact factor the site's calculators apply, and returns the converted value and the factor.

Where does a figure come from, and how is it cited? Returns a calculator's sources as it cites them, the codes and standards they name, the site's standards pages, and a citation in plain, APA, Harvard and BibTeX. It adds no source the calculator does not cite.

Returns a link that opens a construction calculator's page on craftquantities.com with the reader's figures filled in and their unit system, so a person can see or change the working on the page.

Returns the measurements one whole-job takeoff needs, identified by its id: each measurement's id, unit and opening figure, its build-up choices, the calculators it runs and what it leaves out.

Works one whole-job takeoff, identified by its id, from the measurements given: the materials list of a job such as a slab or a deck, each line from its own calculator, with what to order, waste allowances, metric and US units, labour hours (not a price), what is not counted, a citation and the page link. It does not size structure.

Returns one worked construction estimate from the site, identified by its slug: the measurements, the steps in order with the calculator each uses, the figure each step pins and the waste chosen.

Re-runs every pinned step of a worked construction estimate now, in both unit systems, and returns whether each still meets the published figure.

Creates one My Project backup file from a list of calculator lines (each a calculator slug and its input values). Each line is computed as the site's page adds it; the reader restores the file on craftquantities.com as a new project. Nothing is stored or sent; no prices.

Creates one My Project backup file from a list of whole-job takeoffs (each a takeoff id and its measurements). Each takeoff's lines are worked as its page commits them; the reader restores the file on craftquantities.com as a new project. Nothing is stored or sent; no prices.

Creates one My Project backup file from a House Estimator form: the house's lines, and its drawing, which the site's canvas reopens. The reader restores the file on craftquantities.com as a new project. Nothing is stored or sent; no prices.

Creates one My Project backup file from a room plan: one planned space, or several spaces and a roof. Its lines and its plan are saved as the site's planner saves them; the reader restores the file on craftquantities.com as a new project. Nothing is stored or sent; no prices.

Creates one My Project backup file from a Construction Canvas drawing: its lines, and the drawing itself, which the site's canvas reopens. The reader restores the file on craftquantities.com as a new project. Nothing is stored or sent; no prices.

Is a builder's quote right on quantities? Reads a contractor's quote (pasted text) against the reader's own job and returns each quoted quantity against the range the job's calculators give, the lines it leaves out or adds, and the questions to ask. Money is removed and not judged; a difference is a question, not a verdict.

Estimates the materials to build one rectangular house of one or two storeys from a few figures (footprint, walls, roof, openings): every quantity with what to order, assumptions, plans of each storey and labour hours, as the site's House Estimator does. It counts; it does not design a structure. No prices.

Returns the room planner's fields for one kind of space: its figures, surfaces and finish ids, scope questions and rows, with their ids.

Plans one space, such as a room or a bathroom, from its size, openings and the finishes chosen, as the site's room planner does, and returns its materials list: each row with its quantity, what it still needs, what is not built and why, and labour hours. Quantities only; it does not size structure.

Plans several spaces together, with an optional roof over them, as one project in the site's room planner, and returns each space's rows, every line together, labour hours and the plan. Quantities only; it does not size structure.

Draws one plan on the Construction Canvas from the shapes, rooms laid out by adjacency on a grid, house figures, drawing commands, canvas document or template given, and returns its materials list, a plan of each level, labour hours, a link that opens the drawing on the canvas, and a file. It does not size structure.

Turns a supplier's or builder's quote the reader has, prices and all, into a My Project file, as the site's Quote to Estimate does, and checks its own arithmetic. The prices are the reader's figures from their document, not the site's.

Matches one building defect described in plain words, such as a crack, a damp patch, a water leak or a tripping breaker, to the site's diagnosis pages, and returns the candidate causes, what tells them apart, the checks in order and when to call a professional; ambiguous words return candidates. It does not say which cause it is.

Works out how far one amount of material goes, such as 40 bags of concrete or 24 gallons of paint: the area it covers and the size of slab, room, deck or wall that is, as the site's Solve Backwards page works it, waste taken off. It does not size structure.

Finds which family of building codes or standards governs one kind of work in one market (US, Canada, UK or Australia, or a country mapped to one), who publishes it and the site's standards page. It does not say which edition is in force: adoption is local, and the answer names who decides.

Says one building-trade word in US, Canadian, UK and Australian usage, such as plasterboard (drywall in the US) or skirting (baseboard): each market's word, how close each is, false-friend warnings, unit traps such as US and imperial gallons or short and metric tons with their conversions, and the market's document family. Brand names, plurals and misspellings match too.

Creates a request for quote from a materials list or bill of materials (the lines of a takeoff, house, plan or calculation, or the reader's own): Markdown to paste, a CSV, the site's link a merchant opens to price it, and a My Project file. It carries no price and sends nothing to anyone.

Returns items of the Construction Quantities Benchmark, a CC BY 4.0 dataset of construction quantity questions built from the site's calculator test vectors: each with its inputs and a prompt in metric and US units, the expected answer in each system with its tolerance, and the worked steps. A page of calculators at a time or one calculator's items, with the download link and how to cite it.

Measures areas, perimeters and lengths from points read off a floor plan, sketch or photo (pixel coordinates) and one known reference (a figured dimension, an ID-1 card or an A4 or Letter sheet): scaled figures in metric and US units with an uncertainty band, closure and crossing checks, and a canvas link. It receives no image.

Exports a Construction Canvas drawing (a template, shapes, a room layout, drawing commands, house figures or a canvas document) as DXF for CAD, with the site's CQ-* layers, and as SVG, one plan per level in millimetres, or as one openBIM IFC4 model with quantity sets, as the canvas's own download writes them; a file too large to return is rebuilt from the drawing's link.

Lays out reinforcing bars in a rectangular slab or footing from the bar size, spacing and cover the engineer gives: bars each way, bar lengths, total length with lap, stock sticks, weight where the site's calculator carries the size, and the layout as SVG and DXF. A quantity layout, not a design: it does not size structure or check a code.

Runs up to 25 construction calculator calculations in one request, each a calculator slug or permanent id with its own input values, and returns each run's full answer in order (metric and US units, inputs used, sources, citation, page link) or that run's refusal; one refusal leaves the rest answered. No prices.

Changes a My Project project carried in a state token (cqp1.…, from a project file answer): add or remove a room or space, change a dimension, add or remove a takeoff or calculator line, change a roof pitch, rename. Rebuilds every line and returns the new token, a short diff, the totals and a site link. The token is compressed, not encrypted; nothing is stored. No prices.

Groups a materials list, bill of materials, takeoff, plan or project (lines, calculator slugs or a project state token) by CSI MasterFormat 2018 division, by the site's own keyword rule over each line's calculator or words. A suggested grouping, not a specification; no Uniclass or NRM grouping is given. No prices.

Resolves a permanent Craft Quantities id (such as cq-c0412), a current or earlier slug, or a craftquantities.com address to the page as it is today: its kind, current slug, slug history, page link and permanent /id/ link. Ids are assigned once and kept when a page is renamed or moved; a removed page names its replacement.

Builds a construction programme (build schedule, Gantt) from a project's labour hours: tasks by trade, stage and level in the usual order of work, each its hours over the crew and working day given, with totals, a CSV and, with a start date, an iCalendar file. Reads a project state token, a My Project file, takeoffs or a drawing. Weather, inspections and lead times are not modelled. No prices.

Optimises a cut list: pieces of given lengths cut from the stock lengths a merchant sells (timber, studs, joists, rafters, rebar, trim), or rectangles nested on sheets (plasterboard, drywall, plywood, OSB, tiles) in straight edge-to-edge cuts. Gives the stock or sheets to buy, a cutting plan per bar or sheet, the real waste and a lower bound. Quantities only: no prices, no structural design.

Estimated person-hours on each line of a project, as My Project shows them: hours typed on the line, else a production rate's band for its quantity, else the reason for none; with the project's crew-days. From a token, a file, calculators, takeoffs or a drawing. Hours only: no prices.

Works both sides of a comparison page (LVP vs tile, paint vs wallpaper …) on one job: each side's quantity in both unit systems, allowance, weight and person-hours, the difference, and the crossover as one job figure is swept. Each calculator runs as its page runs it. No prices.

Runs a how-to guide's "Try the calculation" block on the figures given: each step's calculator in the guide's order, what to buy with waste and order quantities, both unit systems, person-hours, and the guide's link opening the block on these figures. No prices; nothing sized.

Re-runs a worked example with the job's figures changed: each change follows down every step that reads it, each step beside its published figure with the difference, both unit systems, the project lines with offered hours, and a link reopening it. A modelled job; no prices.

Lays out a flight as built: risers, goings, pitch, 2R+G, the floor opening for a headroom, the stringer as cut, timber and fixings (straight, landing or winders), or concrete and bars, or steel mass; both systems, limits read against a named code, a canvas link. Not sized.

Levels two to six contractors' quotes for one job against the job's own lines: per line, whether each includes it (its quantity against the job's range, both systems), leaves it out, excludes it or offers an alternative; what each adds; questions to ask. Money is taken out: no total, no ranking.

Writes the variation (change order) between an agreed and a proposed version of a project: each line added, removed or changed, its quantity in metric and imperial, the labour hours, and the signed document as My Project prints it. Money only from the reader's own rates; with none, unpriced.

Writes the client proposal My Project prints: scope by line or trade division, quantities in metric and imperial, assumptions, exclusions, terms, payment stages and the signature block. From a token, a file, calculators, takeoffs or a drawing. "Not priced" unless the reader's own rates are given.

The one-page job sheet a takeoff page prints for the van: the job's picture as SVG, key dimensions in metric and imperial, the build-up, each line going in with what to buy, labour hours by trade, and the link reopening the page on these figures. Words and figures for the PDF; no prices.

Draws a whole-job takeoff or a worked example at the figures given as a Construction Canvas drawing and returns the link that opens it; the drawing rides in the link's fragment, so nothing is uploaded. Says what the drawing cannot carry. For quantities, not a construction drawing.

Returns the topic illustration a page of the site carries: the SVG's address, its subject in words and its licence. One per guide, comparison, diagnosis, example, category, material and solve-backwards question; a shared plate for the glossary, methods, policies, standards and tools.

Cuts one corner of skirting, casing or crown molding on a named saw: per piece the mitre and bevel as its dials read, the stop each sits on, how the piece lies, which side to keep, whether the saw can make it; cope or mitre, and the gap a 45° cut leaves. No sizing.

Plans trim round a room, piece by piece, from its corners, door openings and built-ins (or a drawn room): each piece in fitting order with its long and short point lengths, each end's cope, mitre, butt or scarf with its saw settings, the cut list and the trim lengths to buy.

Turns gaps measured off a straight line into a scribe line for an uneven surface: the widest and narrowest gap, the width to start from, the strip to cut away, the line as full-size SVG and DXF, and its print layout on A4, Letter or a roll. A pattern, not a fit.

The true shape of a worktop, shelf or panel between walls that are not square: front and back lengths, setbacks, diagonals and the blank with scribe and bow, then the blank and any other parts nested on stock: part ids, grain, cut order, offcuts and edge banding. Geometry only.

A worktop along several wall faces, as the Construction Canvas cuts it: each piece's true shape at the room's real angles, butt or mitre joints at corners, long straights joined, the front run and free ends, and the blanks nested on worktop lengths with the cut order and banding. Not sized.

The mitre saw chart for trim corners: per corner angle the mitre each piece takes, the outside corner read through the room, the gap a 45° cut leaves on 18 mm and 3/4 in trim and where it opens, crown laid flat (38/52 and 45/45) mitre and bevel, and the handing table. Any corners on request.

The full-size template a calculator page prints: a stair stringer or step gauge, rafter cuts, a cone or frustum pattern, an arch's centring or voussoirs, an anchor bolt setting jig or plate, a curved plate; its lines as SVG and DXF, its checks and omissions, and how it tiles on paper.