carr.willow•11d agoOG Member

Just realized I was wasting hours on manual takeoffs

I used to do all my material takeoffs by hand, marking up PDFs with a highlighter and a calculator. Then I tried a software trial for Bluebeam Revu last month and it cut my time from 4 hours to about 45 minutes on a single floor plan. The thing that convinced me was when my coworker showed me how it counts doors and windows automatically. Has anyone else switched to digital takeoffs and found a tool they actually like?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_dylan10d ago

Solidarity on that, @ruby_grant, manual takeoffs are brutal.

kim.wren9d agoMost Upvoted

Working in 2D mode helps me avoid that zoom trap.

ruby_grant10d ago

Yeah, the automatic door and window counting thing sounds nice. I spent an hour last week trying to figure out why my takeoff for a commercial job was short by 30 light fixtures. Turns out I missed a whole section of the PDF cause I was zoomed in too tight. Digital tools are great until you cause your own problems.