Concrete takeoff from foundations to elevated slabs

What it takes off

The structure, not just the flatwork

Footings, grade beams, pile caps and piers; foundation walls formed or ICF; columns, beams and elevated slabs with shoring, reshoring and post-tensioning; drop panels and equipment pads. Every section size, every bar and every spacing is typed from the structural drawings and stays yours — it counts and measures, and it never designs. That is the point rather than the caveat: a quantity you can trace back to a drawing is one you can defend when the job is tight.

Rebar the way the drawings write it

Callouts like 15M @ 400 E.W., (3) 15M CONT. and #4 @ 12 in. O.C. T&B are read with their bar size, count, spacing and direction. Canadian bar sizes from 10M to 55M and imperial #3 to #11 are both understood.

Concrete notes, checked by you

On request it reads the set's concrete notes for strength in MPa or psi, CSA exposure class, air entrainment and thickness, and shows each with the sheet and words it came from. Nothing is applied until you check it and press for it.

A proposal per trade

A company that bids concrete and other trades can view the estimate one trade at a time and send a concrete-only proposal, with the markup kept inside the unit prices.

What it does not do

• It is not an engineer. Mix design, reinforcing design and every size come from the structural drawings and specifications.
• It does not lay out post-tensioning or engineer shoring. Tendon feet come from the rate you type from the post-tensioning drawings, and shoring is bought by area.
• It reads the text on the drawings; it does not count symbols, and it cannot promise to read every schedule or callout a set prints.

Questions estimators ask

Is it for houses or for commercial work?

Both, and the same setup does either. On houses: ICF and formed foundation walls, strip and pad footings, weeping tile and waterproofing, driveways, sidewalks and exterior steps. On commercial and high-rise: columns, beams, elevated slabs with shoring and reshoring, post-tensioning feet typed from the post-tensioning drawings, curbs, stairs, and a typical floor drawn once and repeated up the building.

Does it work in metric?

Choose imperial, metric or both for your company. Concrete is still ordered to the half yard, metric schedule sizes like 600 x 250 are read as millimetres, and rebar can be bought by the kilogram using Canadian bar sizes like 15M.

Can it read my footing schedule?

Yes, when the schedule is printed as a table of marks, sizes and reinforcing. Each row it reads is shown with its words and sheet, and becomes a concrete type only when you press for it.

Is forming included?

Every part of a concrete type is optional: forms by contact area, rebar, base, vapour barrier, dampproofing, keyways, finish, shoring, pumping, curing and winter heat can each be on or off, because on many jobs forming and rebar are separate subs.

Is there free concrete takeoff software?

Our concrete, rebar weight, concrete block and ICF calculators are free, with no account, and each does one pour or one run from numbers you type. Your first bid is free too, with no card: one drawing set of up to 75 sheets, from the upload to the proposal. After that, the smallest plan is 250 US dollars a month for 20 bids: the founding price for the first 50 paying companies, and 350 US dollars after the first 50.

How much does concrete takeoff software cost?

Takeoff software is usually sold one of three ways: per seat by the month or year, as a one-time licence with paid updates, or by the job. Ours is priced by the drawings, not the seat: each plan is a monthly allowance of bids, and one bid is one drawing set of up to 75 sheets, however many footings, walls and slabs it has. Unused bids do not carry over. The Estimator plan is 250 US dollars a month for 20 bids and 1 seat. That is the founding price for the first 50 paying companies, who keep it while they stay subscribed; companies after them pay 350 US dollars a month. An addendum is charged only for the sheets that changed, at one bid per 75 sheets. Your first bid is free, with no card.

Is it Canadian takeoff software?

Yes. PreConstruct AI is built in Ontario, Canada, for subs who bid from drawings in millimetres, in feet and inches, or both. Each company chooses imperial, metric or both; metric schedule sizes are read as millimetres, and Canadian rebar sizes from 10M to 55M are built in. Prices are in US dollars, and the estimator types the tax rate on every job.

How accurate is it?

We publish no accuracy figure: how well any tool reads a set depends on the drawings, and one number across all of them means little. Every quantity read from the drawings shows its sheet and its arithmetic, anything it cannot settle is flagged for you rather than guessed, and wall suggestions are a beta you confirm. The honest test is a job you have already bid: run it as your free first bid and compare it line by line.