Quantity Takeoff

Quantities are how you back a scope with real numbers. You measure them on the drawing itself and link them to your scope items. Struction reads the scale off almost every drawing, so most of the time you never set one.

Where takeoff works

Anywhere you can open a drawing: Focus View from either map, the Detail Panel, and the page you land on when you click a quantity in a Scope of Work. Whatever you measure or mark on a page shows up on every instance of that page.

Three ways to get a quantity

1. Measure it yourself. Pick Area, Perimeter, Volume, Lineal, or Count from the toolbar, trace the measurement on the drawing, then link it to a scope item with the link button in the quantity panel.
2. Let Struction pull it from a schedule. Struction reads counts straight out of a drawing's schedule and turns them into a quantity.
3. Type it in. Enter the number on the scope item if you already know it.

Drawing modes

Area, Perimeter, Volume, and Lineal takeoffs offer two drawing modes. Choose one from the mode label in the takeoff banner:

• Draw is the default. Click to add points one at a time. If a drawing line's endpoint or midpoint is nearby, the point snaps to it. Hold Shift to place a point freehand, exactly where you click.
• Vector click adds an entire highlighted drawing line or path with one click. After the first line, only lines that connect to either end of your measurement can be added. Click Finish measurement when the line or outline is complete.

For Area, Perimeter, and Volume, finishing a Vector click measurement connects its two open ends to close the outline. Hold A while placing points in Draw to lock the next segment to a 45° angle.

These mode choices appear only on pages with vector data. On other pages, takeoffs place points exactly where you click and show the regular takeoff label.

Count takeoff

• Click each item you want to count, or drag a box over one to place a marker sized to that box. Hold S while dragging to make the box square.
• Double-click a saved count to edit it. Add more markers, drag a marker to move it, or right-click a marker to remove it.
• While editing, hover a marker and press Backspace or Delete to remove it.

Area takeoff

• Click around the area, then click the first point again to close it. For a rectangle, drag from one corner to the opposite one. Hold S while dragging to make it square.
• To cut space out of an area, open the Area tool's dropdown and choose Subtract Area, then outline the cutout and close it.
• Double-click a saved area to edit it. Drag a vertex to move it, or right-click a vertex to remove it.

Lineal takeoff

• Click to add points, then click the last point again to finish.
• Select a saved lineal, then right-click an endpoint to resume drawing from that end. Right-click along the line to split it into two measurements there, or to add a segment adder.
• A segment adder adds vertical feet the flat drawing can't show, like a riser, a drop, or an offset. Right-click the segment, choose Add Segment Adder, and type the feet. It appears in the quantity as its own segment adder measurement and counts toward the lineal total alongside the traced length.
• Drag while placing a point to bow the new segment into an arc.
• Double-click a saved lineal to edit it. Drag a vertex to move it, right-click a vertex to remove it, or double-click a vertex to turn its adjacent straight segments into arcs.
• Measuring a wall run rather than a length of pipe? Pick Wall Area from the Lineal tool's dropdown, set a height, and trace the run like any lineal to get square feet. See Derived quantities below.

How quantities and measurements fit together

• A measurement is one takeoff on a drawing. One traced area, one line, one count.
• A quantity is one or more measurements added together. It arrives named Quantity #1, #2, and so on. Rename it, and let it span as many pages as it needs.
• Linking a quantity to a scope item funds that item's number. Each scope item draws its number from one quantity, and one quantity can fund several items.

The link icon on a scope item names the takeoff behind its number: Schedule, Area, Perimeter, Volume, Lineal, or Count. It also says whether Struction or a person produced it.

Derived quantities

Some numbers you don't trace. You calculate them from a takeoff you already have. A derived quantity keeps the shapes you drew and reports them in a different dimension: an area becomes a volume or a perimeter, a lineal run becomes wall area. The traced measurement stays underneath as the source, so reshaping a measurement, adding one, or deleting one recomputes the derived total.

You convert the quantity, not the shape. Open the actions menu at the left of the quantity's row in the Quantities panel and pick a Convert to … option. The conversion covers every measurement in the quantity, including ones you draw into it later, so a quantity carries one derivation at a time. Converting back to the original dimension drops the derivation and leaves your traced measurements alone.

A converted quantity shows the derived total with the traced source faded beside it, like "54 cy (375 sqft)". Each measurement row shows the math behind its own number, "(125 sq ft × 5″)".

Volume and perimeter from an area

• Convert to volume asks for a depth and multiplies every area in the quantity by it, giving cubic yards. The depth stays editable on the quantity's row.
• Convert to perimeter asks for nothing else. It reports the outline length of every area in the quantity, in linear feet.
• To start there instead of converting later, pick Volume or Perimeter from the Area tool's dropdown. Volume asks for the depth once and applies it to every footprint you trace in that session. Either way, you outline the shape the same as an area.

Wall area from a lineal

• Convert to area asks for a wall height and turns every traced run in the quantity into square feet. A 45 lf run at 8′ is 360 sf.
• Sides sets how many faces of the wall you're pricing. Single counts one face, Double counts both and doubles the area. Height and Sides both stay editable on the quantity's row.
• To start there instead, pick Wall Area from the Lineal tool's dropdown and set the height before you trace.

Scale

Measurements need a scale. Struction reads it off most drawings and shows it in the corner of the sheet. Override it by measuring a known dimension or by typing the scale in yourself. If one sheet holds several drawings at different scales, turn on Regions and set the scale per region.

Annotations

Alongside takeoff you get markup tools: Draw, Highlight, Cloud, Comment, and Eraser. They stick to the page and never count toward a quantity. Use one to flag something for a teammate or leave a note. Like takeoff, an annotation shows up on every instance of that page.