Measure and take off from PDF plans

Calibrate once, measure accurately

Measurement on a drawing is only as good as its scale. Calibrate against a known dimension on the sheet — a grid spacing, a stated room width, a scale bar — or set a standard drawing ratio directly, and every measurement afterwards reads in real-world units.

Drawings that mix scales across the sheet are handled with separate scale zones, so a detail at 1:20 sitting beside a plan at 1:100 can each be measured correctly without re-calibrating between them.

Lengths, areas, angles and counts

Line measures a single run and Chain handles running dimensions along a wall or boundary. Rectangle, Circle and Polygon return areas, for floor finishes, roof sheets, concrete pours or excavation zones.

Angle reads the angle between two lines. Count tallies repeated items — doors, fixtures, columns, pits — which is usually the tedious part of any takeoff. Snapping to nodes, detected edges or a grid keeps the measurements landing where you intend rather than near enough.

Takeoff without the subscription

Commercial takeoff software is powerful and priced accordingly, which makes it hard to justify for a single tender, a variation claim, or a quick check of someone else's figures.

This runs in a browser tab. Open the drawing, calibrate, measure, save the job and come back to it later. The PDF stays on your computer throughout, which matters because tender drawings are usually commercial-in-confidence.

All 5 tools on this page

• Measure lengthsSingle runs and chained dimensions
• Measure areasRectangles, circles and polygons
• Add dimensionsAnnotated dimension lines
• Count itemsTally repeated fixtures and fittings
• Markup plansDraw and note on the drawing

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