Get procurement-ready material lists
The Take-Off agent extracts every material from your drawings with specifications, grades, waste factors, and drawing references. The output is ready to send straight to suppliers for quoting.
What you'll produce
- Full Room Schedule with dimensions
- Door Schedule + Window Schedule with totals
- Trade-by-trade material take-off (one continuous table)
- 300+ line items for residential, 600+ for commercial
- Every item with: product code, full spec, quantity with workings, unit, waste %, net quantity, drawing reference, and PROVISIONAL flag
- Material Summary by Trade — procurement planning view
- Critical Items & Gaps register
Step 1 — Open the Take-Off agent
Click T — Take-Off in the workspace. Attach every drawing — the more Arc sees, the more accurate the take-off.
Step 2 — Choose your depth
Full MTO
Click Full MTO for the complete take-off across all 18 trade sections.
Trade-specific takeoffs
If you only need one trade, use the targeted templates:
- Concrete & Steel — volumes, grades, reinforcement, member sizes
- Timber Framing — studs, plates, lintels, joists in LM by size
- Windows & Doors Schedule — every W-mark and D-mark with specs
- Roof & External Envelope — sheets, battens, flashings, cladding, gutters
- Insulation Schedule — R-values, areas, compliance notes
- Linings, Finishes & Fixtures — per room with waste factors
- Procurement-Ready CSV — one flat table ready for Excel/ERP import
Step 3 — Waste factors
Arc applies industry-standard waste factors automatically:
| Material | Standard Waste |
|---|---|
| Timber | 10% |
| Concrete | 5% |
| Structural Steel | 3% |
| Tiles | 10–15% |
| Plasterboard | 10% |
| Roofing | 10% |
| Paint | 10% |
| Reinforcing Steel | 5% |
If you have an experienced crew and want tighter numbers, ask Arc:
"Apply tight waste factors — timber 5%, tiles 7%, plasterboard 5%."
Step 4 — Export to procurement
Click XLSX to download. The spreadsheet will include:
- A consolidated "Full Report" sheet
- One sheet per trade for filtering/sorting
- SUM formulas on every numeric column
- PROVISIONAL items highlighted yellow
- Numeric columns formatted with thousands separators
- Auto-filters on every table
Send the XLSX directly to 3–5 suppliers for quoting. Each supplier gets the same scope — apples-to-apples comparison.
Pro tips
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Check PROVISIONAL items first. These are quantities Arc estimated without complete information. If more than 10% of your take-off is PROVISIONAL, get the missing info before going to market.
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Use the Concrete & Steel takeoff standalone when your structural engineer delivers drawings — it'll confirm Arc's provisional allowances against engineered quantities.
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The Windows & Doors Schedule is perfect for window companies. It's already in the format Schueco, AWS, and local aluminium suppliers expect.
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Pair with Estimator. The Take-Off gives you quantities; the Estimator adds rates and margins. You can run both on the same drawings.
Common mistakes
- Not specifying grades. If your drawings show "timber framing" without stating MGP10 or F7, Arc will default to MGP10. Check this matches your engineer's spec.
- Missing the finish schedule. Without product codes (MRS01, CLA01), Arc falls back to generic descriptions — less useful for procurement.
- Using the MTO as a final BOQ. It's excellent as a starting point, but an experienced quantity surveyor should verify before you commit to tender quantities.
Next: Scheduler — Build a defensible construction programme →