Measurements and take-off fields
Measure once, and let the estimate follow
Why this one matters
Measure the slab and you have just worked out the concrete, the mesh, the membrane, the sand bed and the pump hire. In a spreadsheet you type that number into five cells and hope you find all five when the drawing changes.
A take-off field is that measurement held in one place. Change it and everything that reads it moves, which is the difference between a revised drawing costing an hour and costing a morning.
What you will see
- One measurement named and stored, instead of a number typed in five places
- Items pulling their quantity from that field
- The drawing changing, and every dependent line following
What was said
The narration, word for word, for anyone who would rather read it than watch it — or who is on a train.
Measurements is every take-off field on the job in one list. Each one is a measurement your items can follow.
The line under the title sums up the job: how many assemblies, how many fields, how many of them are measured on a plan, and how many items take their price from them. A quick way to see how much of the estimate is driven by real measurements.
Each field says where its number comes from. <break time="0.5s" /> Measured on a plan. Worked out by a formula. Or simply typed in.
This one is a formula: the slab area times nought point three. It is worked out on the assembly's take-off sheet, so it is locked here too. Change the slab area, and it follows on its own.
A measured field is locked here, because the plan is where it's measured. Open in Take-Off goes straight to the drawing.
A typed field you can change right here. It takes a sum, too.
Used by shows which items each field prices. Change a field, and those are the items that move.
The menu at the end of each line moves a field to another assembly, or deletes it. A field an item still takes its quantity from cannot simply be deleted: you are told which item uses it, so you can point that item somewhere else first.
The fields are grouped by the assembly they belong to. Measure once, here or on the plan, and every item that follows it stays right.
To add a field, pick its assembly and press Add field. Give it a name, a unit and a quantity. It is a typed field until something measures it, and the window keeps count of what you have not saved yet.
The questions, lines and formulas behind an assembly live on its take-off sheet, and the next video opens one. The key along the bottom reminds you what measured, formula and typed mean. Press Save, and every item that follows these fields is updated.
Doing it, rather than watching it
This page is the tour. When you are in SmarteBuild with a job open and need the detail — every option, every exception, the things the video had no time for — the help centre has the full article.
Measurements — the full reference
Read about it instead: Take-Off · Bill of Quantities
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