Importance of a take off list

This article is all about the Importance of a take off list in quantity surveying and construction.

What is a take off list ?

Before starting taking off quantities (abstracting quantities from drawings) for a construction project, the quantity surveyor or estimator should first sit down and prepare a rough ‘to-do’ this or take-off list.

This is simple best practice for any quantity surveyor or estimator and should always be completed for taking off any quantities.

This should be a simple list of the quantities that are required, listed in a logical sequence. The quantity surveyor or estimator should try and imagine the building works in three dimensions and envisage how this building will be construction from the start to finish.

This step is one of the most important in ensuring that construction budgets and pricing documents can be relied upon

Having a take-off list should:

• Make the person feel in control and organised
• Make the process easier and simpler
• Reduce errors and omissions
• Stop the quantity surveyor or estimator getting lost
• Allows careful consideration of the work before taking off begins
• Acts as a useful checklist which will be an aid to measurement

The importance of a logical sequence in taking off cannot be over-emphasised.

Example

If a quantity surveyor or estimator has to ‘take-off’ quantities for new flooring to a building they will sit down and read the drawings.

They can jot down a quick, simple take off list that includes everything they will need to measure.

For example:

Suspended timber floors

• Plates and bedding m
• Any possible adjustment of brickwork
• Any supporting (timber beams) m
• Floor joists m
• Joist Strutting e.g. herringbone strutting m
• Floor Boarding  m2

Concrete beds

• Hardcore filling m3
• In-situ concrete m3
• Surface treatments m2 – e.g. mechanical tamping, powerfloating, trowelling

Suspended concrete slabs

• Fabric reinforcement is measured in m2
• Formwork to the soffits of floor slabs m2
• Formwork to edges of suspended slabs m and possibly m2
• In-situ concrete floor slabs m3