Counterly vs manual PDF takeoff

The estimator sets the scale on each sheet, measures every run and its depth, subtracts or notes cutouts, adds backsplash, totals finished edge, and writes it all into a spreadsheet. Then the estimator divides by slab yield or sketches a nest to get a slab count. Every step is a judgment the estimator makes and can explain, which is the method's real strength.

One-off kitchens and small jobs, where setup time is the whole job. Drawings so incomplete that the takeoff is mostly the estimator's judgment about what the architect meant. Shops that bid a few drawing-based jobs a year. And any shop whose estimator does a kitchen in a few minutes and never sees it come back revised. In those cases software changes little, and nobody should buy it.

Sets with many unit types, since each type is measured without an estimator tracing it. Revised sets, since a revision is read again and not re-measured. Consistency, since the same depth and splash rules are applied to every type, where a tired estimator on type fourteen may not apply them the same way as on type one. And slab count, since a real nest of every piece replaces a division by an assumed yield.

Review. An automated takeoff is a first pass that an estimator confirms against the drawing, type by type. Scope judgment also stays with the shop: whether backsplash is in the bid, whether vanities are yours, what the general contractor is furnishing. Counterly asks about scope it cannot settle from the drawings instead of deciding. Field templating before cutting stays too. The measured comparison with completed manual takeoffs, including misses, is on the accuracy page.

Manual takeoff costs estimator hours and nothing else, which makes it cheap on small jobs and expensive on large ones. Counterly's pricing is usage-based. What a shop pays follows how much takeoff work it actually runs through Counterly, so a shop is never charged for more than it uses. A shop bidding two apartment jobs a month does not pay what a shop bidding twenty pays. Counterly does not publish a fixed price list; the number comes out of a short conversation about your job volume. The comparison to make is those hours against that usage, on your own job mix. To get a number, book a demo.

Pick a multi-unit job you took off by hand and know the hours for. Run the same set through Counterly. Compare square footage, finished edge and slab count for each unit type, not only the job total, and count the time you spend reviewing and correcting. If review plus correction is not clearly less than the manual hours, stay manual.