Concrete takeoff software. Yards, forms, and rebar from your own set.
Concrete takeoff software reads your structural set and measures what prices a concrete job: spread footings and piers by count, continuous footings, grade beams, and walls by run, and slabs by area, with cubic yards and rebar weight taken only from the sizes and schedules printed on the drawings. Below, watch it measure a foundation plan, see the checks that catch a missed footing, and get a free takeoff on your own set.
Then price it Concrete Estimating Software
Clients include
Construction companies working with Ruh
Is there concrete and rebar takeoff software that reads structural drawings?
Yes. Ruh measures each element off your structural drawings, converts it to cubic yards only at the depth printed on the sheet, at 27 cubic feet to the yard, and turns rebar into weight only from the bar schedule, at 0.668 lb per foot for #4 bar. It starts you with 13 concrete recipes you can edit, and your first takeoff is free.
- concrete recipes to start from, yours to edit
- 13
- for #4 bar, from the bar schedule
- 0.668 lb/ft
- on your own structural set
- 1st takeoff free
What happens when Ruh reads a structural set?
Ruh reads the foundation plan, the structural notes, and the footing schedule, counts each spread footing and pier against its mark, measures footings and grade beams by run and slabs by area, and keeps every quantity on the sheet where it sits. A length or an area turns into cubic yards only when a thickness, a schedule, or a section on the set says how deep it is.
- 1
Each spread footing and pier is counted against its mark on the footing schedule as the scan passes, marked where it sits on the sheet.
- 2
Continuous footings and grade beams are measured by run, and slabs by area, so the quantity follows the drawing instead of an allowance.
- 3
Each quantity drops into the Quantities tab with its sheet attached. A line whose bar schedule is not in the set waits for one instead of taking a typical rate.
Where concrete bids leak margin
Concrete bids are lost in the parts of the set that do not add up: forms priced off a wall height nobody read, rebar tonnage from a schedule half counted, and a thickened slab edge that only shows in a section.
Formwork is where the labor hides
The concrete is the cheap part. The labor lives in the forms, and forms are priced by contact area. Miss a wall height, a pilaster, or a thickened slab edge and the contact area comes up short, so placing labor and form reuse are both wrong before the bid goes out.
Rebar tonnage swings the number
Reinforcing lives across the schedule, the sections, and the details. Laps, dowels, hooks, and wall corners are easy to under-count, and steel is priced by weight, so a missed splice or a bar size read wrong moves the tonnage and the price with it.
Lump sum punishes the condition you did not see
A missed grade beam, a pier read off the wrong detail, or a depressed slab that only appears in a section does not surface until the pour. By then the margin is gone and there is no change order to recover it.
Our view: A concrete number should never hold a thickness nobody read off the drawings. When the set does not say how deep a slab or footing is, the right answer is a question for the estimator, not a typical size.
What gets measured on a concrete set
A concrete takeoff, Division 03 of the spec, is three measurements that have to agree: volume, forms, and reinforcing. The table pairs each concrete item with the sheet that carries it, how it is measured, and what it adds to the price.
| Item | Where it is on the set | How it is taken off | What it drives in the price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spread footings and pier caps | Foundation plan and footing schedule | Counted per mark, size from the schedule | Concrete by size, forms, rebar per footing |
| Continuous footings | Foundation plan and wall sections | Measured by run, width and depth from the section | Concrete per foot, forms both sides, continuous bars |
| Grade beams | Foundation plan and beam schedule or section | Measured by run, size from the schedule | Concrete, forms, longitudinal bars and stirrups |
| Slab on grade | Foundation plan and structural notes | Measured by area, thickness from the notes or section | Concrete, vapor retarder, mesh or bars, finishing labor |
| Thickened edges and depressed slabs | Sections and details | Measured by run or area, depth from the detail | The extra concrete and forms a plan view hides |
| Foundation and retaining walls | Plans, wall sections, and elevations | Measured by run, height from the section | Form contact area both sides, ties, bars |
| Columns and piers | Plans and column or pier schedule | Counted per mark, size from the schedule | Concrete, forms, verticals and ties |
| Reinforcing steel | Bar schedule, notes, sections, and details | Weighed from bar sizes, counts, spacing, and laps | Tons of steel, tie wire, placing labor |
Typical practice, not a standard. A volume or a rebar weight is carried only with a thickness or bar schedule printed on your set or stated by your estimator; where the set does not say, the line waits rather than taking a typical size.
Where foundations and slabs receive block walls, Masonry Takeoff Software reads the adjoining wall sections, cells, and reinforcement as the masonry scope.
How do you know the yards are right?
No yard of concrete is priced until the foundation plan has been counted twice, the second time blind. Runs and slab areas wait on a confirmed scale, and a slab or footing with no printed depth is held as a question rather than filled with a typical one.
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A blind second count
Footings, piers, and grade beams are counted again without sight of the first pass. When two counts of a footing mark disagree, both numbers stay visible until someone settles it from the plan.
- ✓
No scale, no quantity
A sheet whose scale cannot be proven gets no footing lengths or slab areas until someone checks a printed dimension on it.
- ✓
No printed depth, no yards
A slab, footing, or wall turns into cubic yards only with a thickness or section from the set or your estimator, never a typical size.
- ✓
No bar schedule, no tonnage
Reinforcing is weighed from the bar sizes, counts, and spacing on the drawings, never from a typical pounds-per-yard rate.
From bid invite to a priced concrete takeoff in three steps
- 1
Send the set
Foundation plans, structural notes, sections, and the footing and bar schedules, as PDF or CAD, straight from the bid invite.
- 2
Ruh measures and checks
Footings and piers are counted, runs and slab areas measured, the run is checked by a second count, and any line missing a depth or a bar schedule is held as a question.
- 3
Your estimator signs it
Answer the held questions from the set, price on your own price files and rates, and export. The quantities export sheet by sheet, and the marked foundation plan exports as a PDF colored by condition.
Your first concrete takeoff is on us.
We take off your structural set at no charge. A footing read off the wrong detail does not surface until the pour, so judge the count on a set you already know. Want a hand count first? The concrete takeoff worksheet is a free CSV with the items, units, and columns for thickness, cubic yards, and your own labor units.
In a customer's own words
“Our estimators spent more time retyping quantities than thinking about scope. Ruh reads our drawings like a senior estimator and hands back a priced estimate we want to review, not rebuild.”
Director of PreconstructionADF Group- faster bid turnaround
- ~50%
- ADF Group, structural steel
- on every takeoff, the second one blind
- 2 counts
- Checks tab, before anything is priced
- tied to the sheet it came from
- Every line
- Takeoff and price sheet
Questions concrete estimators ask
What concrete contractors ask before trusting an AI takeoff on a real bid.
What is concrete takeoff software?
Concrete takeoff software turns the structural set into the quantities a concrete bid is priced from: cubic yards, form contact area, and rebar weight, each built up from counted footings and piers, measured runs of footing, grade beam, and wall, and measured slab areas. Ruh does the measuring for concrete contractors and subcontractors, ties each quantity to its sheet, and leaves the pricing decisions to your estimator.
Does it do the rebar takeoff too?
Where does the thickness come from?
How accurate is the concrete takeoff?
Can it read structural drawings and CAD files?
Can it price on our own concrete rates?
Is there free concrete takeoff software?
Is this concrete takeoff services or software?
Send a set. Judge the takeoff yourself.
One structural set, a free takeoff, and a 30-minute walkthrough of the footings, slabs, walls, and rebar. If the yards do not hold up against your own, it cost you nothing.