Concrete estimating softwarethat prices on your numbers.
Concrete estimating software reads your drawings, performs the takeoff by element (slabs, footings, walls, piers), and prices the quantities against your own unit costs instead of generic databases. Ruh combines concrete takeoff software and pricing in one pass: it splits volumes by mix design, carries formwork and rebar with the elements they belong to, and hands your estimator a line item draft to review and sign off.
- ✓Slab on grade, measured cy + sf
- ✓Continuous footings, measured cy
- ✓Spread footings, measured cy + ea
Free walkthrough on your own plans. Your estimator signs off.
The concrete estimating problems this solves.
Volume math across mixed elements
One foundation package can hold slabs in sf and inches, footings in lf and cross sections, and piers in diameters and depths. Converting all of it to cy with the right waste factor per element is slow by hand, and one missed conversion (forgetting to divide cf by 27) poisons every line below it.
Formwork that never makes the bid
Formwork is measured in SFCA (square feet of contact area), not in the concrete volume, and it hides in the sections and details. Crews then build forms the estimate never carried. Both faces of a wall, edge forms on slabs, and blockouts all need to be counted where they occur.
Rebar conversions and splices
Reinforcing arrives on the drawings as bar sizes and spacings, but it is bought in tons. Getting from 12 in OC each way to lb per sf to tons, with laps, dowels, and chairs included, is exactly the kind of grind where a tired estimator drops 10 percent of the steel.
From your concrete drawings to a priced line.
The same pipeline that runs the takeoff runs the pricing, so the number you send out traces back to the sheet it came from.
Quantities lifted from the real sheets with per-item confidence and page coverage.
Your own rates and assemblies, not a generic national cost database.
Every line traceable back to the sheet it came from before anything goes out.
What a concrete takeoff counts and measures.
| Item | Unit | How it is measured and priced |
|---|---|---|
| Slab on grade | cy + sf | Plan area x thickness to cf, / 27 to cy with 5 to 10 percent waste; finish priced separately per sf. |
| Continuous footings | cy | Lf x width x depth from the foundation schedule, poured against earth or formed, each priced differently. |
| Spread footings | cy + ea | Counted from the foundation plan, volumes from the schedule dimensions. |
| Foundation walls | cy + sfca | Volume for the mix, SFCA both faces for the forms, openings deducted. |
| Piers and columns | cy + ea | Round piers: pi x r squared x height, times the count; forms per vertical sf. |
| Formwork | sfca | Contact area wherever fresh concrete needs containment; reuse factor set by the pour sequence. |
| Rebar | tons | Bar size lb per ft x lengths, plus laps and dowels; #4 = 0.668 lb per ft, #5 = 1.043 lb per ft. |
| Joints and sealants | lf | Sawcut control joints by the spacing rule on the plan, expansion joints at isolation points. |
| Pumping | cy or day | Pump mix adders per cy plus pump time, when the pour cannot be tailgated. |
What concrete construction estimating software has to handle
Concrete work prices through three connected quantity types: volume in cubic yards, formwork in square feet of contact area (SFCA), and reinforcing by the ton. A tool that carries only volume leaves formwork and rebar unpriced. The same structural set can combine slab on grade, continuous and spread footings, foundation walls, piers and columns, joints, and pumping, so each quantity has to stay tied to the element it came from.
Use the concrete slab cost calculator to build the ready-mix line before the full-estimate product adds labor, forms, reinforcement, and finishing.
Concrete estimating software vs concrete estimating services
Contractors who search for concrete estimating services usually want the counting done for them, not another tool to learn. Ruh works like that on the first pass: send one structural set and we run the takeoff and walk you through it on a free 30 minute call, no card and nothing to install. The difference from an outsourced estimating service is what happens after: the same pipeline runs on every bid at software economics, priced on your own book, with your estimator signing instead of waiting on a third party's turnaround.
How to choose concrete estimating software
The best concrete estimating software is the one that passes four tests on your own structural set: whether it carries formwork and rebar or only volume, prices on your rates or a generic database, shows which quantities were measured, derived, or assumed, and exports into the format you already bid from.
Most tools in the category are evaluated on a free trial rather than a permanently free tier, per OneCrew's roundup of concrete estimating software.
A worked concrete example
Price a 30 ft x 50 ft x 6 in slab with a 120 lf x 16 in x 12 in continuous footing. Slab: 30 x 50 = 1,500 sf x 0.5 ft = 750 cf / 27 = 27.8 cy, plus 8 percent waste = 30 cy. Footing: 120 x 1.33 x 1.0 = 160 cf / 27 = 5.9 cy, carried as 6.5 cy with waste. Material at an illustrative $172 per cy: 36.5 cy x $172 = $6,278. Rebar mat at 12 in OC each way with #4 bar runs about 1.4 lb per sf: 1,500 sf x 1.4 = 2,100 lb = 1.05 tons, at an illustrative $2,400 per ton installed = $2,520. Place and finish at an illustrative $2.10 per sf: 1,500 x $2.10 = $3,150. Edge forms: 160 lf x $4.50 = $720. The package lands at $6,278 + $2,520 + $3,150 + $720 = $12,668 before markup, every number traceable to a dimension.
Bidding concrete work this month? Watch Ruh take off a real plan in 30 minutes.
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How Ruh runs your concrete estimates.
Ruh reads the foundation plan, sections, and schedules, splits the takeoff by element and mix design, and computes cy, sfca, and rebar tonnage with your waste factors. It prices everything from your own price book, the mixes, adders, formwork rates, and crew costs you actually pay, and assembles the line item estimate with assumptions flagged. Your estimator reviews the flagged items, adjusts means and methods, and signs off before anything goes out.
Try Ruh on a real bid. 100% money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.*
*Scoped delivery, terms apply. Read the guarantee terms
Concrete estimating software FAQs
Does it handle formwork and rebar or just concrete volume?+
All three, tied to the elements they belong to. Walls carry their SFCA both faces, slabs carry edge forms and joint lf, and reinforcing converts from bar size and spacing to tons with laps included. Volume only takeoffs are how formwork ends up unpaid.
Whose prices does it use?+
Yours. Ruh prices against your own price book, your mix quotes with admixture adders, your formwork rates, your labor. Published averages are only a fallback you can choose, never a silent default.
Can it split quantities by mix design and pour?+
Yes. Footings, slabs, walls, and exterior flatwork each carry their own mix, strength, and adders (air, accelerator, pump), so winter pours and pump pours price the way the supplier will actually invoice them.
What does my estimator still do?+
Judgment. The AI drafts the takeoff and pricing with every line traceable to a sheet; your estimator reviews flagged assumptions, sets means and methods, adjusts waste and crew rates, and signs off. Nothing is submitted without a human.
Doing the concrete takeoff itself?
The quantities side has its own page: counts, measures, and how the AI takeoff reads your drawings.
Concrete takeoff softwareConcrete terms in the glossary.
Figures on this page are illustrative. Construction estimates depend on project-specific conditions, source documents, market pricing, and professional judgment. Ruh's AI assists the estimator and does not replace professional review: your team reviews, validates, and approves every estimate, bid, and pricing decision.
Try Ruh on a concrete bid you are pricing now.
Put us on real work rather than a canned demo. Ruh reads your drawing set, measures the scope, and prices the quantities against your own rates, with every line traceable back to the sheet it came from. If it does not hold up, you are covered by the guarantee below.
- 1Tell us about a bid you are working on and the trade you are pricing
- 2Ruh measures that scope from your drawings and prices it on your own rates, not generic cost data
- 3Every quantity traces back to the sheet it was measured from, so your estimator can check the work
Run your next concrete bid on Ruh.
Send one concrete set. We run the takeoff and walk you through the quantities, the units, and the pricing on a 30 minute call. If it does not hold up against your estimator, you have lost nothing.