Concrete estimating software. Slabs, footings, and walls, priced on your numbers.
Concrete estimating software turns foundation and structural drawings into a priced concrete bid: footings counted from the schedule, slabs and walls measured, yards taken at the printed depths, rebar converted from the bar schedule, and every line priced on your own price files. Below, watch a foundation plan get measured, see a concrete budget priced and approved, and get a free takeoff on your own set.
Measuring first? Concrete Takeoff Software
Clients include
Construction companies working with Ruh
Can concrete estimating and quoting software price on our own costs?
Yes. Ruh measures slabs, walls, and foundations, converts them to yards at the depths on the drawings, and prices every line on your own unit costs through 13 starting concrete recipes you can edit, before your estimator approves the quote. A 30 ft by 50 ft slab at 6 in is 27.8 cubic yards before waste.
- in a 30 ft x 50 ft slab at 6 in, before waste
- 27.8 CY
- concrete recipes to start from, yours to edit
- 13
- on every takeoff, the second one blind
- 2 counts
What happens before a concrete line is priced?
Ruh reads the foundation plan against the footing schedule and the structural notes, counts each spread footing and pier by mark, runs the continuous footings and grade beams by the foot, and measures the slab areas, so the yards behind the bid can be checked element by element.
- 1
Spread footings and piers are counted by mark and sized from the footing schedule.
- 2
Continuous footings and grade beams are run by the foot, and slabs are measured by area, with the depressed loading slab kept separate.
- 3
Each element becomes a line in the concrete budget, still linked to its sheet. The grade beam steel waits: its bar schedule is on a sheet that was not sent.
Where concrete estimates come up short
Concrete estimates come up short in the conversions: square feet into yards at the right depth, bar spacing into tons, and the edges of every element into formwork.
Volume math across mixed elements
A slab, a spread footing, a pier, and a grade beam each convert to yards differently. One wrong depth, or a pier counted as a footing, and the order is short before the first truck.
Formwork that never makes the bid
Forms hide in the sections and details: both faces of a wall, slab edges, and the sides of every footing and beam. A volume-only takeoff leaves the form material and the carpenter hours out of the number.
Rebar conversions and splices
Reinforcing arrives as bar sizes and spacings and is bought by weight. Getting from #4 at 12 in each way to pounds per square foot to tons, with laps and dowels, is exactly where a tired estimator slips.
Our view: A concrete estimate should show where every yard came from. When the depth, the area, and the bar spacing sit on the line beside the price, a reviewer can check a pour in a minute instead of rebuilding the takeoff to trust it.
What a concrete estimate is built from
A concrete estimate, Division 03 of the spec, starts from the elements on the foundation plan and builds the yards, forms, and steel from them. Each row names the sheet a quantity comes from and what the line prices on.
| Line | Where the quantity comes from | Unit | What it is priced on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slab on grade | Plan area at the thickness in the structural notes | SF and CY | Ready-mix by the yard, place and finish per SF |
| Spread footings and piers | Counted by mark, sized from the footing schedule | EA and CY | Ready-mix, forms, and crew per yard |
| Continuous footings | Footing runs on the foundation plan, size from the notes | LF and CY | The footing assembly per foot |
| Foundation walls | Wall length off the plan, height off the sections | SF and CY | The wall assembly: concrete, forms both faces, ties, labor |
| Grade beams | Beam runs on the plan, size from the schedule | LF and CY | Concrete, forms, and labor per foot |
| Reinforcing | The bar schedule, or the size and spacing in the notes | LB or tons | Rebar price and placing labor |
| Formwork | Edges, faces, and sides of each element | SFCA or LF | Form material, reuse, and carpenter hours |
| Vapor retarder and curing | Slab area | SF | Your price files |
| Pumping and finishing equipment | Pours and slab area | DAY or HR | Your equipment rates |
Typical practice, not a standard. In Ruh, yards come only from depths printed on the drawings or given by your estimator, rebar weight only from a bar schedule or the noted size and spacing, and every rate from your price files, rate book, and quotes.
A worked slab and footing estimate
One 30 ft x 50 ft slab, 6 in thick, with #4 bars at 12 in each way, and 120 LF of continuous footing 16 in wide and 12 in deep.
Illustrative rates. In Ruh every rate comes from your own price files, and the yards come only from the depths printed on the drawings.
- 1Slab volume30 ft x 50 ft x 0.5 ft = 750 CF / 27 = 27.8 CY, plus 8 percent waste = 30 CY
- 2Footing volume120 LF x 1.33 ft x 1.0 ft = 160 CF / 27 = 5.9 CY, carried as 6.5 CY with waste
- 3Ready-mix36.5 CY x $172 = $6,278
- 4Slab rebar2 LF of #4 per SF x 0.668 lb per ft = 1.34 lb per SF, plus laps = 1.4 lb per SF; 1,500 SF x 1.4 = 2,100 lb = 1.05 tons x $2,400 installed = $2,520
- 5Place and finish1,500 SF x $2.10 = $3,150
- 6Slab edge forms160 LF x $4.50 = $720
How does a concrete takeoff become a priced bid?
The measured slabs, footings, and beams land in a budget grouped by trade. Yards come from the measured area at the printed depth, each line prices from your rate book, a price file, or a ready-mix quote, and the source stays on the line as it rolls up to the proposed bid.
- ✓
Yards from printed depths
A slab or footing becomes yards only at a thickness printed on the drawings or given by your estimator, never a typical depth.
- ✓
Rebar from the bar schedule
Reinforcing becomes a weight only from a bar schedule or the size and spacing in the notes. When the schedule is on a sheet that was not sent, the line waits.
- ✓
Ready-mix quotes stay quotes
The ready-mix line waits unpriced until the supplier quote is entered, and keeps that quote as its source.
- ✓
Approval comes before the proposal
Margin, overhead, fee, and contingency are yours, and no proposal is built until your estimator approves the concrete budget.
From foundation plans to a priced concrete bid in three steps
- 1
Send the drawings
Foundation plans, structural sections, the footing and bar schedules, the structural notes, and any ready-mix quotes already in hand, as PDF or CAD.
- 2
Ruh measures and prices
Footings are counted by mark, beams and walls run, slabs measured by area, yards taken at the printed depths, and every line priced on your files with its source shown.
- 3
Your estimator approves it
Key in the ready-mix quote, change a waste factor or a markup, and approve. Yardages and priced lines export, and the proposal is built from the budget you approved.
Price your next concrete bid from a free takeoff.
Send one foundation set. We return the takeoff at no cost so you can price it on your own numbers and see the yards, forms, and steel laid out element by element. Rather count by hand first? The concrete takeoff worksheet is a free CSV.
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
Concrete estimating software FAQs
What concrete contractors ask before pricing a real bid with AI.
What is concrete estimating software?
Concrete estimating software prices a concrete bid from the drawings: slabs, footings, walls, and beams measured, converted to yards at the printed depths, reinforcing converted to weight, formwork and labor added, then markup. Ruh runs the concrete takeoff from your foundation plans and prices every line on your own price files, for commercial concrete contractors and foundation subcontractors.
Does it handle formwork and rebar or just concrete volume?
Whose prices does it use?
Is it concrete quoting and bidding software too?
Can it price different mixes for footings and slabs?
How accurate is the concrete takeoff?
Will it work with my existing concrete estimating tools?
Is this concrete estimating services or software?
What does my concrete estimator still do?
Bring one concrete job. Check the yards yourself.
One foundation set, a free takeoff, and a 30-minute walk through the slabs, footings, and the budget they price into. If the yards do not hold up against yours, it cost you nothing.