Stop Counting Doors by Hand
Get quantity takeoffs straight from the building model — every number links back to the element it came from.
The Problem
Quantity takeoff from 2D drawings is a manual, error-prone process. Counting door types, measuring wall lengths, and calculating floor areas by hand takes days and is full of mistakes. A missed door type or wrong wall length can throw off your entire bid — and you only find out after you have won (or lost) the project.
Here is what teams do today: print the drawing set, mark up door counts with a highlighter, measure wall lengths with a scale ruler, enter everything into a spreadsheet, cross-check against the door schedule, find a discrepancy, re-measure, and hope the drawings are the latest version. The process takes 2 to 3 days for a medium-sized project and is repeated every time the design changes.
- 1
Open the building model
The model already contains every element with its type, dimensions, and material properties. No drawings to print, no scale ruler needed.
- 2
Generate the takeoff
Click "Generate Takeoff" and ApexBIM counts every element by type, calculates wall and floor areas, and summarizes material quantities. The takeoff is ready in seconds, not days.
- 3
Verify in 3D
Every quantity in the takeoff links back to the 3D element it came from. Click a quantity and the corresponding elements light up in the 3D viewer — verify your counts visually in seconds.
- 4
Export to your spreadsheet
Export the takeoff to a spreadsheet with one click. The export includes element counts, dimensions, materials, and a link back to the 3D model for each item — ready for your estimating software.
The Outcome
A takeoff that used to take 3 days now takes about 2 hours, based on what our customers tell us. Every quantity is verifiable against the 3D model, so you can bid with confidence. When the design changes, re-running the takeoff takes seconds, not days.
Results
Features Used
ApexBIM capabilities that power this workflow.
Related use cases
Who this helps
This use case is relevant to the following roles:
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