Flooring takeoff services
We measure every finish room by room against the finish schedule — carpet, resilient, tile, polished concrete, base, transitions and stair components — and reconcile the schedule against the plan tags before anything gets counted. For flooring subcontractors across Canada: from $450, next business day, on time or 50% off.
What we count on a
flooring takeoff
Every finish, every edge and every condition that carries labour — organized by room and level so you can price a floor, a wing or a whole building without re-sorting anything. The sample workbook on this page is a flooring takeoff, so you can see the exact format before you send a drawing.
- Finish areas by material and spec codeSF / m²Carpet tile, broadloom, LVT and LVP, sheet vinyl, VCT, rubber, linoleum, porcelain and ceramic, polished concrete, epoxy — each finish code its own line, by room and level.
- Base by type and heightLF / mRubber and vinyl cove, straight, wood, tile and metal base — matched to the finish it runs against.
- Transitions and edge profiles by conditionLF / m + EAReducers, T-mouldings, carpet-to-tile, thresholds and metal profiles counted by the condition that occurs, not per door.
- Stair componentsEA / LF / SFTreads and risers each, nosings and stringers in lineal, landings in area.
- Floor preparation, levelling and patchingSF / m²
- Moisture mitigation areasSF / m²Slab-on-grade and suspended slabs quantified where the spec makes mitigation conditional, so the allowance is a number rather than an open exposure.
- Underlayment and acoustic underlaySF / m²
- Crack isolation and uncoupling membraneSF / m²
- Waterproofing membrane in wet areasSF / m²With the upturn at walls and curbs taken off the details.
- Tile setting materials and groutSF / m²
- Entrance mattingSF / EARecessed grid and roll goods separated, with the frame flagged where it isn't Division 09.
- Sealers and finishesSF / m²
- Patterned and directional installationsflaggedQuarter-turn, monolithic, ashlar, plank direction and herringbone called out where they change the material you buy.
- Demolition and removal of existing finishesSF / m²On tenant improvement work, where it's in your scope.
- Waste factors, stated per materialassumptions pageWritten down beside the quantity, never folded into it.
How we measure
flooring
The finish schedule is the spine, and the plan tags are the check. Every room gets matched against both before a square foot is counted — because on most sets the two disagree somewhere, and whichever one you priced, the other one shows up later.
Finish schedule against plan tags, room by room
Rooms are measured individually and tied to a finish code. Where the schedule and the plan tag disagree, both are listed on the assumptions page with the one we measured. You bid a known position instead of inheriting somebody's typo.
Measured to the face of finish, with deductions stated
Areas are taken to the finished face of wall. Casework, millwork bases, columns and floor-mounted equipment are deducted or not according to a rule written on the assumptions page — the same rule everywhere in the workbook, so your unit rates land on a consistent basis.
Roll goods and modular tile are different problems
Broadloom and sheet vinyl are governed by roll width and seam layout, not just area; carpet tile and LVT are area plus pattern. We keep them in separate sections so your material buy reflects how each one actually cuts.
Direction and pattern are called out, not averaged
Quarter-turn versus monolithic, plank direction, ashlar and herringbone all change what you buy over the same square footage. Where the spec or the finish plan sets a pattern, it's recorded against the area so your waste allowance is a decision instead of a guess.
Base and transitions by condition, not by door count
Base is measured off the room perimeter net of openings, by finish type, and switches where the adjacent floor finish switches — tile base in wet areas, rubber elsewhere. Transitions are counted by the condition that actually occurs at each junction, which is rarely the same number as the doors.
Conditional mitigation gets quantified anyway
Specs usually make mitigation conditional on a test result that doesn't exist at bid time. We measure the slab areas it could apply to and flag it as an allowance with a number attached, so you can qualify a quantity rather than carry the whole slab.
Waste is stated, never buried in the quantity
Measured quantities are net. Waste is listed separately per material on the assumptions page so you can apply your own figures — your crews, your seam layout, your supplier's roll width. A takeoff that hides waste inside the number is a takeoff you can't check.
Metric or imperial, whichever you bid in
Commercial and institutional sets in Canada are commonly metric; residential work is often imperial. The workbook arrives in the units you price with, or both columns, and finish codes stay exactly as the schedule writes them.
Scope gaps we flag
on flooring packages
The six that cost flooring subs money most often. Each one lands on the assumptions and exclusions page with the sheet it came from, so you can qualify it in your bid instead of meeting it in a change order.
The finish schedule and the plan tag disagree
The schedule says LVT-1, the plan tag says CPT-1. Whichever you priced, the other one turns up in a change order — against you. We list the conflict, the room and the sheet, so it gets resolved in an RFI instead of on site.
Moisture mitigation with no quantity
"Mitigation where relative humidity exceeds the manufacturer's limit" is an open allowance with your name on it. Qualify a square footage or you own the whole slab, and on a slab-on-grade podium that is a very large number.
Floor prep that isn't on any drawing
Levelling, grinding, patching and the flatness tolerance the finish demands live in the Division 09 spec and the existing-conditions notes, not the finish schedule. On tenant improvement work over an old slab this is often the single biggest variable in the bid.
Transitions counted per door
Transitions happen wherever two finishes meet — open-plan boundaries, corridor edges, thresholds without doors. Counting one per door leaf undercounts profiles badly on any plan with open transitions, and profiles are cheap material with real labour attached.
Entrance matting frames that aren't Division 09
Recessed entrance grids are often specified in Division 12 with the frame supplied by someone else and the recess formed by the concrete trade. We name which division the spec puts each part in, so you're not quoting a frame you were never going to supply — or leaving one out.
Waterproofing upturns measured off the details
Washroom and shower waterproofing membrane doesn't stop at the floor. Curbs, upturns at walls and the height it runs to are in the details, not the plan, and pricing the flat area alone leaves real material and real labour out of your number.
More of these by trade in the bid traps list — and a step-by-step working list in the flooring takeoff checklist.
Workbook +
marked plans
Everything is checkable. Every quantity traces back to a sheet, a room and a coloured area on the marked-up plans — spot-check any line in a couple of minutes instead of taking a number on faith.
Download the sample workbook (.xlsx) — a flooring takeoff on a fictitious office TI, in the real format.
- Excel quantity workbookCSI MasterFormat or your own cost codes, room by room.
- Colour-coded plan markups (PDF)One colour per finish code, straight from On-Screen Takeoff / Bluebeam Revu.
- Assumptions & exclusions pageWaste per material, deduction rule, schedule-versus-plan conflicts, all in writing.
- One revision round and bid-period addendaIncluded, not billed as an extra.
- Optional: price placeholders (+15%) and quote template (+$150)Bid-ready workbook and a clean proposal format.
Project types we
take off most
The set types where senior counting changes the number most.
- Commercial tenant improvementsDense finish schedules over small areas, heavy transition counts, and floor prep over an existing slab nobody has tested.
- Wood-frame and concrete multifamilySuites, corridors and amenity measured separately, acoustic underlay by assembly, and typical-floor repetition you can audit.
- Mixed-use podiumRetail and lobby finishes at grade over residential above — and a slab-on-grade where moisture mitigation is a live number.
- InstitutionalSheet vinyl with welded seams and coved upturns, heavy-duty entrance matting, and long corridors where base runs add up fast.
- RetailFast programs, repeated store layouts, and pattern-driven feature areas that change the material buy.
Flooring takeoff FAQs
How much does a flooring takeoff cost?
How fast is it delivered?
Do you add waste factors to the quantities?
How do I send drawings, and what formats do you accept?
Can the workbook use our own cost codes?
How do you handle moisture mitigation when the spec is conditional?
What's excluded?
Send the drawings.
Fixed quote in 4 hours.
Drop a link through the quote form or email info@sharpbid.ca. A fixed price and a guaranteed delivery date come back within 4 business hours.
Trades that usually come with it
Where we work
…and anywhere else in Canada — everything is digital.