SCHEDULE OF SERVICES · CAD

Construction takeoff pricing

Quantity takeoffs start at $450 and the whole schedule is published below — no discovery call required to find out what something costs. Every job gets a written fixed price within 4 business hours of receiving drawings, and that number does not move afterwards. On time or 50% off.

From $450$450 minimum engagementFixed quote in 4 business hoursOn time or 50% off ✓
Send drawings — quote in 4 hrs Sample takeoff (.xlsx)
SHEET 01Schedule of servicesScale: fixed

What a takeoff
actually costs

These are starting prices for one-off takeoffs. The fixed quote for your job may be higher depending on the set — what moves it is explained further down — but it will never be lower than the figure here, and it will never change after you accept it.

Schedule of services — one-off takeoffs (CAD)
ItemScopeFrom
1.0Single-trade finish takeoff Flooring · painting · drywall & steel stud$450
2.0Acoustic ceiling (ACT) takeoff Ceiling areas by type, grid, perimeter trim, bulkheads$450
3.0Concrete & formwork — low-rise / small site Volumes, contact area, finishing, joints$500
3.1Concrete & formwork — high-rise cast-in-place Cycle forming, typical-floor repetition, shoring and reshoring — quoted per projectOn request
4.0Misc metals / Div 05 takeoff Rails, stairs, lintels, embeds by detail$600
5.0Roofing & building envelope takeoff Roof assemblies, cladding, insulation, air/vapour barrier$600
6.0Glazing takeoff — Div 08 Curtain wall, storefront, windows by type, glass makeups$900
7.0Framing takeoff — wall & sheathing areas Wall SF and LF by wall type per floor, sheathing, openings$600
7.1Framing takeoff — full lumber breakdown Piece counts, board footage, plates, studs, headers, hardware — quoted per project$1,500
8.0Bid leveling / scope-gap analysis Sub-bid comparison matrix with exclusions caught$600
9.0Change-order & claim quantity checks Independent verification of disputed quantities$150/hr · 3-hr min
AAdd-ons Price placeholders +15% · quote template +$150 · rush (same-day) +50%—

$450 minimum engagement. Below that, an offshore takeoff mill will be cheaper — and you'll get what you pay for. SharpBid takes work where senior counting changes your number.

SHEET 02The fixed quote

How the fixed
quote works

There is no hourly meter and no revised invoice at the end. You send drawings, we read the set, and a written price and a delivery date come back within 4 business hours. If you accept it, that's what you pay.

STEP 1

Send drawings, get a number in 4 business hours

A link is enough — Dropbox, Drive, WeTransfer, a GC plan room login. Tell us the trade, the units you bid in and your bid deadline. Within 4 business hours you get a fixed price and a guaranteed delivery date, in writing. No meeting, no discovery call, no sales process.

STEP 2

The price is fixed, not an estimate

The quote is reached by reading your actual set, not by applying a rate to a sheet count sight unseen. That's why it can be fixed. If the drawings turn out to be worse than they looked, that's our problem, not a change order on your invoice.

STEP 3

On time or 50% off

Every quote carries a delivery date. If the takeoff arrives after it, you pay half. No fine print and no "business exceptions". The one thing that moves the date is an addendum that changes scope — and that reset is confirmed in writing before any work continues.

INCLUDED

One revision round and bid-period addenda

Included in the fixed price, not billed as extras. Addenda issued during the bid period get handled as part of the service, because a takeoff that stops being accurate the day after it's delivered isn't worth much.

SHEET 03What moves the price

What affects the
price of a takeoff

Four things, in roughly this order of impact. None of them is a surprise once you know to look for them, and all of them are visible in your set before you send it.

  • Sheet count and drawing qualityA tight, well-tagged 40-sheet set measures faster than a sprawling 300-sheet one. Vector PDFs measure fastest; scanned sets are fine but slower, and a set with no scale bar and no dimensions costs more to calibrate.
  • Number of trades and scopesOne trade on one building is the base case. Several trades, or several buildings in one package, scale from there — though bundling trades on the same set is cheaper than quoting them separately.
  • Complexity, not just sizeForty partition types over 20,000 SF is more work than six types over 100,000 SF. What drives effort is the number of distinct assemblies, finish codes or details in the legend — and how much of the building genuinely repeats.
  • RushSame-day turnaround is +50%. Standard next-business-day delivery on single-trade sets costs nothing extra, so plan a day ahead and the rush charge never applies.

A longer treatment of pricing models across the industry — per sheet, per square foot, hourly and fixed — is in the guide on what a construction takeoff costs in Canada.

SHEET 04RetainersMonth-to-month

Monthly retainers
for steady bid volume

ON TIME
OR 50% OFF

Starter

$1,500
per month
  • 2 takeoffs per month included
  • Priority queue over one-off work
  • 1 hr bid-strategy consult
  • Addenda handled through bid period
Start with Starter
Most subs pick this

Growth

$2,500
per month
  • 4 takeoffs per month included
  • Bid leveling included
  • Next-business-day priority turnaround
  • 2 hrs bid-strategy consult
Start with Growth

Partner

$3,500
per month
  • 6 takeoffs per month included
  • Quantity QC on your in-house numbers
  • Value-engineering quantity comparisons
  • First-in-queue on everything
Start with Partner

Overflow beyond included takeoffs: $120/hr · month-to-month, cancel anytime · unused takeoffs roll one month.

SHEET 05Cost questions

Takeoff cost FAQs

How much does a construction takeoff cost in Canada?
At SharpBid, from $450 for a single-trade finish takeoff or acoustic ceilings, $500 for low-rise concrete and formwork (high-rise cast-in-place quoted per project), $600 for misc metals, roofing and envelope, or framing wall areas, and $900 for glazing. A full lumber breakdown starts at $1,500 and is quoted per project. Across the wider market, pricing models vary — per sheet, per square foot, hourly, or fixed — and published prices are rare, which is part of why the whole schedule is on this page.
Why is the $450 minimum there?
Because below it, senior review can't add enough value to be worth your money. A very small scope on a simple set is genuinely better served by a cheap takeoff mill, and we'd rather say so than take $200 and do a rushed job. SharpBid exists for the bids where getting quantities right changes whether you win and what you make on it.
Is the quote really fixed?
Yes. The price comes from reading your actual set, which is what makes it possible to fix it. If the drawings turn out to be worse than they looked, that's absorbed on our side. The only thing that changes a quote is a change in scope from you — a new trade, a new building, or an addendum that materially changes the work — and that's agreed in writing before anything proceeds.
Do you charge per sheet or per square foot?
Neither. Both are proxies for effort rather than measures of it: a 300-sheet set with six partition types can be less work than a 40-sheet set with forty. We read the set and quote the job. The starting prices in the schedule above are the floor, and complexity moves the number from there.
What do the add-ons cost?
Price placeholders are +15% and make the workbook bid-ready on arrival. A quote template is +$150 and gets your number to the GC in a clean format. Same-day rush is +50%. That's the complete list — there are no file fees, no setup fees and no charge for the marked-up plans or the assumptions page, which are part of every takeoff.
When should I take a retainer instead of paying per job?
Roughly when you're sending two or more takeoffs a month, since Starter at $1,500 includes two plus priority queue and a bid-strategy hour. The bigger reason is peak bid periods: retainer work jumps the queue, which in a busy week is the difference between getting three bids out and getting two. Month-to-month, cancel anytime, and unused takeoffs roll one month.
How do you compare to hiring an in-house estimator?
Different shapes of cost rather than one being universally cheaper. A salaried estimator is a fixed cost you carry through slow months; takeoffs bought per job or on a retainer scale with your bid volume. The honest version of that trade-off, including where hiring genuinely wins, is in the guide on outsourcing takeoffs versus an in-house estimator.
Is there a charge for out-of-province work?
No. Everything is digital and nobody travels, so the schedule above applies identically in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and anywhere else in Canada.
Do you price the work as well as count it?
Not by default — you know your unit rates, your crews and your suppliers better than anyone, and that's the point of the service. If you want the workbook arriving bid-ready, price placeholders are the +15% add-on.
NEXTStart here

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.

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Priced by trade

Drywall & steel stud Acoustic ceilings Flooring Painting Glazing Roofing & envelope Misc metals Concrete & formwork Framing