Sharp Pencil › Guides
Commercial roofing takeoff services
You send the plan set. You get back a full quantity takeoff, an RFI register, a material order list, and a client-ready proposal. Forty-eight hours, priced with your own costs, not somebody else's averages.
The problem this solves
Most commercial roofing contractors have more bid invitations than they have people who can bid them. The estimator is one person. The invitations are twenty a month. So jobs get sorted into a pile nobody talks about: the ones you could have won, if anyone had time to price them.
That pile is expensive. A contractor turning down six bids a month at an average of $180,000 with a 25% hit rate is walking past roughly $3.2 million in annual revenue. Not because the work was bad, because nobody had a free evening.
What you actually get back
1. The quantity takeoff
Every quantity carries three things a number alone does not: how it was derived, how confident we are, and the evidence behind it. A roof area that came off a printed dimension string is marked Measured. A drain count that came off symbols is marked Counted, and counted quantities never claim high confidence, because symbols on a busy sheet are the one thing worth verifying by eye.
2. The RFI and verification register
Every question the drawings could not answer, written the way you would send it to the GC. Parapet heights that were never dimensioned. A taper layout that says "by others." A detail that references a spec section that is not in the set. These are the items that turn into change orders when nobody catches them at bid time.
3. The material order list
Quantities converted into what you actually order: boards, rolls, buckets, boxes, sticks. Fastener lengths chosen from the stack thickness, not guessed. Coverage rates from the manufacturer data sheets unless you have told us your own.
4. A client-ready proposal
Formatted to forward. Scope, inclusions, exclusions, and the assumptions written in plain language so nobody argues later about what was in the number.
Priced with your costs, or not priced at all
This is the part most services get wrong. An estimating service that prices your job with regional averages is producing a number you cannot bid. Your negotiated membrane price, your crew's real production rate, your overhead, your margin: those are the whole ballgame.
So we carry no pricing of our own. You supply a price book once, or send us the spreadsheets and price sheets you already have and we extract them. Anything you have not priced comes back marked UNPRICED with the quantity shown, excluded from the subtotal, and listed as an open item. It never becomes a zero, and it never becomes a market average quietly standing in for your number.
What we cover
| System | Included |
|---|---|
| TPO, PVC, EPDM | Adhered, mechanically attached, induction welded, ballasted |
| Standing seam metal | Snap-lock and mechanical seam, new construction and retrofit |
| Metal panel retrofit | Over existing panel, purlin fasteners sized to the assembly |
| Asphalt shingle | New and tear-off, architectural and three-tab |
| Insulation and taper | Polyiso layers, coverboard, flute fill by deck profile, taper flagged for quote |
| Sheet metal | Coping, edge metal, gutters, downspouts, scuppers, counterflashing |
How it works
- Upload the set. PDF or ZIP, up to 2 GB per file. Architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing, and the spec book if you have it. Big files upload in pieces so a dropped connection costs you one piece, not the whole set.
- Every page gets read. Not the roof plan alone. Elevations for parapet heights and downspout runs. Structural for the deck. Mechanical and plumbing for curbs and penetrations. Division 7 for the system.
- A human reviews it. Every package is checked before it goes out. Counts get verified against the roof plan. Nothing ships on autopilot.
- Package back in 48 hours. If something in the set is going to slow that down, you hear about it on day one, not day two.
What it costs
First takeoff free, on a real live bid, because a demo on a sample set proves nothing. After that $395 per takeoff with no subscription and no contract. If you are sending several a month, a monthly plan costs less per job.
Common questions
Do you need the spec book?
Not strictly, but without it the membrane type, thickness, attachment method, insulation R-value, and warranty term are all unconfirmed, and those drive most of the price. Send it if you have it. If you do not, those items come back as open questions rather than assumptions.
What if the set is incomplete?
We tell you exactly what is missing and exactly what it costs you in certainty. A takeoff without the structural set cannot confirm deck type, which means fastener selection stays open. You get the takeoff and the honest limits, not a silent guess.
Who sees my plans and my pricing?
Your plans are used for your takeoff and nothing else. Your cost data prices your estimates only. Plan sets upload directly to secure storage, never through an inbox, and are automatically deleted 90 days after upload.
Send us the next one
Your first takeoff is free, on a real live bid. Full quantity takeoff, RFI register, material list, and a client-ready proposal in 48 hours.
Upload a plan set