Sharp Pencil › Guides

Roofing takeoff tools compared

By The Sharp Pencil team

We build one of the options on this page, so read this knowing that. We have tried to be accurate about where the others are better, because you will find out anyway and it is a bad way to start a relationship.

What is roofing takeoff software?

Roofing takeoff software is a program your estimator uses to pull roof quantities off a set of construction drawings: roof areas, perimeter and edge lengths, flashing runs, drains, curbs, and penetrations. Your estimator does the takeoff in the software, then turns those quantities into a material list and a price. Desktop takeoff tools publish per user prices by the year or by the month. Check the vendor's own pricing page. On top of that you pay for your estimator's hours. The other way to get the same quantities is an outsourced takeoff service, where you send the plan set and the takeoff comes back to you.

Most tools are multi-trade, so the roofing knowledge (heights on the elevations, drains on the plumbing sheets, curbs on the mechanical sheets, the deck on the structural sheets) still comes from the person using it. The four kinds of tool people call "takeoff software" are compared below.

Software you run vs an outsourced takeoff service

Check each vendor's own pricing page for current software prices. See what a commercial roofing takeoff costs for the full cost picture.

A worked example: twelve bids a month

Say you bid twelve commercial low-slope jobs a month and each takeoff takes your estimator 6 hours. Our guide on how long a commercial roof takeoff takes puts a typical commercial job at four to twelve hours by hand.

• Software you run: 12 x 6 = 72 hours, or 9 eight-hour days. Example input: an estimator's day at $450 to $650. Use your own rate. At that example rate, 9 days is about $4,050 to $5,850 of estimator time, plus the software license.
• Sharp Pencil: at $395 per takeoff, the same twelve would be $4,740. Monthly plans (Shop 12, Shop 25 and Shop 60) are on our pricing section. Your estimator's time goes to checking and pricing instead.

The bigger difference is the 72 hours: whether your estimator has them, or whether you no-bid jobs for lack of them.

Cost per bid vs cost per won job

Cost per takeoff is only half the story. You pay for a takeoff on every job you bid, but you only win some of them.

Add up what your takeoffs cost you in a month: your estimator's hours at your rate plus software, or what you pay a service. Divide that by the jobs you won that month. That is your cost per won job.

The jobs you no-bid for lack of hours never reach that math. See how commercial roofers stop no-bidding jobs they could win. For the full cost picture, see what a commercial roofing takeoff costs, and for hiring, see hire or outsource, the per-bid math.

Why send your takeoffs to Sharp Pencil

• First takeoff free, one per contractor, on a job you're bidding or quoting. After that, $395 per takeoff. $395 covers a new set of drawings, or a new address.
• Usually within one business day. Delivered within 48 hours*. A takeoff stuck in a week-long queue does you no good when the bid is due sooner.
• Every quantity carries its source sheet and its basis. You can check any number against the drawings.
• No silent blanks. Anything the drawings could not settle carries a written reason, not a blank or a guess.
• Questions instead of guesses. Open items go on the Questions tab in Takeoff.xlsx, not into the number as a guess.
• Pricing is optional. Send your cost data and we apply your prices to the quantities. Any line you have not priced comes back marked UNPRICED.
• Your plans stay yours. A plan set you send us will never be used to compete with you, and plan sets are deleted whenever you ask.
• Four files: START HERE, marked-up drawings PDF, Takeoff.xlsx with a Questions tab, and the material order list.

Four different things, often confused

People say "takeoff software" to mean four categories that solve genuinely different problems. Picking the wrong category is more expensive than picking the wrong product inside a category.

1. Manual digital takeoff tools

Desktop tools where your estimator measures the PDF

You load the PDF and measure it yourself with digital tools: area fills, linear traces, count stamps. The software adds up what you point at.

Good at: total control, any trade, any drawing, mature and well understood, one-time or modest recurring cost. An experienced estimator with a tuned setup is genuinely fast.

Not good at: the bottleneck is still your estimator's hours. If the constraint is that you have one estimator and twenty invitations, a faster mouse does not fix it. There is also a real learning curve, and the person who knows the software becomes a single point of failure.

Choose it if: you have estimating capacity and want to make it more precise.

For a closer look, see a side by side of desktop takeoff tools and alternatives to cloud takeoff tools.

2. Aerial and satellite measurement

Imagery-based roof reports

You give an address, you get a measured report of the existing roof from imagery.

Good at: speed and simplicity on existing buildings, especially residential and simple commercial. Excellent for service work, insurance claims, and quick budget numbers where you do not have drawings at all.

Not good at: anything that is not visible from above. It cannot read a spec, cannot tell you the deck type, cannot see the tapered layout you are supposed to bid, and does not exist for new construction. On a bid-stage commercial job with a plan set, it answers a different question than the one you are being asked.

Choose it if: you are measuring an existing roof for service, repair, or a fast budget, and you do not have or need the documents.

3. AI takeoff platforms

A fast-moving category, mostly general construction rather than roofing-specific

Software that reads drawings and produces quantities automatically, usually across many trades.

Good at: volume, and getting better quickly. For general contractors bidding many trades at once, breadth is exactly the point.

Not good at: depth in any one trade, generally. Roofing has traps a general tool has no reason to know: heights that live on the elevations, fastener length that follows stack thickness, and taper that comes from a quote, not a calculation. Ask any tool in this category what it does when it cannot read something. That answer tells you a lot.

Choose it if: you need many trades and can verify the output yourself.

For the options roofers weigh in this category, see alternatives to AI takeoff tools.

For the difference between an AI takeoff and an AI estimate, see AI roofing takeoff vs AI estimating. For how far to trust the quantities, see how accurate AI roofing takeoffs are.

4. Outsourced takeoff services

Including us, plus a number of established human estimating services

You send the plan set, somebody else does the work, you get quantities back.

Good at: solving the actual capacity problem. Nothing to learn, nothing to install, and it scales with your bid volume rather than with your headcount. Traditional human services also bring real judgment.

Not good at: speed and cost, historically. Human services typically quote in days, not hours, and price per job accordingly. You also have to trust someone outside your company with your drawings, and if the service prices with their own cost data rather than yours, the number is not bid-ready.

Choose it if: your constraint is estimator hours, not estimator skill.

The comparison that actually matters

If you are weighing a service rather than software, see how to vet an outsourced roofing estimating service before you send plans.

Questions worth asking any option

1. What happens when it cannot read something? The right answer is that it tells you and asks. The dangerous answer is that it fills in a plausible number and says nothing.
2. Where do the prices come from? If they are not your prices, the output is an interesting document, not a bid.
3. Can I see the evidence behind a number? A roof area with no source is a claim. A roof area with the sheet it came from is a number you can check in ten seconds.
4. Does it read the elevations, or just the roof plan? The single fastest way to find out whether something understands roofing.
5. What happens to my documents afterward? Ask how long they keep your drawings, and whether they delete them when you ask.

Where we fit, honestly

We are the fourth category, built to fix the two things that made services frustrating: turnaround and pricing. Not a week. Usually within one business day. Delivered within 48 hours*. Pricing is optional. Send your cost data and we apply your prices to the quantities. Any line you have not priced comes back marked UNPRICED, not filled in with somebody's average.

We are not the right answer for everyone. If you have estimating capacity and want more precision, a manual tool in skilled hands is excellent and we would tell you so. If you need a fast measurement of an existing roof for a service call, an aerial report is faster and cheaper than anything we do. If you bid many trades at once, a general platform covers ground we do not.

We are the right answer when the invitations outnumber the hours, and you are turning down work you could have won.

FAQ

What is roofing takeoff software?

Roofing takeoff software is a program your estimator uses to pull roof quantities, such as areas, edge lengths, flashing, drains, and penetrations, off a set of construction drawings. The estimator then turns those quantities into a material list and a price.

How much does roofing takeoff software cost?

Your estimator's hours are usually the larger cost. Desktop takeoff tools publish per user prices by the year or by the month. Check the vendor's own pricing page.

Is takeoff software the same as a takeoff service?

No. With software, your estimator does the takeoff. With a takeoff service, you send the plan set and the takeoff comes back to you. Sharp Pencil is a takeoff service for commercial roofing, low slope and steep slope (standing seam and shingle). First takeoff free, one per contractor, on a job you're bidding or quoting. After that, $395 per takeoff. Usually within one business day. Delivered within 48 hours*.
*Clock starts once any questions we send you are answered.

Is takeoff software or a takeoff service cheaper per bid?

It depends on your estimator's hours and how many jobs you win. Divide what the takeoffs cost you in a month by the jobs you win that month, and compare that number. See the worked example on this page.

Does Sharp Pencil do residential roofing takeoffs?

Sharp Pencil is built for commercial roofing takeoffs. Residential is not our focus today, but ask if you have a job in mind.