Job takeoff
Electrical rough-in takeoff
A starting outlet count by the North American spacing rule, the lighting load and the conduit run for first-fixing a single room.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 5Measurements in
- 3Trades out
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the electrical rough-in quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Outlet Spacing CalculatorThe perimeter as one wall space under the North American 6 ft (1.8 m) reach rule. Each doorway or fireplace starts a new space counted on its own, which can add up to one outlet for every extra space; UK regulations set no spacing.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 5 outlets (minimum) | |
Lighting Circuit Connected Load CalculatorConnected load against the breaker rating, at the default watts per fitting.How this figure was reached
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Lighting Circuit Connected Load Calculator | 360 W | |
EMT Conduit Bend Length CalculatorConduit for a perimeter run: the straight legs are the perimeter less two bend radii at each bend, measured between tangent points as the calculator asks, and each bend's arc is added back.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the EMT Conduit Bend Length Calculator | 58.14 ft | |
Outlet Spacing CalculatorThe perimeter as one wall space under the North American 6 ft (1.8 m) reach rule. Each doorway or fireplace starts a new space counted on its own, which can add up to one outlet for every extra space; UK regulations set no spacing.
Why this quantity? | 5 outlets (minimum) | |
Lighting Circuit Connected Load CalculatorConnected load against the breaker rating, at the default watts per fitting.How this figure was reached | 360 W | |
EMT Conduit Bend Length CalculatorConduit for a perimeter run: the straight legs are the perimeter less two bend radii at each bend, measured between tangent points as the calculator asks, and each bend's arc is added back.
Why this quantity? | 17.74 m |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
No row going in carries a rate yet.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Outlet Spacing: Electrical work is not rated here: it is work for a registered electrician, and access (open new walls against an occupied house being rewired) changes its time several-fold.
- Lighting Circuit Connected Load: a size or a check, not a piece of work
- EMT Conduit Bend Length: Electrical work is not rated here: it is work for a registered electrician, and access (open new walls against an occupied house being rewired) changes its time several-fold.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
No row going in carries a rate yet.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Outlet Spacing: Electrical work is not rated here: it is work for a registered electrician, and access (open new walls against an occupied house being rewired) changes its time several-fold.
- Lighting Circuit Connected Load: a size or a check, not a piece of work
- EMT Conduit Bend Length: Electrical work is not rated here: it is work for a registered electrician, and access (open new walls against an occupied house being rewired) changes its time several-fold.
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
Rough-in is the stage where the walls are open and every decision is cheap. Two days later the board is on and the same decision costs a chase, a patch and a repaint, which is why the outlet row is worth taking seriously even though it produces a starting count rather than a design. The North American codes let no point along a wall space sit more than 6 ft (1.8 m) from an outlet; UK wiring regulations set no spacing at all. The row runs the room's whole perimeter as one wall space, but a doorway or a fireplace ends one space and starts another, each counted on its own, so with two or more of them the code minimum can be higher than this row. Nobody has ever regretted the extra socket.
The lighting row is about the circuit rather than the fittings. A dozen downlights at fifty watts is six hundred watts, which is nothing; the same dozen on an old circuit already carrying the rest of the floor is what trips the breaker at the worst moment. The figure to watch is the total against the breaker rating, not the fixture count.
The conduit row assumes a run around the room's perimeter with a bend at each corner. A bend cuts its corner, so the straight legs are the perimeter less twice the bend radius at every bend, and the arcs are added back — a radiused corner takes slightly less conduit than a square one. That is a reasonable first pass for a surface or conduit installation and does nothing for a cable-and-clip job, where the length follows the route rather than the room.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Agree the layout with whoever will live in the room, marking positions on the studs.
- Check what is already on the circuit before adding to it.
- Set the boxes to the finished wall face, not the stud face — the board thickness is the usual error.
- Drill the studs at the centre and protect any run within striking distance of a fixing.
- Leave generous tails at every box; there is no such thing as too much slack at rough-in.
- Test and photograph the whole run before anything is boarded.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The circuit design: how many circuits, what they carry, and how they land in the panel.
- Cable, boxes, back-boxes, fixings and everything else bought by the piece.
- Anything on a dedicated circuit — a cooker, a shower, an EV charger — which is sized on its own load rather than on a room.
- Inspection, certification and the parts of this work that in most places only a licensed electrician may carry out.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the electrical rough-in quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
More takeoffs
Other job takeoffs
Service panel upgrade
3 tradesCalculated service load by the NEC methods, a simplified floor to read it against, and the main breaker for the service being considered.
Run this takeoffRecessed lighting layout
3 tradesWhether the fittings you plan give the room enough light, how many a target level needs and at what spacing, and whether the circuit will carry them.
Run this takeoffBathroom ventilation
4 tradesExtract airflow for the room, and the hangers, wrap and mastic for the duct that carries it.
Run this takeoff
Frequently asked questions
- What does the electrical rough-in takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Room length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 0.15 m, it orders: Outlet Spacing, 5 outlets (minimum); Lighting Circuit Connected Load, 360 W; EMT Conduit Bend Length, 17.7 m. Opened at Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 6 in: Outlet Spacing, 5 outlets (minimum); Lighting Circuit Connected Load, 360 W; EMT Conduit Bend Length, 58.1 ft. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the electrical rough-in takeoff run?
- 3 calculators, one to a line: Outlet Spacing Calculator, Lighting Circuit Connected Load Calculator, EMT Conduit Bend Length Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the electrical rough-in takeoff leave out?
- 4 things, each named on this page: The circuit design; Cable, boxes, back-boxes, fixings and everything else bought by the piece; Anything on a dedicated circuit; Inspection, certification and the parts of this work that in most places only a licensed electrician may carry out.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The electrical rough-in quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.