Job takeoff
Radiant floor loop takeoff
Pipe for the heated area, the insulation under it and the lagging on every circuit's flow and return to the manifold, for a hydronic underfloor zone.
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.
- 4Measurements 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 radiant floor heating 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 | |
|---|---|---|
Radiant Floor PEX Tubing CalculatorPipe in the heated area at the default spacing — tighter spacing, lower water temperature — with its connection allowance, plus the leaders to the manifold, circuits × 2 × the route, added as measured.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The connection allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Radiant Floor PEX Tubing Calculator | 746.2 linear ft of PEX | |
Foam Board Insulation CalculatorInsulation under the loop. Without it, most of the heat goes downward.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The cutting waste: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Foam Board Insulation Calculator | 15 sheets (4x8 ft) | |
Pipe Insulation CalculatorLagging on the flow and the return of every circuit — circuits × 2 × the route — which should not be heating the rooms they pass through.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The bend and trim waste: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 22 x 6 ft sections | |
Radiant Floor PEX Tubing CalculatorPipe in the heated area at the default spacing — tighter spacing, lower water temperature — with its connection allowance, plus the leaders to the manifold, circuits × 2 × the route, added as measured.
Why this quantity? | 228.48 m of pex | |
Foam Board Insulation CalculatorInsulation under the loop. Without it, most of the heat goes downward.
Why this quantity? | 16 sheets (2400x1200 mm) | |
Pipe Insulation CalculatorLagging on the flow and the return of every circuit — circuits × 2 × the route — which should not be heating the rooms they pass through.
Why this quantity? | 40 x 1 m sections |
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.
- Foam Board Insulation7.2 h (4.0–20)
- Pipe Insulation2.5 h (1.1–5.3)
About 9.7 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 5.1 and 25.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourer1 day
About 1 day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
1 row carries no hours of its own
- Radiant Floor PEX Tubing: Heating and plumbing first fix is not rated here: it is work for a competent heating engineer, to a loop or pipe design and a pressure test this page does not see.
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.
- Foam Board Insulation7.2 h (4.0–20)
- Pipe Insulation2.5 h (1.1–5.4)
About 9.7 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 5.1 and 25.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourer1 day
About 1 day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
1 row carries no hours of its own
- Radiant Floor PEX Tubing: Heating and plumbing first fix is not rated here: it is work for a competent heating engineer, to a loop or pipe design and a pressure test this page does not see.
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
This is the heating system rather than the floor over it. Where the bathroom takeoff is about tile on a warm floor, this one is about what makes the floor warm: the length of pipe at a spacing, the insulation that decides which direction the heat goes, and the lagging on the pipes between the zone and the manifold. Every circuit runs its own flow and its own return to the manifold, so those leaders are the route twice for each circuit — circuits × 2 × the route. The pipe row adds that length to the tubing as it stands, on top of the pipe in the heated area, and the lagging row is sized on exactly the same length.
The insulation row is the one that decides whether the system works. A heated screed sitting on an uninsulated slab heats the slab, the hardcore and the ground below it, and the room gets whatever is left. Under-loop insulation is not an efficiency upgrade — it is the difference between a radiant floor and an expensive way to warm the earth.
Spacing is a heat-output decision, not a pipe-saving one. Tighter spacing puts more pipe in the same area and delivers more watts per square metre at a lower water temperature, which is exactly what a heat pump wants. Wider spacing suits a boiler and a well-insulated room, and produces a floor with visible warm and cool stripes if taken too far.
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.
- Confirm the floor build-up and the finished level before anything is ordered — the depth is the constraint.
- Insulate the full area, edges included, with a perimeter strip up the wall.
- Set out the loop so no circuit exceeds the length its pipe diameter allows.
- Fix the pipe at the spacing, keeping the flow along the coldest edge.
- Pressure-test, and leave it under pressure while the screed is laid.
- Commission slowly: bring the screed up to temperature over days, not hours.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The manifold, actuators, mixing valve, pump and controls.
- The heat source and whether it can supply this zone at the flow temperature the spacing implies.
- Screed, its depth and its drying time — which is usually the longest item on the programme.
- The loop layout. The pipe row is the zone's total, not its split into circuits of a maximum length each or the ports they take; the circuits count here only sizes the leaders.
- The floor finish over it, and whether that finish tolerates the surface temperature.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the radiant floor heating 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
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Run this takeoffRecessed lighting layout
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Run this takeoff
Frequently asked questions
- What does the radiant floor heating takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Zone length 8 m · Zone width 5 m · Manifold to zone, one way 6 m · Circuits off the manifold 3, it orders: Radiant Floor PEX Tubing, 228 m of pex; Foam Board Insulation, 16 sheets (2400x1200 mm); Pipe Insulation, 40 x 1 m sections. Opened at Zone length 26 ft · Zone width 16.5 ft · Manifold to zone, one way 19.5 ft · Circuits off the manifold 3: Radiant Floor PEX Tubing, 746 linear ft of PEX; Foam Board Insulation, 15 sheets (4x8 ft); Pipe Insulation, 22 x 6 ft sections. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the radiant floor heating takeoff run?
- 3 calculators, one to a line: Radiant Floor PEX Tubing Calculator, Foam Board Insulation Calculator, Pipe Insulation 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 radiant floor heating takeoff leave out?
- 5 things, each named on this page: The manifold, actuators, mixing valve, pump and controls; The heat source and whether it can supply this zone at the flow temperature the spacing implies; Screed, its depth and its drying time; The loop layout; The floor finish over it, and whether that finish tolerates the surface temperature.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The radiant floor heating 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.