Job takeoff
Rainscreen cladding on battens takeoff
Clad a wall in timber, fibre-cement or composite boards or panels on battens (furring strips) over a breather membrane, with a drained, ventilated gap behind: scaffold, the membrane, battens and counter-battens, cavity barriers where a fire strategy draws them, the boards or panels and their fixings, trims, vented closers with insect mesh, mastic at the frames and the offcuts, with the barriers and the fixings' design flagged and never certified.
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.
- 8Measurements in
- 1112Trades out
Choose the build-up
Each layer changes the materials below; the dimensions stay the same.
Calculators behind the other choices:
Calculators behind the other choices:
Compare one layer at these dimensions, with the rest of the build-up held as you have it:
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 rainscreen cladding 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 | |
|---|---|---|
Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the framesMasking and Protection Materials CalculatorSheeting laid out about 1 m (3 ft) from the foot of each wall being clad, to catch sawdust and offcuts, and one line of tape round every window and door frame to hold the film over the glass while the trims and mastic go on.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator | 3 items | |
Scaffold along the clad wallsScaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity CalculatorOne face along every wall clad, end to end, to the height clad: the platform the membrane, battens and boards go up from, set out from the wall by the cladding's depth and room to work.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Scaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity Calculator | 884 ft² of face | |
Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier)House Wrap CalculatorMembrane over the whole face, each course lapped over the one below at the page's lap allowance, taped into every opening rather than cut away, so the openings are not taken off. The page counts its own roll of 9 × 150 ft (2.74 × 45.7 m, 125 m²); a British breather roll of 1.5 × 50 m (4 ft 11 in × 164 ft, 75 m²) covers less, so order those by the area in the working. Behind open-jointed boards, a membrane made to stand daylight is chosen.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The lap allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 1 roll | |
Furring strips (battens), uprightRain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip CalculatorTreated furring strips plumb over the house wrap at the page's opening centres along every clad wall, each the height clad, the siding nailed through them: the gap the rain drains down and the air rises through. The short pieces round the openings and at the corners are extra.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Rain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip Calculator | 680 ft | |
Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gapCavity Barrier Run and Crossing Count CalculatorOpen-state barrier strips along each line you entered, the length clad, with the page's waste allowance; its working counts the crossings where an upright batten passes a line, at the battens' own centres, and the sealant each takes. Where the lines go and which product is used are the fire strategy's; the page measures them and signs nothing off.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The waste allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Cavity Barrier Run and Crossing Count Calculator | 57.2 ft | |
Corner and opening trimsExterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet CalculatorTrims up each outside corner the height clad, on the head, sill and both jambs of each window, and over the head and down the jambs of each door, in stock lengths: 3 m (9 ft 10 in) pieces in metric, the page's 10 ft (3.05 m) in imperial. The sills themselves are the windows'.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Exterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet Calculator | 15 sheets | |
Vented closers (vent closures, vent strips) with insect meshExterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet CalculatorPerforated closers or insect mesh along the foot and the head of the gap, over and under every window and over each door, in the same stock lengths: air comes in at the foot and leaves at the head, and nothing else gets in.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Exterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet Calculator | 16 sheets | |
Lap siding or cladding boards (wood, fibre cement or composite), in squaresSiding CalculatorSiding over the clad walls, in 100 sq ft (9.29 m²) squares, with the page's waste allowance, the windows and doors taken off at the page's own sizes of 15 sq ft (1.4 m²) and 21 sq ft (1.95 m²). Starter strips and J-channel for vinyl siding are bought with it and are not in this count.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The waste factor: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 8.5 squares | |
Mastic (caulk) at the framesFiber-Cement Siding Caulk Joint Volume CalculatorA bead on every side of each window and door frame, where the trims meet it, at the page's opening joint of 6 × 6 mm (1/4 × 1/4 in), as a volume; bought in cartridges of 310 ml (10.5 US fl oz) or 10.1 US fl oz (299 ml) tubes. Open joints between boards take no mastic.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Fiber-Cement Siding Caulk Joint Volume Calculator | 0.3777 gal | |
Stain, oil or paint on the boardsExterior Paint CalculatorTwo coats on the face of the cladding, the windows and doors left out, at the exterior paint page's fixed rate of 28 m² (300 sq ft) to each US gallon (3.79 L) for every coat, bought by the half gallon. An oil or a translucent stain on sawn larch or cedar can go less far than that, so check its tin; coating the boards' backs and cut ends before they are fixed adds to it.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 5.5 gallons | |
Skip (dumpster) for offcutsSkip & Dumpster Size CalculatorAn allowance rather than a measured figure: board and batten offcuts and wrapping taken as a layer 20 mm (3/4 in) deep over the face. Fibre-cement offcuts go as their own maker's disposal advice says.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator | 2.15 yd³ | |
Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the framesMasking and Protection Materials CalculatorSheeting laid out about 1 m (3 ft) from the foot of each wall being clad, to catch sawdust and offcuts, and one line of tape round every window and door frame to hold the film over the glass while the trims and mastic go on.
Why this quantity? | 3 items | |
Scaffold along the clad wallsScaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity CalculatorOne face along every wall clad, end to end, to the height clad: the platform the membrane, battens and boards go up from, set out from the wall by the cladding's depth and room to work.
Why this quantity? | 83.2 m² of face | |
Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier)House Wrap CalculatorMembrane over the whole face, each course lapped over the one below at the page's lap allowance, taped into every opening rather than cut away, so the openings are not taken off. The page counts its own roll of 9 × 150 ft (2.74 × 45.7 m, 125 m²); a British breather roll of 1.5 × 50 m (4 ft 11 in × 164 ft, 75 m²) covers less, so order those by the area in the working. Behind open-jointed boards, a membrane made to stand daylight is chosen.
Why this quantity? | 1 roll | |
Counter-battens, upright over the membraneRain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip CalculatorTreated counter-battens plumb over the membrane at the page's opening centres along every clad wall, each the height clad: the first layer, down which the rain in the gap drains between the battens across. The short pieces round the openings and at the corners are extra.
Why this quantity? | 213.2 m | |
Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gapCavity Barrier Run and Crossing Count CalculatorOpen-state barrier strips along each line you entered, the length clad, with the page's waste allowance; its working counts the crossings where an upright batten passes a line, at the battens' own centres, and the sealant each takes. Where the lines go and which product is used are the fire strategy's; the page measures them and signs nothing off.
Why this quantity? | 17.6 m | |
Horizontal battens carrying the boardsRain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip CalculatorRows of batten across the counter-battens, one at each of the page's opening centres counted up the wall from where the cladding starts to where it stops under the eaves, every row as long as the wall clad. The page reads the wall's height where it expects a width, so the strips it counts are these rows. The upright boards are nailed through them, and the gaps between the counter-battens behind are where rain in the cavity runs down to the closer at the foot.
Why this quantity? | 224 m | |
Corner and opening trimsExterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet CalculatorTrims up each outside corner the height clad, on the head, sill and both jambs of each window, and over the head and down the jambs of each door, in stock lengths: 3 m (9 ft 10 in) pieces in metric, the page's 10 ft (3.05 m) in imperial. The sills themselves are the windows'.
Why this quantity? | 15 sheets | |
Vented closers (vent closures) with insect meshExterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet CalculatorPerforated closers or insect mesh along the foot and the head of the gap, over and under every window and over each door, in the same stock lengths: air comes in at the foot and leaves at the head, and nothing else gets in.
Why this quantity? | 16 sheets | |
Cladding boards, board on board (timber, fibre cement or composite)Board and Batten Siding CalculatorUpright boards counted along the wall at one board to every 175 mm (7 in) of run, a 150 mm (6 in) board and its 25 mm (1 in) drainage gap, so the house's own length sets the count; the cover battens that close each gap are in the working. Where a wall is taller than the longest board, the two lengths meet over a drip flashing so the upper board sheds water clear of the lower. Short boards over and under the windows come from the same run.
Why this quantity? | 92 boards | |
Mastic (caulk) at the framesFiber-Cement Siding Caulk Joint Volume CalculatorA bead on every side of each window and door frame, where the trims meet it, at the page's opening joint of 6 × 6 mm (1/4 × 1/4 in), as a volume; bought in cartridges of 310 ml (10.5 US fl oz) or 10.1 US fl oz (299 ml) tubes. Open joints between boards take no mastic.
Why this quantity? | 1.26 L | |
Stain, oil or paint on the boardsExterior Paint CalculatorTwo coats on the face of the cladding, the windows and doors left out, at the exterior paint page's fixed rate of 28 m² (300 sq ft) to each US gallon (3.79 L) for every coat, bought by the half gallon. An oil or a translucent stain on sawn larch or cedar can go less far than that, so check its tin; coating the boards' backs and cut ends before they are fixed adds to it.
Why this quantity? | 20.82 L | |
Skip (dumpster) for offcutsSkip & Dumpster Size CalculatorAn allowance rather than a measured figure: board and batten offcuts and wrapping taken as a layer 20 mm (3/4 in) deep over the face. Fibre-cement offcuts go as their own maker's disposal advice says.
Why this quantity? | 1.66 m³ |
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.
- Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the frames0.6 h (0.3–1.3)
- Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier)3.3 h (1.6–6.6)
- Furring strips (battens), upright15 h (8.3–29)
- Corner and opening trims16 h (9.0–31)
- Vented closers (vent closures, vent strips) with insect mesh17 h (9.5–33)
- Lap siding or cladding boards (wood, fibre cement or composite), in squares43 h (24–87)
- Mastic (caulk) at the frames4.3 h (2.1–8.9)
- Stain, oil or paint on the boards13 h (7.1–28)
- Skip (dumpster) for offcuts1.6 h (0.8–4.9)
About 113 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 62 and 230.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerhalf a day
- Carpenter1 carpenter + 1 labourer6 days
- Glazier1 glazierhalf a day
- Painter1 painter1½ days
About 8½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
2 rows carry no hours of their own
- Scaffold along the clad walls: Scaffolding is not rated here: it is usually erected by a scaffolding firm and priced as hire, and where your own crew puts it up, the system and the height set the time.
- Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gap: Fire protection is not rated here: it is installed by certified installers to a tested system's specification, and that system, not a rule of thumb, sets the time.
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.
- Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the frames0.6 h (0.3–1.3)
- Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier)3.3 h (1.7–6.7)
- Counter-battens, upright over the membrane15 h (8.5–30)
- Horizontal battens carrying the boards16 h (9.0–31)
- Corner and opening trims16 h (8.9–31)
- Vented closers (vent closures) with insect mesh17 h (9.5–33)
- Mastic (caulk) at the frames4.2 h (2.1–8.8)
- Stain, oil or paint on the boards13 h (7.2–29)
- Skip (dumpster) for offcuts1.7 h (0.8–5.0)
About 86 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 48 and 176.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerhalf a day
- Carpenter1 carpenter + 1 labourer4 days
- Glazier1 glazierhalf a day
- Painter1 painter1½ days
About 6½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Scaffold along the clad walls: Scaffolding is not rated here: it is usually erected by a scaffolding firm and priced as hire, and where your own crew puts it up, the system and the height set the time.
- Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gap: Fire protection is not rated here: it is installed by certified installers to a tested system's specification, and that system, not a rule of thumb, sets the time.
- Cladding boards, board on board (timber, fibre cement or composite): its rate is per m²; this row gives boards
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
Rainscreen cladding hangs boards or panels off a wall on battens, with an open gap behind them. Rain that passes a joint runs down the back of the boards and out at the foot of the gap, and air moving up it dries what is left; the breather membrane (house wrap, a weather-resistive barrier in North American terms) behind the gap keeps the wall itself dry. Nothing is stuck to the wall, which is what separates it from a rendered insulation system: every layer is screwed or nailed to the one it hangs from, and every board can come off again.
The rows are the layers from the wall outwards. The membrane covers the wall's whole face, taped into each opening rather than cut away. The battens are measured by length at the centres the boards need, and upright boards take two layers, battens across the wall over upright counter-battens, so water always has a way down. The boards are counted along the run; the trims go up each outside corner and round each opening; the vented closers with insect mesh run along the foot and head of the gap and over and under every window; and the mastic (caulk) goes round each frame.
The units pick the cladding. With metric showing, the page opens on upright boards with cover battens, the board-on-board look a British house is clad in, counted by the board; with imperial showing, on horizontal lap siding on upright furring strips, measured in squares (100 sq ft, 9.29 m²). Fibre-cement or composite panels screwed or riveted to rails are the third choice in either, and fibre cement of any shape is cut outside with the dust controls its maker sets.
The fire question lives in the gap. An open cavity running up a wall behind combustible boards can carry fire up the face, which is why a fire strategy may ask for cavity barriers across it, open-state strips that close when heated, and why on some buildings the rules limit what may be fixed to a wall at all. The page measures the barrier along the number of lines you enter and counts where each batten crosses one; where the lines go, which product, and whether any of it is allowed are for the fire strategy and building control, and none of it is signed off here.
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.
- Settle the cladding system, the fire strategy's barrier lines and any building control or permit, and have old boards that could contain asbestos sampled before anything is stripped.
- Put the scaffold up, isolate the outside lights and take them off with the downpipes (downspouts), pipes and brackets; strip any old cladding, battens and membrane, and sheet the wall at night while it is open.
- Fix any insulation boards to the wall, then the breather membrane (house wrap) from the bottom up so each course laps over the one below, taped into every opening.
- Fix the battens (furring strips) plumb at the centres the boards need, counter-battened where the boards run upright, and fit the cavity barriers across the gap along their lines, sealed round every batten that crosses.
- Fit the vented closers with insect mesh at the foot of the gap, then the corner trims and the head and sill trims round each opening, and get any boiler flue lengthened by the gas engineer while the gap is still open.
- Hang the boards or panels from the bottom up, gapped as their maker asks, cutting fibre cement outside with its dust controls, and extend the fascia first where the overhang no longer clears; close the head of the gap under the eaves with its vented closer.
- Seal each frame with mastic (caulk), stain or paint boards that are finished on site, and refix the downpipes and lights through the cladding on longer fixings.
- Clear the offcuts and any stripped cladding, check every closer, trim and barrier from the scaffold while it still stands, then pass on the cladding and barrier makers' details.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The fire strategy: which walls need cavity barriers and where their lines go, which product and rating, and whether the boards, the membrane and whatever lies behind them may be used on this building at all. The barrier row measures the lines you enter and signs off none of them.
- The structural fixing of the battens or rails: their section, how they are fixed through whatever lies behind them into the wall, and what the wall holds against the wind. The rows count battens at the page's centres and panel fixings at its opening figure per panel.
- Repairs to the wall behind once old cladding or siding comes off in the strip out: rotten sheathing or studs, loose masonry, damp. They are found when the wall is opened and listed nowhere here.
- The timber's species, grade and treatment, and any fire-retardant treatment a board may need; the rows count boards of the width given.
- Moving a gas or electricity meter or its box, which only the supplier or the network operator does, and the flue's design and certification, which is the registered gas engineer's.
- Whether the new facing needs planning permission, and the consent a conservation area or a listed building needs; in North America, a historic district's approval.
- Insulating the wall to a target: the insulation option counts mineral wool boards over the face at the size its page opens on and chooses no thickness.
- Replacing the roofline, and the carpentry that brings the eaves or a verge out: extending the fascia, soffit and bargeboards where the overhang no longer clears the new face is listed as work, and the rafter feet or gable ladder behind them are not sized.
- The windows and doors themselves, and the sills under them; the trims and closers round them are counted.
- A line of its own for the cover battens over board-on-board cladding: one over every gap between boards plus one to finish each end of a wall, each cut to the height clad, counted in the board row's working and not compared.
- The starter strip, J-channel and corner posts that plastic siding hangs from: bought by length with the siding, for its own profile, and in no row's count here.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the rainscreen cladding 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.
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the rainscreen cladding takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Length of wall clad, walls end to end 16 m · Height clad 5.2 m · Windows 6 · Window opening width, each 1.2 m · Window opening height, each 1.2 m · Doors 1 · Outside corners 2 · Cavity barrier lines across the gap 1, it orders: Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the frames, 3 items; Scaffold along the clad walls, 83.2 m² of face; Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier), 1 roll; Counter-battens, upright over the membrane, 213 m; Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gap, 17.6 m; Horizontal battens carrying the boards, 224 m; Corner and opening trims, 15 sheets; Vented closers (vent closures) with insect mesh, 16 sheets; Cladding boards, board on board (timber, fibre cement or composite), 92 boards; Mastic (caulk) at the frames, 1.26 L; Stain, oil or paint on the boards, 20.8 L; Skip (dumpster) for offcuts, 1.66 m³. Opened at Length of wall clad, walls end to end 52 ft · Height clad 17 ft · Windows 6 · Window opening width, each 4 ft · Window opening height, each 4 ft · Doors 1 · Outside corners 2 · Cavity barrier lines across the gap 1: Ground sheeting under the clad walls, and tape at the frames, 3 items; Scaffold along the clad walls, 884 ft² of face; Breather membrane (house wrap, weather or water resistive barrier), 1 roll; Furring strips (battens), upright, 680 ft; Cavity barriers or blocking across the ventilated gap, 57.2 ft; Corner and opening trims, 15 sheets; Vented closers (vent closures, vent strips) with insect mesh, 16 sheets; Lap siding or cladding boards (wood, fibre cement or composite), in squares, 8.5 squares; Mastic (caulk) at the frames, 0.38 gal; Stain, oil or paint on the boards, 5.5 gallons; Skip (dumpster) for offcuts, 2.15 yd³. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the rainscreen cladding takeoff run?
- 10 calculators, for 11 lines: Masking and Protection Materials Calculator, Scaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity Calculator, House Wrap Calculator, Rain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip Calculator, Cavity Barrier Run and Crossing Count Calculator, Exterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet Calculator, Siding Calculator, Fiber-Cement Siding Caulk Joint Volume Calculator, Exterior Paint Calculator, Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.10 calculators, for 12 lines: Masking and Protection Materials Calculator, Scaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity Calculator, House Wrap Calculator, Rain-Screen Cladding Furring Strip Calculator, Cavity Barrier Run and Crossing Count Calculator, Exterior Flashing Layout Trim Sheet Calculator, Board and Batten Siding Calculator, Fiber-Cement Siding Caulk Joint Volume Calculator, Exterior Paint Calculator, Skip & Dumpster Size 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 rainscreen cladding takeoff leave out?
- 11 things, each named on this page: The fire strategy; The structural fixing of the battens or rails; Repairs to the wall behind once old cladding or siding comes off in the strip out; The timber's species, grade and treatment, and any fire-retardant treatment a board may need; the rows count boards of the width given; Moving a gas or electricity meter or its box, which only the supplier or the network operator does, and the flue's design and certification, which is the registered gas engineer's; Whether the new facing needs planning permission, and the consent a conservation area or a listed building needs; in North America, a historic district's approval; Insulating the wall to a target; Replacing the roofline, and the carpentry that brings the eaves or a verge out; The windows and doors themselves, and the sills under them; the trims and closers round them are counted; A line of its own for the cover battens over board-on-board cladding; The starter strip, J-channel and corner posts that plastic siding hangs from.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The rainscreen cladding 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.