Job takeoff
Baseboard and casing takeoff
Skirting around a room and casing around its openings, as lengths with a stick count pooled across the 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
- 2Trades 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 baseboard and casing 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 | |
|---|---|---|
Baseboard & Trim CalculatorSkirting as a length with waste, with the doorways taken out of the perimeter, and a stick count at the stock length above. The count is pooled across the room, so count wall by wall for joint-free lengths.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The cutting waste: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 61.65 linear ft | |
Door & Window Casing CalculatorCasing for every opening at door proportions, as a length with waste — a window's own sill and apron are extra. Its stick count is a length division and does not check which piece comes out of which stick.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The mitre waste: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Door & Window Casing Calculator | 35.2 linear ft | |
Baseboard & Trim CalculatorSkirting as a length with waste, with the doorways taken out of the perimeter, and a stick count at the stock length above. The count is pooled across the room, so count wall by wall for joint-free lengths.
Why this quantity? | 18.81 m | |
Door & Window Casing CalculatorCasing for every opening at door proportions, as a length with waste — a window's own sill and apron are extra. Its stick count is a length division and does not check which piece comes out of which stick.
Why this quantity? | 10.84 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.
- Baseboard & Trim3.4 h (1.9–7.5)
- Door & Window Casing1.9 h (1.1–4.3)
About 5.3 person-hours in all, between 3.0 and 12.
Trade by trade
- Carpenter1 carpenterhalf a day
About half a day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
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.
- Baseboard & Trim3.4 h (1.9–7.5)
- Door & Window Casing2.0 h (1.1–4.3)
About 5.3 person-hours in all, between 3.0 and 12.
Trade by trade
- Carpenter1 carpenterhalf a day
About half a day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
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
Trim is bought in sticks and fitted in runs, and the arithmetic that matters is how the two divide into each other. A wall 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) long takes a 4.8 m (about 16 ft) stick and wastes 600 mm (about 2 ft), or takes two shorter sticks and gains a joint that will open as the timber moves. Which of those is right is a judgement about the room rather than about the total length, and these rows do not make it: each is a length with waste, and the stick count under it divides that length by one stock length, as if every offcut could be carried to the next wall. For joint-free runs, count each wall against the stick that covers it.
Only two rows here, and the reason is worth stating: the site counts skirting and casing, and does not count the door, the frame, the hardware or the fixings. An assembly that pretended otherwise would be a title doing the work of a recipe.
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.
- Fit the floor first if it is going in — skirting scribed to a subfloor sits wrong on the finished one.
- Case the openings before the skirting, so the skirting dies into the casing rather than the other way round.
- Cut external corners as mitres and internal corners as scribes; a mitred internal corner opens.
- Fix into the studs, not just the board, and mark the centres before the first length goes up.
- Fill, caulk the top edge against the wall, and sand the joints before priming.
What this takeoff does not cover
- Doors, frames, linings, hardware and the fixings for any of them.
- Window boards, sills and aprons — a window needs all three and this counts only the casing around it.
- Paint and primer for the trim, which is a different product from the wall paint and measured by length.
- Adhesive, filler and caulk.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the baseboard and casing 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
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the baseboard and casing takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Room length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Doorways 1 · Windows 1 · Skirting stock length (8, 10, 12, 14 or 16) 8, it orders: Baseboard & Trim, 18.8 m; Door & Window Casing, 10.8 m. Opened at Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Doorways 1 · Windows 1 · Skirting stock length (8, 10, 12, 14 or 16) 8: Baseboard & Trim, 61.7 linear ft; Door & Window Casing, 35.2 linear ft. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the baseboard and casing takeoff run?
- 2 calculators, one to a line: Baseboard & Trim Calculator, Door & Window Casing 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 baseboard and casing takeoff leave out?
- 4 things, each named on this page: Doors, frames, linings, hardware and the fixings for any of them; Window boards, sills and aprons; Paint and primer for the trim, which is a different product from the wall paint and measured by length; Adhesive, filler and caulk.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The baseboard and casing 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.