Quote check
Check an electrical rough-in quote
- 2Lines the job needs
- 5Measurements
- QuestionsNever a verdict

How the quote is read
Each line of an electrical rough-in quote is matched to the line of the job it names, or marked as something the Electrical rough-in takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, or anything else.
The job’s own figures come from 5 measurements — room length, room width, light fittings, conduit bends, conduit bend radius — run through the same calculators as the takeoff, so the two give the same figure for the same job.
Reading an electrical rough-in quote
Rough-in is often quoted per point — per outlet, switch and light. The outlet line here is a starting count that treats the whole perimeter as a single stretch of wall, so a quote with one or two more outlets can still be at the code minimum once the doorways are counted.
More outlets than that is an ordinary choice in a kitchen or a home office. The conduit length depends on the route and its bends, and whether the price includes the circuit back to the panel is worth confirming.
Three steps
- Give your measurements. The page opens on a typical job so it has something to show.
- Paste the quote's lines as they came, or add them one at a time. Leave the prices in — they are taken out, never read.
- Read the report: what is left out, what is added, what sits outside the range, and one list of questions to send.
Your quote
The electrical rough-in quote you were given
Paste from an email, or open or drop a PDF, Excel, CSV or text file, or a photo of the quote. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read — this page compares quantities, never prices.
Nothing you paste or open leaves this device.
The reading
What the quote says, against the job
Electrical rough-in · Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 6 inRoom length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 0.15 m
What it leaves out
Every line the job needs that nothing on the quote reads as, with the quantity your measurements produce.
What it adds
Lines this job's takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, anything else — each named for what it is.
What sits outside the range
Quantities above or below the computed range, by how much, in the quote's unit or converted and shown.
What to ask
One list of questions, in the quote's order, ready to copy and send. Questions, never a verdict.
Paste the quote above, or add its lines one at a time. The reading appears here as each line is read.
Outside what this takeoff measures
4Nothing in the reading measures these. Whether the quote covers each is worth asking in its own right: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started. Why each is left out is on the takeoff.
- 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
The reference
Every line the reading looks for
For Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 6 inRoom length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 0.15 m. Each is the calculator linked under it, run with those measurements; a range is that calculator at both ends of one choice, not a margin for error.
Outlet Spacing
at least 5 outlets (minimum)
A starting count for the whole perimeter as one wall space; each doorway or fireplace starts a new space, so the code minimum can be higher.
Open the Outlet Spacing CalculatorEMT Conduit Bend Length
58.1–66.9 ft
Conduit comes in stock lengths, and every cut leaves an offcut. 58.1 net, 66.9 with 15% added.
Open the EMT Conduit Bend Length CalculatorLighting Circuit Connected Load
360 W
Worked out, not compared with a quote
The load on the circuit, which is what its breaker is checked against.
Open the Lighting Circuit Connected Load Calculator
Outlet Spacing
at least 5 outlets (minimum)
A starting count for the whole perimeter as one wall space; each doorway or fireplace starts a new space, so the code minimum can be higher.
Open the Outlet Spacing CalculatorEMT Conduit Bend Length
17.7–20.4 m
Conduit comes in stock lengths, and every cut leaves an offcut. 17.7 net, 20.4 with 15% added.
Open the EMT Conduit Bend Length CalculatorLighting Circuit Connected Load
360 W
Worked out, not compared with a quote
The load on the circuit, which is what its breaker is checked against.
Open the Lighting Circuit Connected Load Calculator
How the ranges are taken
Where the choice is cutting waste, the ends are the site’s own allowances: 5%, the tight buffer of a crew with a planned set-out, and 15%, the wider one a first-timer orders. Where the calculator decides between patterns or materials, the ends are the options it offers. Where it adds nothing for loss, the range runs from the net quantity to 15% over it.
A minimum — the fewest hangers a spacing allows, the least airflow a room needs — has no upper end. A single figure carries an allowance the material itself needs, such as a lap, and names it.
What a reading like this cannot see
- It does not know your prices, your market, or what the work ought to cost.
- It does not know the building — the access, the condition of what is there, or what has to happen first.
- It cannot check a lump sum, because there is no quantity in one.
- A line it reads as missing may be priced under another name. A quantity outside the range is not evidence of anything. Each is a reason to ask a question.
- Two quotes are not comparable until their scopes are.
- It is not advice, and it is no substitute for a second quote.
The full takeoff
Every quantity for this job, with its working
The Electrical rough-in takeoff runs the same calculators on the same measurements and shows what sits under each line here.
Base, allowance, order
Each line's quantity before and after its allowance, and what to buy.
Every allowance editable
Change a waste figure and the order follows, with its source named.
Into a project
Add the whole job to a workspace with your own prices.
Frequently asked questions
- What quantities does an electrical rough-in job need?
- It depends on the measurements, so this page asks for yours. At the size it opens on — Room length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 0.15 m — the lines come to: Outlet Spacing, 5 outlets (minimum); EMT Conduit Bend Length, 17.7–20.4 m. In imperial units — Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 6 in — they come to: Outlet Spacing, 5 outlets (minimum); EMT Conduit Bend Length, 58.1–66.9 ft.
- Which line on an electrical rough-in quote varies the most?
- The EMT Conduit Bend Length: 17.7–20.4 m for a job measured Room length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Light fittings 6 · Conduit bends 4 · Conduit bend radius 0.15 m, depending on how much is allowed for loss over the net figure, up to 15%.
- What does an electrical rough-in quote often leave out?
- The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 2 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 4 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.
- Can I paste the quote exactly as it came?
- Yes — from an email, a PDF or a spreadsheet, one item to a line. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read, headings and totals are skipped, and each line is shown with what it was read as, so a misreading is one correction. Quantities in the other unit system are converted and the conversion is shown; a count of boxes is never compared with a count of tiles.
- Does this check the price as well?
- No. It reads quantities, never prices, and this site publishes none: an installed price moves with the market, the season, the access and the specification, so a figure for what the work ought to cost would give you confidence in a number nobody can defend. A quantity against your own measurements is checkable, and every figure here links to the calculator that produced it.