Craft Quantities
Plan & Takeoffs

Quote check

Check an external wall insulation quote

Paste the quote you were given and enter your measurements. Every line is read against the job: what the quote leaves out, what it adds, which quantities sit outside the computed range, and what to ask. Quantities only — never prices.
  • 8Lines the job needs
  • 11Measurements
  • QuestionsNever a verdict

How the quote is read

Each line of an external wall insulation quote is matched to the line of the job it names, or marked as something the External wall insulation (EWI, EIFS) takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, or anything else. Work the takeoff lists as part of the job but gives no quantity for is read as that work, not as something the quote adds.

The job’s own figures come from 11 measurements — front wall length (the back wall the same), end wall length, each, end walls insulated, height insulated, starter track to eaves, gable height above the eaves, at the apex, windows and doors in the insulated walls, opening width, average, opening height, average, frame set back from the old wall face, insulation thickness, impact mesh height at ground level — run through the same calculators as the takeoff, so the two give the same figure for the same job.

Reading an external wall insulation quote

An insulation quote for the outside of a house names a system, and that name is worth having in writing together with who stands behind it: the system holder whose specification the installer works to, the board and how thick it is, and whether the guarantee is the installer's word alone or an insured one backed by the holder. Worth asking whether the figure covers any pull-out tests the holder wants, the fire breaks building control may ask for, and the notification or certificate that follows.

Read each price at the edges of the system, where the boards stop and something else begins. Worth confirming that the starter track, the extended sills, the stop beads at a neighbour's line, the thin boards returned into each reveal, the sleeving of every air brick and overflow, and the taking down and putting back of each downpipe and light all sit inside the price; whether the fascia and soffit are brought out or the roof is left overhanging a narrower margin; and who arranges the flue and the meter box, which the installer's own team may not be allowed to touch.

Three steps

  1. Give your measurements. The page opens on a typical job so it has something to show.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 external wall insulation 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.

or one the job needs:

The reading

What the quote says, against the job

External wall insulation · Front wall length (the back wall the same) 33 ft · End wall length, each 25 ft · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 16.5 ft · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 8 ft · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 3.5 ft · Opening height, average 4.5 ft · Frame set back from the old wall face 4 in · Insulation thickness 4 in · Impact mesh height at ground level 6.5 ftFront wall length (the back wall the same) 10 m · End wall length, each 7.5 m · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 5 m · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 2.5 m · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 1.1 m · Opening height, average 1.3 m · Frame set back from the old wall face 0.1 m · Insulation thickness 0.1 m · Impact mesh height at ground level 2 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

14

Nothing 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 system's fire classification, whether its boards and render may be used on this building at all, and where fire breaks (fire barriers) of mineral wool are set, as at a party wall line or at each floor
  • How many anchors each board takes, how long they are and what they must hold in the wall behind, and the pull-out tests the system holder has done on a wall of unknown strength, with what those tests find
  • A row of its own for the insulation boards (EPS, mineral wool, PIR or wood fibre). Their number is in the anchor row's working
  • A row for the basecoat itself, bought by the bag at its maker's rate over the same face and reveals the mesh row covers; in some systems it is the same bagged product as the adhesive
  • A row of its own for the primer under a silicone or acrylic render finish
  • A count of the beads
  • A gas or electricity meter, its meter box or the gas pipe to it
  • Planning permission, and consent in a conservation area or under an article 4 direction, where the new face changes how the house looks; in North America, a design review beyond the building permit
  • Extending the rafter feet or the gable ladder so the roof clears the thicker wall
  • Repairs to a wall that is structurally cracked, bulging or damp, and whatever causes it
  • A drained system on a timber- or steel-framed wall, the way EIFS over sheathing is built in North America
  • Anything on a neighbour's side of the party wall line, and any agreement needed to stand a scaffold on their land
  • The windows and doors themselves
  • Masonry paint over the finished render

The reference

Every line the reading looks for

For Front wall length (the back wall the same) 33 ft · End wall length, each 25 ft · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 16.5 ft · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 8 ft · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 3.5 ft · Opening height, average 4.5 ft · Frame set back from the old wall face 4 in · Insulation thickness 4 in · Impact mesh height at ground level 6.5 ftFront wall length (the back wall the same) 10 m · End wall length, each 7.5 m · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 5 m · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 2.5 m · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 1.1 m · Opening height, average 1.3 m · Frame set back from the old wall face 0.1 m · Insulation thickness 0.1 m · Impact mesh height at ground level 2 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.

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 External wall insulation (EWI, EIFS) takeoff runs the same calculators on the same measurements and shows what sits under each line here.

Open the takeoffEvery quote check

  • 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 external wall insulation job need?
It depends on the measurements, so this page asks for yours. At the size it opens on — Front wall length (the back wall the same) 10 m · End wall length, each 7.5 m · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 5 m · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 2.5 m · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 1.1 m · Opening height, average 1.3 m · Frame set back from the old wall face 0.1 m · Insulation thickness 0.1 m · Impact mesh height at ground level 2 m — the lines come to: Adhesive bonding the boards to the wall, 561–645 kg; Anchors (mechanical fixings) through the boards, 1,250 fasteners; Reinforcing mesh (glass fibre), in rolls, 5 rolls; Impact mesh at ground level, 70–80.5 m²; Movement joints, 2 expansion joints; Render finish coat (silicone, acrylic or synthetic stucco), 20–22 pails; Mastic (caulk) round the frames, 7–8 tubes; Skip (dumpster) for offcuts and packaging, 2.69 m³. In imperial units — Front wall length (the back wall the same) 33 ft · End wall length, each 25 ft · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 16.5 ft · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 8 ft · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 3.5 ft · Opening height, average 4.5 ft · Frame set back from the old wall face 4 in · Insulation thickness 4 in · Impact mesh height at ground level 6.5 ft — they come to: Adhesive bonding the boards to the wall, 1,253–1,441 lb; Anchors (mechanical fixings) through the boards, 1,225 fasteners; Reinforcing mesh (glass fibre), in rolls, 5 rolls; Impact mesh at ground level, 754–867 ft²; Movement joints, 2 expansion joints; Render finish coat (silicone, acrylic or synthetic stucco), 18–19 pails; Mastic (caulk) round the frames, 7–8 tubes; Skip (dumpster) for offcuts and packaging, 3.62 yd³.
Which line on an external wall insulation quote varies the most?
The Adhesive bonding the boards to the wall: 561–645 kg for a job measured Front wall length (the back wall the same) 10 m · End wall length, each 7.5 m · End walls insulated 2 · Height insulated, starter track to eaves 5 m · Gable height above the eaves, at the apex 2.5 m · Windows and doors in the insulated walls 10 · Opening width, average 1.1 m · Opening height, average 1.3 m · Frame set back from the old wall face 0.1 m · Insulation thickness 0.1 m · Impact mesh height at ground level 2 m, depending on how much is allowed for loss over the net figure, up to 15%.
What does an external wall insulation quote often leave out?
The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 8 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 14 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.