Trade guides
The calculators give you a quantity. These explain the work around it — the order things happen in, the tolerances that matter, and the mistakes that only show up months later.
Each guide carries the relevant calculators inline, so you can work through the numbers where they come up rather than opening a second tab. The methodology pages cover the mathematics behind those calculators; these cover the site work.
A quantity is the easy half. Concrete is ordered by volume and fails by curing; a pavement is priced by tonnage and fails at the joint; an air conditioner is bought by capacity and fails by being too large for the house it was bought for. None of that is visible in the number, and none of it is arithmetic — which is why it lives here rather than on the calculator pages or in the methodology.
What each guide tries to be specific about: the order operations actually happen in, the tolerances that decide whether the next trade can work, the measurement that predicts whether the work lasts, and the failure that shows up a season later rather than on the day. Where a figure varies by jurisdiction, the guide says so and names what governs it instead of publishing a number that would be wrong somewhere.
These are written for people who already work in the trade, so they assume the vocabulary and skip the introductions. They are guidance rather than specification: local codes, the engineer of record and the manufacturer’s instructions govern wherever they differ.
Structure and carpentry11 guides
Carpentry
Building a Timber Deck
A carpenter's walk down the load path of a timber deck — footing, post, beam, joist, board — each member sized by what the one above hands down.
6 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Carpentry
Building Stairs That Pass Inspection
A one-millimetre layout error repeats once per riser, so control the whole flight from a single datum and prove the spread before the inspector arrives.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Mass timber
Building With CLT and Glulam
Mass timber erection is finish work: every CLT panel and glulam beam you set is the ceiling below it, so damage is permanent.
11 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Carpentry
Cutting and Setting Rafters
A carpenter's field guide to rafter layout, treating every plumb, seat and cheek cut as one triangle solved from run and rise.
6 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Structure
Designing a Roof for Snow
Snow does not load a roof where it falls but where wind and slide pile it, so frame the drifts before the field.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Carpentry
Framing a Load-Bearing Wall
A bearing wall read as a load path from the ground up: what the sole plate stands on, and how studs, headers and plates hand weight down.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Structure
Installing a Steel Beam
A steel beam almost never fails in strength — it fails the ceiling underneath, so deflection limits and bearing movement govern the whole install.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Structure
Bolted and Welded Steel Connections
A load-path field guide to steel joints: every bolt, weld, plate and stiffener a force must cross to leave one member and enter the next.
11 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Carpentry
Timber Connections That Carry
Timber members rarely break — their joints do, so this field guide sorts carpentry connections by the way each one actually gives way.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Foundations
Footings, Piers and Frost Depth
Every footing answers to two independent depths — competent bearing and the frost line — and the deeper of the two governs the dig.
8 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Structure
Setting Steel Columns and Baseplates
How a steel column is set true at the top where it buckles and bedded solid at the bottom where it crushes, from anchor layout through final grout.
7 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete and masonry8 guides
Concrete
Building and Bracing Formwork
Formwork pressure follows the rate you fill at, so the pour plan sizes the ties, walers and bracing long before a panel is cut.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete
Curing Concrete in Heat and Cold
Curing is a race between hydration and evaporation, and every measure on a concrete pour either slows one clock or speeds the other.
7 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete
Detailing Rebar: Laps, Hooks and Cover
A concrete field guide to what actually develops a reinforcing bar on site — bond length, hooks, cover and the details that quietly shorten all three.
7 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete
Jointing Concrete Flatwork
Flatwork concrete cracks whether you plan for it or not, so jointing is the trade of choosing the crack line before the slab does.
7 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Masonry
Laying Brick and Block
Every masonry wall is one course repeated: get the unit, its bed, its perpend and its bond right, and the rest is multiplication.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete
Placing and Pumping Concrete
A field guide to moving ready-mixed concrete from truck to formwork with its water-cement ratio, air content and workability still intact.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Concrete
The Master Guide to Pouring a Professional Concrete Slab
A pour told in order, from subgrade compaction the week before to the joints, the cure, and the cracks that appear a month later.
10 sections · 3 linked calculators · last reviewed
Wet trades
Rendering and Plastering a Wall
A coat-by-coat field guide to render and plaster: reading what the background drinks, and keeping every coat weaker and thinner than the one beneath it.
8 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Roof and envelope12 guides
Facade
Installing a Curtain Wall
The mullion carries and the glass rides: a facade install organised around the load path from glass to frame to bracket to slab edge.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Roofing
Installing a Standing Seam Metal Roof
Standing seam panels expand and contract every single day, and every clip, seam and trim detail either allows that movement or fights it.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Cladding
Installing an EIFS Wall System
An EIFS wall fails at its bond lines, not inside its materials, so build the laminate outward and protect every interface.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Cladding
Installing Fibre Cement Cladding
Fibre cement will not forgive a flexed sheet, a blunt blade, a crushed nail head or a drifted reveal — a field guide built around those limits.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Cladding
Installing Siding and the Drainage Plane
Siding is a screen, not a seal: build the wall outward so every drop that gets behind the cladding has a way back out.
9 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Openings
Installing Windows and Exterior Doors
Windows and exterior doors fail at the sill before they fail anywhere else, so build the pan first and work outward from it to the casing.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Building envelope
Insulating a Wall Without Thermal Bridges
Framing is the hole in a wall's insulation: what interrupts the thermal layer on a job site, and what restores it.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Building envelope
Insulating an Attic
Attic heat loss ranked biggest hole first: air leakage, bare gaps, depth, the hatch, ducts, then the eave perimeter.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Roofing
Low-Slope and Flat Roofing
On a flat roof every failure has an address: find where the water stops, then price what it costs in build-up to move it.
9 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Roofing
Shingling a Roof
Shingling judged the way water judges it: every lap, nail and flashing traced from the ridge slot down to the gutter line.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Rainwater
Sizing Gutters and Downspouts
A rainwater run carries only what its tightest point allows, so size the trough, the outlet drop and the leader against one storm.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Building envelope
Balancing Roof Ventilation
Roof intake and exhaust form a single pressure loop — the failures all trace back to one side outrunning the other.
11 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Interiors and finishes10 guides
Interiors
Taping and Finishing to a Level
Levels 0 through 5 are a ladder of coats and scrutiny: what each rung costs, what light exposes, and where a specification should stop.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Interiors
Hanging a Suspended Ceiling
A suspended ceiling is a grid borrowed from structure that never expected it — work upward from tile face to hanger wire to deck.
7 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Interiors
Hanging Drywall
Hanging drywall as a chain of decisions — board direction, joint placement, fastener depth — and what each one costs the finisher later.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Interiors
Installing a Raised Access Floor
A raised access floor is governed by the single loaded caster that crosses it, not by the kilonewtons per square metre on the schedule.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Flooring
Floating Floor Installation
A floating floor is one raft that changes size all year; every gap, break and transition you cut exists to let it move.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Finishes
Laying a Resinous Floor
Resin floors fail at the slab, not the topcoat — read moisture, profile and contamination before any resin is opened.
8 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Flooring
Laying Carpet and Carpet Tile
Broadloom arrives at a fixed width, so seam placement — not room area — drives every carpet and carpet-tile decision on site.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Tiling
Setting Floor Tile
Floor tile is set out before it is set: the first two lines you strike decide every cut, joint and threshold in the room.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Finishes
Marking Out Lines and Sports Courts
A court is a geometry problem that ends in a spray gun: how to set out, prove and record the lines before any paint is mixed.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Finishes
Painting Interior Walls
On interior work the substrate sets the numbers: porosity, adhesion and the old colour decide coverage, primer class and coat count.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Site and groundwork14 guides
Hardscape
Building a Retaining Wall
A hardscape field guide organised around the two ways retaining walls fail: rotating about the toe, and sliding forward on the base.
15 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Stormwater
Permeable Paving and Storage Below It
A permeable pavement is a tank built out of gaps, and every layer from joint aperture to subgrade earns its keep by void ratio.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Sitework
Erosion and Sediment Control
Every erosion and sediment control on a jobsite does one of two things: it slows water down, or it catches the soil that water is already carrying.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Below grade
Draining a Wet Basement
Wet basements are a pressure problem: read the head, relieve it at the slab and footing, and pump only what the relief path actually delivers.
8 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Sitework
Grading a Site for Drainage
Trace every drop from the divide above the pad to the permitted outlet, and size the grade at each transition it crosses.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Sitework
Laying a Gravel Driveway
Angular stone locks and rounded stone rolls — how to build a gravel drive layer by layer so it stays where you put it.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Sitework
Laying Out a Car Park
The vehicle you cannot turn away sets aisle width, stall angle and stall count on a site lot - lay it out from the swept path outward.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Hardscape
Laying a Paver Patio or Drive
A hardscape field guide organised around the load path: the compacted base is the real pavement, and the pavers are only its wearing course.
8 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Demolition
Planning Demolition and Debris Removal
Demolition estimates are drawn in solid volume but paid in loose volume, and the swell factor between them decides how many lorries you book.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Landscaping
Planning Irrigation and New Turf
Matched precipitation rate governs every irrigation zone: group heads by output before layout, then set turf and run times to the rate you measured.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Sitework
Industrial Asphalt Pavement & Sitework Prep
A layer-by-layer read of an industrial asphalt section, from subgrade bearing up to joint density, with traffic loading setting every depth.
10 sections · 7 linked calculators · last reviewed
Below grade
Sealing and Conditioning a Crawlspace
Encapsulating a crawlspace is dew-point work: every liner, foam board and dehumidifier decision either moves a condensing surface out of trouble or leaves it there.
10 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Landscaping
Setting a Fence That Stays Up
A fence is a sail before it is a boundary — here is how wind load decides post depth, bay spacing and infill on a landscaping job.
6 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Excavation
Trench Safety and Support
Soil classification is the design input for every trench — it sets the batter, the bench and the shield, and it changes mid-dig more often than crews expect.
11 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Building services16 guides
HVAC
Balanced Ventilation and Heat Recovery
Air in equals air out: how to set, size, duct, prove and defend the ventilation balance on real HVAC jobs.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
HVAC
Residential Thermal Load Calculation & Design Manual
A component-by-component anatomy of the residential heating and cooling load, and what happens when it meets the equipment catalogue.
12 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
HVAC
Heat Pumps and the Line Set
A heat pump performs at the capacity its refrigerant path allows, not the capacity stamped on the outdoor unit's nameplate.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Electrical
Installing Cable Tray and Containment
Cable tray comes down to two numbers — how full the section is and how far apart it is held — and every field decision trades one against the other.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Heating
Installing Radiant Floor Heating
A radiant floor gives up only what its surface temperature limit allows, and spacing, water temperature and finishes all follow from that cap.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
HVAC
Laying Out Ductwork
The blower table sets a fixed static pressure allowance, and every fitting, filter and flex bend draws on it until the run stops balancing.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Renewables
Planning a Rooftop Solar Array
A rooftop array is sized by the calendar, not the roof: match monthly production against monthly load and design for the months that fall short.
7 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Plumbing
Running Drain, Waste and Vent
Every DWV rule on a plumbing job exists to protect one of two things: continuous fall to the sewer, or free air behind the flow.
7 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Water supply
Private Well Supply and Pressure Tanks
How drawdown volume and pump cycle rate govern every sizing, setting and commissioning decision on a private well water supply.
7 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Pools
Pool Circulation and Water Balance
Turnover time sets pump duty, filter area, pipe size, chemical demand and running cost — size it once, honestly, and the rest of the plantroom follows.
11 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Electrical
Sizing a Branch Circuit
Size a branch circuit the way it actually gets sized: from the appliance nameplate back to the panel, one constraint at a time.
9 sections · 6 linked calculators · last reviewed
Site services
Sizing a Septic Drain Field
Every dimension of a septic drain field descends from one measured percolation rate — how to take it, defend it, and protect it on site.
8 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Electrical
Sizing a Standby Generator
A standby set is sized by the worst starting instant on the panel, not by the tidy sum of running watts.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Plumbing
Sizing Domestic Hot Water
Domestic hot water systems are sized by the worst sixty minutes a building sees, not by the gallons it burns over a whole day.
7 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Gas
Sizing Gas Piping
Sizing a gas system means walking the one route to the most distant appliance and spending its pressure allowance leg by leg.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
HVAC
Venting a Commercial Kitchen Hood
A commercial hood captures only what the replacement air allows, so size the make-up air, then the exhaust, duct and fan around it.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Safety and compliance5 guides
Passive fire protection
Building a Rated Shaftwall
Shaftwall is the one rated assembly built entirely blind — every panel, stud and screw has to land from the corridor side alone.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Accessibility
Building an Accessible Ramp
A ramp is one fixed vertical rise divided among runs, landings and handrails - spend that slope allowance before the first form board goes down.
8 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Passive fire protection
Firestopping Penetrations
Every penetration is a defeat of an assembly that was tested whole — how to name what was breached and install the listed system that puts it back.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Lifting
Planning a Crane Lift
Capacity comes off a load chart written for a level test pad, and the ground under the outriggers has to be built to match it.
8 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Site safety
Edge Protection and Fall Distance
Fall clearance is a budget — free fall, absorber deployment, harness stretch, anchor movement and margin all spend it before the worker stops.
10 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed
Specialist trades2 guides
Fixings
Anchoring Into Concrete and Masonry
Every concrete anchor drags a cone of substrate with it — edge distance, spacing and embedment are all arguments about that cone.
9 sections · 4 linked calculators · last reviewed
Acoustics
Isolating Sound Through a Partition
A path-by-path hunt for flanking on a separating wall, from the perimeter bead to the plenum, before anyone argues about board.
9 sections · 5 linked calculators · last reviewed