Craft Quantities
Plan & Takeoffs

By trade

Drywall calculators

Drywall is the clearest example of a quantity that produces other quantities. The boards come from the area; the tape, the compound and the screws come from the number of boards and how they meet each other — which is why boarding a ceiling as well as the walls changes the tape figure by less than doubling it.

  • 39Calculators
  • 2Parts of the site

How drywall is measured

Sheets for the boards, linear metres for the joints, kilograms or buckets for the compound, and counts for screws at a spacing set by the framing. A finish level changes the compound figure more than the board format does.

Where drywall sits on this site39 across 2
39

Renovation & Construction7

Materials & Quantities32

What gets left off a drywall order

  • The angle where the wall meets the ceiling: one internal joint, taped once, however much of it is new board.
  • Corner bead and edge trim, which are linear and are ordered separately from the tape.
  • Second and third coats. Compound quantities are quoted per coat, and a level 4 or 5 finish is several of them plus sanding.
  • Access panels, service penetrations and the framing around them, none of which appear in a wall area.

Job takeoffs13

Where dry liners meet the rest of the job: each runs one of these calculators, with every other trade in the same job beside it.

Worked examples4

A real job estimated step by step, with this trade's steps counted.

Comparisons9

Two ways of doing the same work, weighed against each other.

Planners1

Work this trade out from a space rather than from a job.