The problem: you measure square feet and buy boards
- The conversion runs through actual face width plus the required gap, not the nominal size. A 5-1/2 inch board at a 3/16 inch gap covers 0.474 feet, so every square foot needs 2.11 linear feet of board — and a hidden fastener that sets a quarter-inch gap makes it 2.087 instead. Use the nominal six inches and you are about five percent short.
- Those linear feet then have to come out of 12, 16 and 20 foot stock. A 17 foot run does not come out of a 16 foot board, and the 20 foot board it does come from leaves three feet on the ground.
- Joist spacing is not your choice — the decking manufacturer sets it, and the angle changes it. One manufacturer allows 16 inches on centre for boards laid perpendicular but drops the allowable spacing by four inches at 45 degrees. On a twenty foot deck that is sixteen joists against twenty-one.
- Railing and stairs are counted, not measured. Railing comes as fixed sections, so posts are length divided by span plus corners and terminations. Stairs come off total rise on the elevation, which sets risers, treads, stringer length and whether a landing is required.
A diagonal or picture-frame layout raises waste and adds framing the plan never draws — blocking rows every four to six feet, and doubled joists at butt joints where certain clip systems are used.
How the tool handles it
Plan area converts to linear feet using the actual face width and the gap your specified fastener produces, then the tool solves for the best mix of 12, 16 and 20 foot boards and shows where butt joints land. Change the decking from perpendicular to 45 degrees and the joist count moves with it, because the allowable spacing does. Deck height drives post lengths, footing sizes, guard requirements, riser and tread counts, stringers and the second railing system on the stairs.
One trace, the whole material list
A condition is a named, colored layer you trace on the drawing. An assembly turns that one condition into every part it drives, each with its own formula, coverage rate, waste percentage and rounding rule. A Composite deck, boards at 90 degrees condition looks like this:
| Part | Unit | Driven by |
|---|---|---|
| Decking boards | EA | deck SF × LF-per-SF for your gap, ÷ board length, rounded up |
| Floor joists | EA | (deck width in ÷ max spacing) + 1 — spacing set by the decking and its angle |
| Ledger, beam and rim | LF | house-side, parallel dimension × plies, open perimeter |
| Ledger fasteners | EA | 1/2in lag or through-bolt at the code spacing for the joist span |
| Ledger flashing | LF | ledger LF |
| Lateral-load hold-downs | EA | 2 devices at 1,500 lb, or 4 at 750 lb |
| Posts and footings | EA | (beam LF ÷ allowable beam span) + 1; footing size from tributary area |
| Joist hangers | EA | one per joist end landing on ledger or beam face |
| Hidden fasteners | BOX | deck SF ÷ box coverage — published at 16in o.c., about 25% less area at 12in |
| Railing sections | EA | guarded edge LF ÷ section span, wherever the deck is over 30in above grade |
| Railing posts | EA | sections + 1 per run, plus one at every corner and termination |
| Balusters | EA | by section length and rail type |
| Stair stringers | EA | max(3, stair width ÷ 18in + 1), minimum 2x12 |
| Treads and risers | EA | risers = total rise ÷ max riser; treads = risers − 1 |
| Build labor | HR | deck SF ÷ production rate |
| Stair handrail | LF | stair run, required at four or more risers |
| Post bases | EA | post count |
| Footing concrete | CY | footing count × volume each |
Change a coverage rate, a waste percentage or a unit cost and every job using that assembly re-prices. You are not editing numbers in twelve places.
Board-length optimization, not just area
The tool converts area to linear feet at the real gap, then solves for the best mix of 12, 16 and 20 foot boards and shows where butt joints land — because a joint that lands wrong costs a whole board.
The layout drives the framing
Change the decking to 45 degrees and the joist count changes with it, since the allowable spacing tightens. Picture framing adds border support, and blocking rows come along automatically. The pattern you pick drives the lumber bill.
Clip coverage is quoted at 16 inch centres
Hidden fastener boxes publish their coverage at 16 inches on centre. Clips go one per joist crossing, so tightening to 12 inches for a diagonal raises the clip count by about a third for the same deck area.
Every number traces back to a mark
When a board order is questioned, the takeoff shows the gap used, the resulting linear feet per square foot, and the board-length mix that produced the count — including where the butt joints fall.
Every number on the report links back to a specific mark, on a specific sheet, at a specific place on the page. The marked-up PDF export draws every mark in its condition color with the quantity labeled — that is the file you attach to the bid.
Accuracy is held to a stated tolerance: linear measurements within 0.10% of true, straight-sided areas within 0.25%, and calibration repeatable within 0.20% across five separate calibrations of the same page. Geometry is stored in PDF units, never screen pixels, and rounding happens exactly once — at report time.
What it costs
Composite decking is expensive and comes in fixed lengths. Ordering against the wrong gap is a three percent miss, and three percent of a composite deck is real money.
$2,500, paid once. Nothing in year two. Nothing in year three. No per-seat bill and no renewal date.
| Estimators using it | A per-seat subscription, five years | Ours, one-time licence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,745 – $10,000 | $2,500 |
| 2 | $17,490 – $20,000 | $2,500 |
| 3 | $26,235 – $30,000 | $2,500 |
| 5 | $43,725 – $50,000 | $2,500 |
Their column multiplies by headcount and then repeats every year. Ours does neither. Put a fourth estimator on it and the number is still $2,500, because you are not licensing seats — you are buying the software.
And it does not repeat
| Whole company | Per-seat subscription, billed that year | Ours, billed that year |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $2,500 |
| Year 2 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 3 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 4 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
| Year 5 | $1,749 – $2,000 × seats | $0 |
What you actually receive
- The source code. Not access to it — a copy of it, running on your infrastructure.
- A one-time perpetual licence. It does not expire, it cannot be revoked, and there is no renewal date in your calendar.
- No seat count. Put every estimator in the company on it. There is no user tier to outgrow and nothing that counts logins.
- No dependence on us. Sixty days of support are included. After that you can hire any developer to change it, because you have the code. Most vendors cannot make that offer, because with them you are renting.
Subscription figures are publicly reported PlanSwift prices from software review sites, shown as a representative example of per-seat takeoff pricing. Check any vendor's current pricing directly before you compare. See the full PlanSwift comparison.
What is being built next
- DXF and DWG import is in active development. Today the tool reads PDF. If your drawings arrive as CAD files, ask on the call and we will give you honest timing rather than a guess on a web page.
- Auto-count symbol recognition — box a symbol once and find every match on the sheet — is a later release.
- Multi-estimator assignment, so a supervisor can hand work to specific people, is still being built out.