The problem: a wall line is a length, a stud count is not
- Divide length by spacing and add one and you have field studs, nothing else. Every 90 degree corner adds about three studs, every intersecting partition about two. A plan with twenty corners and fifteen tees carries roughly ninety studs that formula never produced.
- Plates are a multiplier on wall length, and the multiplier depends on the assembly. A single bottom plate with a doubled top plate needs three times the wall length in plate stock. Read it as one and you are two thirds short across the whole job.
- An opening makes material go up, not down. You delete a few field studs and add a header, king studs each end, jacks under each header end, cripples above, and on a window a rough sill with cripples below.
- Load-bearing and non-bearing walls look identical in plan — same line, same hatch — and carry completely different headers, jacks and grades. The difference lives in the structural plan.
There is also the detail that catches sheathing every time: an eight foot wall is not 96 inches of framing. A 92-5/8 inch precut stud with a bottom plate and a doubled top plate finishes at 97-1/8 inches.
How the tool handles it
Each traced line takes a wall type, and the height comes from the wall schedule or the section rather than from the plan. Field studs come from length and spacing; corners and tees are counted from the geometry and added on top, never folded in. Tag an opening and the assembly fires its header, kings, jacks and cripples at the wall's own stud spacing while deducting the field studs it actually displaces.
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 2x6 exterior bearing wall at 16in o.c. condition looks like this:
| Part | Unit | Driven by |
|---|---|---|
| Field studs | EA | (wall LF × 12 ÷ spacing) + 1 for the end stud |
| Corner and tee studs | EA | +3 per 90° corner (2 for advanced framing), +2 per intersecting wall |
| Bottom plate | LF | wall LF, pressure treated on concrete |
| Anchor bolts | EA | plate LF ÷ 6ft max spacing, minimum two per plate section |
| Sill seal | LF | plate LF on concrete |
| Top plate | LF | 2 × wall LF for a doubled top plate — 3× total plate stock |
| Headers | EA | length = rough opening + 3in bearing; size from the code span tables |
| King and jack studs | EA | 2 + 2 per opening as the small-opening default, then check the table |
| Cripples | EA | (opening width in inches ÷ stud spacing) + 1, above header and below sill |
| Wall sheathing | SHEET | wall LF × real height ÷ 32, less large openings |
| Sheathing nails | LB | about 65 per 4x8 sheet at 6in edge and 12in field, ÷ nails per pound |
| Fire blocking | LF | wall LF at each floor and ceiling level, plus per 10ft of height |
| Framing nails | LB | by connection schedule |
| Blocking | LF | by wall height and fire-blocking requirement |
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.
Height from the schedule, not the plan
One traced line produces the right stud length, plate elevation and sheathing square footage because the wall type carries its height. An eight foot wall and a ten foot wall in the same run stop producing the same number.
Openings add, they do not subtract
Tag a door or window and the header, kings, jacks, cripples and rough sill all appear, with the displaced field studs deducted. The net is almost always more lumber, and the tool shows you that net.
Bare counts, not loaded factors
The 0.75 studs per foot figure at 16 inch centres is bare geometry — field studs only. Some estimating guides publish loaded factors that fold corners and openings back in. Mixing the two over-orders by a quarter to a third, so this tool stays in one convention and says which.
Every number traces back to a mark
When the lumber order is questioned, the takeoff shows the field count, the corner and tee additions, and the per-opening framing separately, so you can see exactly where the pieces came from.
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
A framing package short on plate stock stops a crew mid-wall, and the second delivery costs more than the miscount saved.
$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.