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Two Ways to Run a Takeoff

Stru produces quantity schedules from your drawings or your model. You define the scope, it does the measuring and tabulating, and you verify the result the way you’d check any estimator’s work. There are two ways to run a takeoff, depending on what you have:

From a drawing set (PDF)

Run a Drawing Review in Quantity Takeoff mode. It reads the sheets and schedules like an estimator would

From a BIM model (IFC)

Ask the BIM Agent. It measures the model’s actual elements and can price against a rate book

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Takeoff from a Drawing Set

1

Put the set in its own project folder

One drawing set per folder: the takeoff covers what’s in the folder. Include the schedules and any specs the quantities depend on. Folder setup is covered in File Management.
2

Enable reviews and launch

Right-click the folder’s row and choose Enable Reviews, then click Launch Review. The full walkthrough is in the Drawing Review guide.
3

Pick Quantity Takeoff mode

In the review dialog, choose the Quantity Takeoff mode card. This mode requires instructions: the brief decides what you get back.
The Confirm Review dialog with Quantity Takeoff selected, a takeoff brief in Additional Instructions, and the price quote
4

Write the scope brief

Tell it exactly what to measure, in what units, with what rules, the way you’d brief a junior doing the takeoff by hand:
Produce a takeoff of all cast-in-place concrete by element type
(footings, walls, columns, slabs) in cubic yards, per level.
Deduct openings larger than 2 sq ft. Rebar tonnage per level
from the schedules. Present as one table per element type.
A good brief covers:
  • What to quantify: elements, systems, or materials
  • Units: cubic yards, tons, square feet, each
  • Deduction rules: what openings or voids to subtract, and the threshold
  • Grouping: per level, per element type, per sheet
5

Confirm the price and start

Takeoffs are priced like any review: per drawing page in scope, shown before you start (Review Pricing). Results land in the folder’s Reviews section, with an email when done.
6

Verify before you use it

Spot-check the output the way you’d check a junior’s takeoff: a few representative quantities measured by hand, the deduction rules honored, the schedule totals cross-footed. Use the Review Agent to interrogate any number: “where did the level 3 slab volume come from?”
A takeoff is only as good as its scope brief. “Take off the concrete” produces something generic; the brief above produces something you can check. Say what to measure, the units, and the deduction rules, every time.

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Takeoff from a BIM Model

Have an IFC model instead of (or alongside) the sheets? The BIM Agent measures the model itself:
1

Start a BIM Agent conversation

Pick BIM Agent in the agent dropdown, select the project folder holding the model, and attach or @-mention the .ifc file (Mentions & Attachments).
2

Ask for the takeoff

Run a quantity takeoff on this model: concrete volume by element
type per level, structural steel tonnage by section size, and
formwork contact area. Flag any quantity that comes from a
bounding-box estimate rather than exact geometry.
3

Get the schedule

The agent returns quantity tables in chat and can export them as a spreadsheet, and it tells you which quantities are exact and which are geometric estimates, so you know where to look closer.
Drawings and a model? Run both and compare: a drawing-based takeoff and a model-based takeoff that agree are worth far more than either alone.

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Next Steps

Drawing Review

The full launch-to-results walkthroughDrawing Review guide

Review Modes

What each mode does, and how to brief itReview Modes & Instructions

BIM Agent

Model inspection, takeoffs, and costingBIM Agent guide

Review Pricing

Per-page pricing, shown before you startReview Pricing guide
Questions? Email support@stru.ai or book a call.