Guides

Take-off & estimating, explained clearly.

Practical, plain-English guides to measuring off drawings, building an ASAQS bill of quantities, and getting from a PDF to a priced tender — written for South African quantity surveyors.

Take-off
How to do a take-off from a PDF drawing
A step-by-step guide to measuring quantities off a PDF drawing — calibrating scale, drawing conditions, and rolling lengths, areas and counts into a priced bill.
8 min read
Estimating
The ASAQS bill of quantities, explained
What an ASAQS bill of quantities is, how it's structured, and how a priced BoQ comes together — with a plain-English look at trade sections, preliminaries and rates.
7 min read
Fundamentals
Take-off vs estimating: what's the difference?
Take-off and estimating are two different jobs that people often blur together. Here's what each one is, how they connect, and why doing them in one tool matters.
6 min read
Estimating
How assemblies turn your take-off into a priced BoQ
Assemblies (recipes) are what price your quantities. Here's what an assembly is, how the rate library works, and how a measured take-off becomes a priced ASAQS bill.
6 min read
Fundamentals
Moving from spreadsheets to cloud take-off & estimating
Most QSs still take off and estimate in Excel. Here's where the spreadsheet way breaks down, what changes with cloud take-off software, and how to make the switch.
6 min read

Take-off & estimating, explained clearly.

How to do a take-off from a PDF drawing

The ASAQS bill of quantities, explained

Take-off vs estimating: what's the difference?

How assemblies turn your take-off into a priced BoQ

Moving from spreadsheets to cloud take-off & estimating