Send us your plans and get back a framing takeoff you can order and bid from — studs, plates and headers counted, joists and rafters by size and length, sheathing by the sheet, and the blocking, hangers and hardware that get left off. Wood and cold-formed metal framing, residential and commercial, in all 50 states.
Your takeoff measures linear feet. Your supplier sells sixteen-foot sticks. We quantify both.
Framing estimating services measure the structural framing on a set of drawings and turn it into quantities a contractor can buy and bid from. That means counts of studs, plates, headers, joists and rafters by size and length, board feet and linear feet of lumber, square feet of sheathing, counts of hangers, straps and fasteners, and — for metal framing — stud and track by gauge and depth. The output is organized so you can apply your own supplier pricing and labor rates and submit a bid.
Framing is a counting trade. Unlike concrete, where a few dimensions produce a volume, a framing takeoff is thousands of individual pieces that have to be identified, sized, counted and grouped. Get the grouping wrong and the material list cannot be ordered; miss the pieces and the labor is wrong. Both failures show up on the same bid.
This page covers rough framing. For the trades around it, see our structural trades estimating hub.
A framing takeoff produces linear feet and board feet. A lumberyard sells boards in fixed lengths — commonly 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 20 feet. The two numbers are never the same, and the gap between them is not a rounding error. It is cut yield, and it is decided by how your member lengths divide into the stock you can actually buy.
A wall plate, taken off the drawing to the inch.
The next stock length up. The 18″ left over is 9.4% of that board, and no amount of careful measuring recovers it.
Take a 40-foot wall with a single bottom plate and a double top plate — 120 linear feet of plate stock. Bought in 16-foot lengths you need eight boards, or 128 linear feet. Eight linear feet is drop before anyone has cut a stud.
This is why a flat waste percentage applied to a total is a guess. Cut yield depends on your actual member lengths, and on a repetitive plan it can be improved by choosing stock lengths deliberately. We report measured quantities and recommended purchase quantities as separate lines, with the allowance between them stated, so you can see the assumption and change it.
The same logic applies to panel goods. A 4×8 sheet covers 32 square feet. A wall 40 feet long and 9 feet tall is 360 square feet, which needs 12 sheets — 384 square feet, or 6.7% cut waste. Walls with many openings waste more, because the cut-outs rarely yield a usable piece. We take sheathing by the sheet and report the area it covers, rather than reporting area and leaving you to convert it.
| Component | What gets measured | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Wall framing | Studs, plates, headers, king and jack studs, cripples, sills, by size and length | EA / LF / BF |
| Floor framing | Joists, rim board, beams, girders, posts, bridging and blocking | EA / LF / BF |
| Roof framing | Rafters, ridge, hips and valleys, ceiling joists, collar ties, outlookers | EA / LF / BF |
| Trusses | Counted and typed from the layout where one is provided | EA |
| Sheathing | Wall, roof and floor panels, by thickness and rating | SHEET / SF |
| Engineered wood | LVL, PSL, glulam and I-joists by depth and series | EA / LF |
| Metal framing | Stud and track by gauge and web depth, plus bridging and clips | EA / LF |
| Blocking and bracing | Fire blocking, draft stops, let-in and strap bracing, backing | LF / EA |
| Connectors and hardware | Hangers, straps, hold-downs, anchor bolts, ties | EA |
| Fasteners | Nails and screws scheduled by type and application | Scheduled |
If the drawings do not support one of these lines, we say so rather than carrying a number we cannot defend.
Every framing member on the drawings, identified, sized, counted and grouped by wall type, level and assembly. Member sizes come from the structural drawings and schedules, not from plan graphics. Part of our wider general estimation services.
The same quantities organized for purchasing: lumber by size and stock length, sheathing by the sheet, engineered wood by series and depth, hardware by part. Suitable for sending to a yard for pricing. We also prepare takeoffs for suppliers and manufacturers.
Bearing and non-bearing walls, interior and exterior, by wall type. Studs at the specified on-center spacing, plus the pieces the spacing does not cover — corners, partition intersections, king and jack studs, headers, sills and cripples at every opening.
Joists, rim board, beams, girders, posts, bridging and blocking, taken by size and span from the framing plan. Engineered joists are identified by series and depth where the plan specifies them, since substitution changes both price and layout.
Stick-framed roofs taken by rafter length and pitch, including ridge, hips, valleys, ceiling joists and collar ties. Where the roof is trussed, we count and type the trusses from the layout and quantify everything around them — bearing walls, blocking, bracing, hangers and sheathing.
Dimensional lumber and engineered wood for platform and balloon framing. Lumber is reported by member size and length rather than as a single board-foot total, because a board-foot total cannot be ordered.
Cold-formed steel studs and track for interior partitions, soffits, shaft walls and non-bearing exterior framing. Sizes come off the wall-type schedule. Where metal framing carries drywall we hand off at the stud — board and finish are covered under drywall estimation.
Single-family, townhome and multifamily framing, including additions and renovations. Repeat plans across lots are taken once and adjusted per elevation and option. See our residential construction estimating page.
Light-gauge partitions, wood framing in light commercial work, and framing inside tenant improvement scopes. Commercial sets carry wall-type schedules and fire ratings that drive both the framing and the sheathing. See commercial construction estimating.
Reading a metal stud designation. A wall-type schedule entry such as 362S162-33 tells you the member: a 3⅝-inch web, a 1⅝-inch flange, and 33-mil base steel. That information is almost never legible from plan graphics, which is why metal stud quantities go wrong when the schedule is skipped.
| Group | Members | How it is reported |
|---|---|---|
| Studs | Common studs, king studs, jack studs, cripples, corner and partition studs | Count by size and length |
| Plates | Bottom plates, single and double top plates, treated plates at slab | Linear feet, converted to stock lengths |
| Headers and beams | Dimensional headers, built-up beams, LVL, PSL, glulam | Count by size, length and series |
| Floor members | Joists, I-joists, rim board, girders, posts, bridging | Count by size, depth and span |
| Roof members | Rafters, ridge boards, hips, valleys, ceiling joists, collar ties | Count by size and developed length |
| Trusses | Roof and floor trusses, counted and typed from the layout | Count by type — see the scope note |
| Sheathing | Wall, roof and floor panels by thickness and rating | Sheets, with covered area reported |
| Blocking and bracing | Fire blocking, draft stops, backing, let-in and strap bracing | Linear feet or count |
| Metal framing | Studs, track, bridging, clips, by gauge and web depth | Count and linear feet from the schedule |
| Connectors | Joist hangers, straps, hold-downs, post bases, ties | Count by part |
Trusses are designed and quantified by the truss supplier from an approved layout, and the supplier's engineering governs. Where a truss layout is in the set, we count and type the trusses so your bid carries the right number. Where no layout exists yet, we say so and quantify the framing around the trusses rather than inventing a truss package.
Framing uses more units than most trades, and mixing them is the fastest way to a wrong number.
Studs, headers, joists, rafters, hangers, trusses. Pieces are ordered as pieces.
Plates, blocking, track, bracing. Measured along a line, then converted to stock lengths.
The lumber volume unit, used for pricing and comparison. One board foot is 1″ × 12″ × 12″.
Sheathing and panels. A 4×8 sheet covers 32 square feet.
Sheathing coverage and wall area, used for checking rather than ordering.
Metal framing thickness. A 33-mil stud is 0.033 inch of base steel.
Nominal thickness in inches × nominal width in inches × length in feet, divided by 12. A 2×6×10 is (2 × 6 × 10) ÷ 12 = 10 board feet.
Board feet and linear feet answer different questions. Board feet tells you roughly what the lumber costs. Linear feet by member length tells you what to order. A takeoff that reports only board feet cannot be purchased from.
The wall-type schedule says what each wall is made of — member size, spacing, sheathing, rating. Walls are then measured by type, not one at a time.
Linear feet of each wall type, separated by bearing and non-bearing, interior and exterior.
A 40-foot wall at 16 inches on center is 480 ÷ 16 = 30 spaces, so 31 field studs. At 24 inches on center the same wall takes 21. Spacing is read from the schedule, never assumed.
Corners, partition backers, and at every opening the king studs, jack studs, header, sill and cripples. This is where piece counts jump.
Bottom plate plus top plates by wall type, then converted into buyable lengths with the drop reported.
Joists and rafters from the framing plans, at developed length for sloped members, with hangers counted against them.
Cut waste follows the wall and roof geometry rather than a flat percentage.
Studs per linear foot of wall, board feet per square foot of floor area, and hanger count against joist count — three checks that catch most mistakes before anything leaves the office.
Two walls can carry nearly the same board footage and take very different amounts of time to frame. Board feet measures volume of wood. Framing labor follows the number of pieces that have to be cut, positioned and nailed.
A 10-foot wall at 16 inches on center: nine studs, plus three plate runs. Straightforward to lay out, cut and stand.
Add two king studs, two jack studs, a built-up header, a sill and a stack of cripples above and below — while the board footage barely moves, because the cripples come out of the studs the opening displaced.
The same 40-foot wall drops from 31 studs to 21 when spacing goes from 16 to 24 inches — where the structural design allows it.
The consequence is practical. A heavily fenestrated elevation, a plan with many short walls, or a layout full of partition intersections costs more to frame per square foot than an open plan of the same size — and a bid built from board feet alone will not show it. We report piece counts alongside material quantities, grouped by assembly, so the labor driver is visible rather than buried in a lump sum.
| Document | Needed | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural floor plans | Required | Wall layout, dimensions, openings |
| Structural / framing plans | Required | Member sizes, spans, bearing, framing direction |
| Wall-type schedule | Required | Member size, spacing, sheathing, ratings |
| Elevations and sections | Strongly preferred | Wall heights, plate heights, roof pitch |
| Door and window schedules | Strongly preferred | Opening sizes, which drive header and cripple counts |
| Header and beam schedules | Strongly preferred | Sizes and series; plans alone are not enough |
| Roof framing plan or truss layout | Strongly preferred | Rafter or truss arrangement |
| Specifications and general notes | Strongly preferred | Species and grade, fastening, sheathing, treatment |
| Addenda and revisions | Send all | Scope changes that alter quantities |
PDF sets are fine and are what we receive most often. CAD files or a model speed the work and reduce interpretation if you have them. Not every project has every document — if part of the set is missing we will tell you what the gap means for the estimate rather than filling it in silently.
The Associated General Contractors of America reports lumber and plywood prices up 8.3 percent in the year to August 2026, with inputs to new residential construction up 7.8 percent and sheet metal products up 6.8 percent. On a bid with a long validity period that is a real exposure.
We do not publish a national framing cost per square foot, because no such figure would be honest. The same house framed in two markets, by two crews, with two lumber suppliers, in two seasons, produces different numbers — and per-square-foot rates hide the thing that actually varies, which is piece count and member size. What we provide is the quantity set and the cost structure; the rates that go with them are yours and your suppliers'.
The most straightforward part: lumber by size and stock length, sheathing by the sheet, engineered wood by series, hardware by part number, fasteners scheduled by application. These come off the quantities directly and can go to a yard for firm pricing.
Organized by operation rather than by member: layout, wall build and stand, floor system, roof framing, sheathing, blocking and bracing, and hardware installation. Each scales with a different quantity — which is why a single labor rate applied to board feet does not survive contact with a complicated plan.
Usually modest but not zero: lifts for tall walls and multifamily work, a crane or boom for setting trusses and beams, compressors and guns. Most of it prices as mobilization plus time, so the number of truss or beam sets matters more than total tonnage.
We quantify all three and identify the assumptions. We do not apply your labor rates or equipment costs — those are yours, and substituting a published average for them would make the estimate less accurate, not more.
A framing takeoff is the measurement: how many studs, plates, headers, joists, rafters and sheets the drawings contain. A framing estimate adds cost — labor hours, production rates, supplier pricing, equipment, and the waste and cut-yield allowances that turn measured quantities into a bid number. The takeoff is the input; the estimate is the output.
| Takeoff | Estimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What is on the drawings? | What will it cost to build? |
| Output | Counts and quantities by member and assembly | Priced quantities, by operation |
| Depends on | The drawings | Drawings plus rates, supplier pricing and method |
| Transfers between contractors | Yes — a stud count is a stud count | No — rates are company-specific |
| Changes with the lumber market | No | Yes |
Many framing contractors want the takeoff and nothing more, because their own rates and supplier pricing beat any published figure. Others want the full priced estimate. We provide either, and the takeoff is what we always provide. For the wider picture, see construction cost estimating services.
| Who | Why |
|---|---|
| Framing subcontractors | Bid their own scope with piece counts and an orderable material list, without a full-time estimator |
| General contractors | Carry framing inside a larger bid, or check a sub's number before relying on it |
| Home builders and developers | Budget framing across repeat plans and lots before the set is final |
| Light-gauge and metal stud contractors | Stud and track quantified by gauge and depth from the wall-type schedule |
| Lumberyards and component suppliers | A material list organized for quoting a package |
| Preconstruction teams | Overflow capacity when several bids are due in the same week |
Upload the architectural and structural sets, schedules, specifications and any addenda. PDF is fine.
We review the documents and send a fixed-fee quote, typically within about two hours. No fee is charged until you approve it.
Wood only, metal only, or both; takeoff only or a full priced estimate — agreed in writing, and we work to your bid date.
Member sizes, spacing, sheathing and ratings established before any measuring starts.
Members identified, sized, counted and grouped by assembly, level and wall type.
Linear feet converted to stock lengths, sheathing to sheets, with allowances shown as separate lines.
Ratio checks, and a second estimator reviews before anything is sent.
24 to 72 hours depending on project size and scope. Excel files, marked-up plans and a PDF summary, and we answer questions on the numbers after delivery.
The marked-up plans matter more than they sound. A quantity you cannot trace back to a drawing is a quantity you cannot defend when the general contractor asks.
We work in Bluebeam Revu, PlanSwift, STACK and Trimble, and reference RSMeans cost data where published rates are useful as a benchmark rather than a substitute for your own pricing.
On automated takeoff, which is now heavily marketed: software counts well and decides nothing. It can trace a wall line faster than a person. It cannot tell you that the header schedule governs over the plan dimension, that a wall type changes at a fire separation, that the architectural and structural sets disagree about a bearing wall, or that a 14-foot 6-inch plate is going to come off a 16-foot stick.
Wall types established before measuring. Member sizes from schedules, never plan graphics. Architectural and structural sets reconciled, with disagreements flagged rather than resolved silently.
Ratio checks before delivery, openings reconciled once against the schedules, allowances kept visible, revisions tracked, and a second estimator reviews.
A fixed fee per project, quoted after we review your drawings — typically within about two hours.
Starting fixed fee for residential work.
Typical range for a single-trade commercial takeoff on a mid-size project.
Full multi-trade commercial construction cost estimates.
No fee is charged until you approve the quote. The fee depends on the size of the drawing set, the complexity of the plan, the scope you need and the deadline. We quote per project rather than per hour, so you know the cost before committing, and the quote does not change unless the scope does.
A bid has a date, and the estimate has to arrive with enough time left to price and review. We work to the bid date, not to our own schedule.
A low number is not a strategy. A bid below the cost of the work wins the job and loses the money. Accurate quantities let you bid tight because you are not carrying protective contingency where it is not needed. They do not let you bid low and survive it.
Edge Estimates has worked in construction estimating since 2016, with offices in Los Angeles and Dallas, and we take on framing estimating work in all 50 states.
Availability differs by region, and the specified species may not be what is economically available locally.
Seismic and wind requirements change shear wall extent, hold-down counts and fastening schedules — real quantity differences, not price differences.
Moves with freight distance and local supply.
We address these from the documents and the specification, and where a local factor materially affects your quantities we say so.
They measure the structural framing on a set of drawings and turn it into quantities you can order and bid from — stud, plate, header, joist and rafter counts by size and length, sheathing by the sheet, hardware by part, and for metal framing, stud and track by gauge and depth.
Lumber grouped by member size and stock length, sheathing by the sheet, engineered wood by series and depth, connectors and hangers by part, and fasteners scheduled by application. The grouping matters as much as the total: a list organized by size and length can be quoted by a yard, and a single board-foot figure cannot.
A takeoff is the count; an estimate is the count with money attached. Takeoffs transfer between contractors because a stud count is a stud count. Estimates do not, because labor rates and supplier pricing are specific to your business. Many framers want the takeoff only, for exactly that reason.
Yes, and reported two ways: board feet for pricing and comparison, and member size with stock length for purchasing. Both are needed, because board feet tells you roughly what the package costs and stock lengths tell you what to actually order.
All three. Wall framing by wall type with openings resolved, floor framing by joist size and span with hangers counted, and roof framing by rafter length and pitch — or by truss count and type where a truss layout is in the set.
We count and type trusses from an approved truss layout when one is provided. We do not design trusses or produce a truss package — that is the truss supplier's engineering, and their layout governs. Where no layout exists yet, we say so and quantify the framing around the trusses rather than guessing at a truss count.
Yes — cold-formed steel stud and track for interior partitions, soffits, shaft walls and non-bearing exterior framing. Sizes come from the wall-type schedule rather than plan graphics, because a designation such as 362S162-33 carries the web depth, flange width and steel thickness that the drawing itself will not show you.
It is a cold-formed steel member designation. The first number is the web depth in hundredths of an inch, so 362 is 3⅝ inches. The S marks a stud or joist section, as opposed to T for track. The 162 is the flange width, 1⅝ inches. The 33 is the base steel thickness in mils, so 0.033 inch.
Architectural floor plans, structural or framing plans, and a wall-type schedule are the minimum. Elevations and sections, door and window schedules, header and beam schedules, a roof framing plan or truss layout, and the specifications all improve the result. Send any addenda. PDF sets are fine.
Yes, and that is what we receive most often. CAD files or a model speed the work and reduce interpretation if you have them, but they are not required.
Field studs come from the wall length and the specified on-center spacing — a 40-foot wall at 16 inches on center is 480 divided by 16, plus one, so 31 studs. Then you add what spacing does not cover: corners, partition backers, and at every opening the king studs, jack studs, header, sill and cripples. The additions are often where the real count lives.
A board foot is a lumber volume unit equal to a piece 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 12 inches long. The formula is nominal thickness in inches times nominal width in inches times length in feet, divided by 12. A 2×6×10 works out to 10 board feet.
Because lumber is measured in linear feet but sold in fixed stock lengths. A 14-foot 6-inch plate comes off a 16-foot board and leaves 18 inches of drop — 9.4 percent of that stick. The same applies to sheathing, which is sold in 32-square-foot sheets. We report measured and recommended purchase quantities as separate lines so the allowance is visible and you can change it.
There is no single right number, which is why we report cut yield rather than applying a flat percentage to a total. Waste on framing is driven by how your member lengths divide into available stock lengths and by how cut up the walls are — two projects of the same size can differ substantially. Your own history on similar plans is better data than any published figure.
Piece count more than area — openings, short walls and partition intersections drive labor without adding much material. Then on-center spacing, wall height, species and grade, engineered wood content, roof geometry, sheathing and rating requirements, and metal gauge. Market pricing matters too: AGC reports lumber and plywood up 8.3 percent in the year to August 2026.
Yes. Labor is organized by operation — layout, wall build and stand, floor system, roof framing, sheathing, blocking, hardware — with production-rate assumptions stated. We do not apply your labor rates, because substituting a published average for your actual rates makes the estimate less accurate rather than more.
Send addenda and revisions as they arrive and we update the affected quantities, rather than reissuing a different total without explanation. On framing this matters more than on most trades — a changed wall type or window schedule can move stud, header and cripple counts across the whole plan.
Delivery runs 24 to 72 hours depending on the size of the drawing set and the scope requested, and we work to your bid date. Pricing is a fixed fee per project quoted after we review your drawings, typically within about two hours. Residential work starts at $250; a single-trade commercial takeoff on a mid-size project typically runs $300 to $800. No fee is charged until you approve the quote.
Upload your architectural and structural sets, wall-type and opening schedules, specifications and any addenda. We will review the documents and send a fixed-fee quote, usually within about two hours. Nothing is charged until you approve it, and delivery runs 24 to 72 hours depending on the size and scope of the project.