Wall Framing Takeoff

1. Wall settings

Draw the plan instead of typing it

Pick a tool and click on the grid. Wall: click the start, then each corner; a wall chain ends with Finish (or Escape) and ends meeting an existing wall snap to it. Door and Window: click a wall. Move: drag a wall end to move that corner (walls meeting there follow), or drag a wall to slide it; drag a door or window to slide it along its wall, or drag its end to resize it; a move that would crush a wall or strand a door is refused. Erase: click a wall or an opening. Type a length to fix the next wall's length and let the mouse choose the direction. "Use this sketch" fills the walls and openings below (corners, tees, the outside loop and opening positions are worked out from the drawing; heights and headers are defaults to check).

Nothing drawn yet.

2. Walls

"Corner at start" adds corner backing at the start end. "Walls meet at" lists where other walls tee into this one (comma-separated positions), which adds backing there. "Butts into" is optional and used with the corner-lap setting: Front @ 14' means this wall's start ends against wall Front 14' along it (add end for its far end); its cap plate then runs over that wall and that wall's cap is cut for it.

3. Doors and windows (rough openings)

"From wall start" is the left edge of the rough opening. Height is the rough opening height; a window's sill is that far below the header. Leave header height blank to use the default. Plies blank: 2 in a 2x4 wall, 3 in a 2x6 wall.

4. Lumber you can buy

The starting prices are 1 per foot of board, so the order minimises the length bought. Type your lumberyard's prices per board to minimise cost instead. No real price is stated or implied.

5. Takeoff

Also lay out wall sheathing (4 x 8 to 4 x 12 sheets, 1 per square foot) sheets long side along the wall run sheathing past corners rim lap (in)

Also frame a floor under the walls (joists, rim boards, blocking and subfloor sheets; the lumber joins the order)

Also price the foundation (footing, stem wall and slab concrete, trucks, rebar, forms, gravel and vapor barrier; bought separately from the lumber)

Also count interior drywall (inside faces of the exterior walls, both faces of partitions you mark unsheathed, optional flat ceilings; sheets hung in 4 ft courses)

Also count insulation (open wall cavities from the framing placed, less openings; optional rim joist bays and attic loose fill; figures from the bag label)

Also lay out a stair (equal risers under the code limit, notch geometry, stringers and treads, the stairwell opening; a rise over 147 in splits at a landing; the lumber joins the order)

Also frame a deck (ledger or rim, joists, dropped beam, posts, footing concrete, decking rows with joints on joists, hardware; its pressure-treated lumber is its own order)

Also count interior trim (baseboard between doors; casing legs, head and window sill; packed into stock boards; lengths and widths are the trim you buy)

Also count exterior lap siding, house wrap and corner boards (course by course on sheathed walls, openings cut out; the reveal and board length are the siding you buy)

Also count soffit panels, fascia boards and J-channel under the roof overhangs (needs the roof option; counted from the roof's eave and rake overhangs)

Also frame a dormer (gable: cheek studs, rafters, valleys, ridge, header; shed: one flatter plane with a ledger; closed-form geometry from the sizes below)

Also count gutters, downspouts, hangers, end caps and elbows along the roof's eaves (needs the roof option; counted from the roof's eave runs)

Also count nails by connection (stud ends, plates, jacks, headers, sills; sheathing nails when sheathing is on; spacings are typed defaults, not a code table)

Also frame a roof, gable or hip (rafters, ridge, ceiling joists, collar ties, roof sheathing, shingles and felt; the lumber joins the order)

Lumber order

Floor framing

Budget from your prices

Type one price per line as name, number (names: wallSheet, floorSheet, roofSheet, truss, shingleBundle, underlaymentRoll, dripEdgePiece, ridgeBundle, starterBundle, concreteYd, rebarLb, formPlywoodSheet, gravelYd, anchorBolt, plateStrap, drywallSheet, insulationBag, atticFillBag, vaporBarrierSqFt, laborWallFoot, laborFloorSqFt, laborRoofSquare, laborFoundationSqFt, laborConcreteYd, laborDrywallSheet, laborInsulationBag; tax and contingency as fractions, e.g. tax, 0.07). Lumber uses the board prices in the stock table. A quantity with no price is listed and left out of the total. No price is supplied by this tool.

Download budget CSV

Level subcontractor bids

Bids for the same scope rarely count the same. Paste one line per bid line as bidder; item; quantity; unit price (or bidder; item; amount with three fields), using the item names in the budget table above. A bid that is short on a quantity is priced up at its own unit price; scope it left out is priced from the other bids' median or your own price; anything with no price anywhere is listed, never guessed. Nothing is uploaded.

Drywall

Deck

Stairs

Exterior siding

Gable dormer

Gutters and downspouts

Soffit, fascia and J-channel

Interior trim

Insulation

Nails by connection

Build schedule (critical path)

Optional and separate from the wall list. Paste your own schedule as JSON (start, crews, activities with id, name, days, after, crew, lag, and slips), or load the invented example. Durations are working days (Mon-Fri) that you supply; none are shipped. Holidays and weather days you list below are skipped; weather is not forecast.

Holidays (YYYY-MM-DD, comma or space separated)

Weather days the crew will not work (YYYY-MM-DD)

Load example schedule Find the critical path

Foundation

Roof framing

Sheathing

Wall drawing and layout marks

Cut list

Questions

How many studs do I need for a wall?

Lay the wall out rather than divide: one stud at each end, one centred on every 16 inches (or 24) in between, then two king studs and the jacks for every door and window, the backing at corners and where other walls meet, and cripples above headers and under sills. The common rule of one stud per foot of wall is a rough allowance; this tool counts the actual members.

Where does the first stud go when laying out 16 inches on center?

The end stud sits flush with the end of the plate. The second stud's leading edge is at 15-1/4 inches, so its centre is at 16 and a 4 ft sheet that starts at the wall end breaks on the centre of a stud. Every later stud is 16 inches further on. The layout marks here are the left edge of each member, measured from the wall start.

Why is a precut stud 92-5/8 inches long?

A 92-5/8 inch stud with one bottom plate and two top plates of 1-1/2 inches each makes a 97-1/8 inch wall, which leaves room for an 8 ft ceiling sheet plus clearance. Precuts of 104-5/8 and 116-5/8 inches do the same for 9 and 10 ft walls.

How long are jack studs, headers and cripples?

A jack stud runs from the top of the bottom plate to the underside of the header, so it is the header height less 1-1/2 inches. A header is the rough opening width plus 1-1/2 inches for every jack on each side. Top cripples fill the space between the header and the top plate; bottom cripples fill the space between the bottom plate and the rough sill. The tool works each one out from your opening sizes.

Where should top plate joints go?

Over the centre of a full-length stud, and the cap plate's joints away from the top plate's. The International Residential Code (section R602.3.2 in recent editions) asks for end joints in double top plates to be offset at least 24 inches; check the edition your jurisdiction adopted. The tool places every plate joint on a stud and keeps the cap plate joints at least the distance you set from the top plate joints.

How does it choose which board lengths to buy?

It solves a cutting-stock problem for each lumber size over the lengths and prices you list: column generation gives a lower bound on the cost and a near-cheapest order, first-fit-decreasing is kept as a fallback, and small groups are solved exactly. The page shows the order's cost next to the bound, so you can see how close it is to the cheapest possible.

Does it size headers or check the building code?

No. Header size, plies and jack count are inputs. Nothing here checks them against a span table, a load or a code, and nothing here replaces your plans, your engineer or your building department.

Not modelled yet: bracing, rough sills doubled under wide windows unless you set it in a plan file, header spacers, hardware and nails, walls with a window inside the gable triangle, and walls with steps in height. The example house is invented.