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What is a takeoff report?

A takeoff report is a document listing a home's measured areas room by room, stating who measured them and by which principle. It is used whenever area matters in a sale, for contractor quotes, and for ordering materials.

The two kinds of takeoff report

The word "takeoff report" is used for two different documents, and it's worth knowing which one you're being asked for before you order one:

1. Area survey from a licensed surveyor. Here a professional with public authorisation measures the home's area to a fixed standard and issues a declaration. It's used whenever the area carries a legal or financial consequence: in a sale where the area sets the price, for allocation shares in a homeowners' association, for a correction in the public building register, or when buyer and seller disagree on how many square metres changed hands. What you're paying for isn't the tape measure — it's a professional putting their name and liability behind the number.

2. Construction takeoff (quantity survey). Here the quantities a job needs are listed: square metres of floor, square metres of wall to be painted, running metres of skirting, number of doors, m² of tiling, m² of plastering. It's used as the basis for contractor quotes and for ordering materials. It can be produced by the contractor, by a construction consultant — or by you, if you've measured correctly.

What a takeoff report must contain, at minimum

A usable takeoff report, whichever kind it is, contains these points. Miss one of them, and the recipient can't rely on the numbers:

• The measuring principle. Was it measured internally, wall to wall, or is the area calculated to the outside of the exterior walls? The difference is large and systematic.
• Area per room, not just a single total. A total on its own can't be used to order flooring for one room.
• Ceiling height per room, and for sloped ceilings, both ridge and knee-wall height, plus where the slope begins.
• Wall surfaces — gross wall area with deductions for doors and windows, if the report is going to be used for painting or plastering.
• Openings with width and height: doors, windows and passages.
• Date and issuer. A takeoff without a date is worthless if the house has been rebuilt since.
• What wasn't measured. Knee-wall spaces, unheated rooms, garage and basement need to be listed separately or explicitly excluded.

Why the measuring principle is the most important field in the report

Two honest takeoffs of the same house can produce figures 10-15% apart, without anyone having measured wrong. The reason is the principle.

A worked example shows it: a house measures 12.00 m × 9.00 m on the outside. Calculated to the outside face, that's 108 m² — roughly the kind of figure you'll find in a public building register. If the exterior walls are 35 cm thick, the internal measurements are 11.30 m × 8.30 m = 93.8 m². Add that there are 30 m² of interior walls at 10-12 cm thickness, and a further roughly 3 m² disappears from the sum of the rooms' floor areas. The sum of the rooms you can actually walk into thus comes to around 90-91 m² — against 108 m² in the register.

Neither figure is wrong. They simply answer two different questions: how big is the house, and how much flooring do I need to buy. A takeoff report that doesn't say which question it's answering can be used to draw the wrong conclusion.

When do you need a surveyor's report — and when don't you?

You need an authoritative area survey from a licensed surveyor whenever the area determines money or rights:

• Disagreement over the traded area in a property sale, where the area sets the price
• Allocation shares in a homeowners' or housing association
• A correction in the public building register, where the authority asks for documentation
• Boundary and setback questions on the plot — there, the surveyor is the only one who can rule bindingly

Your own takeoff is enough when the numbers are needed to plan and order: flooring, tiling, paint, skirting, kitchen, furniture, heating and initial contractor quotes. Here, nobody pays you for being right — you're paying yourself by hitting the right numbers, and you get there by measuring carefully.

What it takes to take off the home yourself

A self-made takeoff doesn't cost money, but it costs hours and discipline. For a detached house of 140 m² with eight rooms, the order of magnitude is 2-4 hours with a laser measure and a notepad, if you measure every wall at two heights, check the diagonals in every room, and note every opening.

Use an app, and the time shifts from measuring to checking. In HouseSense you scan the rooms with the iPhone's LiDAR, or you draw them with your finger and type in your own measured figures, and the app produces the takeoff for you: floor area and wall surfaces per room, with deductions for doors and windows, gathered into a report you can send to the contractor. What you need to spend time on is checking that the rooms have the right numbers — not adding the numbers up.

A good sanity check, whichever method you use: the sum of the rooms' lengths along a facade should match the facade's internal length plus the thickness of the interior walls. If it doesn't add up within a couple of centimetres, one measurement has gone wrong, and it needs to be found before you order anything.

What to write in a takeoff going out to contractors

If the takeoff is going to be used as the basis for quotes, include three lines that make the assumptions clear:

1. How it was measured: "Internal measurements from finished wall to finished wall, measured with a laser measure on 23 August 2026."
2. What isn't included: "Knee-wall spaces and garage are not included. Ceiling height in the living room varies from 2.35 m to 2.71 m."
3. Who measured it: "Measured by the owner. These figures are not an authoritative area survey, and the contractor is encouraged to verify measurements before submitting a binding quote."

That last line isn't a weakness — it's what lets a professional actually use your numbers. Contractors verify measurements anyway before committing. Your takeoff lets them price the right scope from the start instead of guessing, which is why quotes based on a measured takeoff usually end up closer to the final bill.