Nationwide coverage
Client feedback
Reviews from contractors and subcontractors who send us their bid estimates, takeoffs, and shop drawings.
Review summary: Bart needed shop drawings on a tight schedule. The team discussed the project the same day, delivered drawings within a week, and completed minor revisions the following day. He praised their understanding of the scope, quick responses and progress updates.
Bart, BTW Enterprises, INC.
Read reviewReview summary: Ludin appreciated the professional team, their patience and guidance, and recommended BidAccurate for takeoff and shop drawing projects.
Ludin Pierre
Read reviewRead the original reviews on Trustpilot.
View all reviews
Division 05 takeoffs and pricing
Fabricators, erectors, general contractors, and steel suppliers across the US use our structural steel estimating services when they need tonnage they can defend. We read the structural set against the architectural drawings, count and weigh every member, and break out the connection material that a single tonnage figure tends to hide.
Beams, columns, HSS, bracing, plates, bolts, welds, and anchor rods are in the takeoff by default. Joists, deck, stairs, rails, and misc metals are different. Those packages get split between subs all the time, so we confirm who carries them before we count them.
We scope each job from the drawings, specs, addenda, and bid form you send. Below is what a typical steel package covers. A fabricator, an erector, and a GC each need a different slice of it, so we set the breakdown to match your bid.
We list each piece by mark, shape, grade, and length, then roll the weights up by level or erection sequence if the drawings give us enough to do it.
Connection material comes off the typical details and connection schedules. Where connections are delegated to the fabricator's engineer, we carry a stated allowance and write down how we sized it.
Need shop pricing? Cutting, drilling, fitting, welding, and coating each get their own lines, so your shop rates land where they belong.
Field hours depend on how the frame goes up. We organize this part by erection sequence, site access, and whether connections are bolted or welded in the field.
Joists, deck, and misc metals often go to a different sub. Once you tell us how the job is split, we include them, leave them out, or carry an allowance.
Units follow how each item is bought or priced. The assumptions behind them are written into the report.
Send the plans, specs, addenda, and bid date, plus any pricing you want used. We'll look over the Division 05 scope and tell you what we'd measure and how we'd report it.
Request Your Steel Takeoff
We read the structural set alongside the architectural details, specs, and addenda. Lintels, canopy framing, and roof screen steel often show up there and nowhere on the framing plans.
Your estimator starts from counted members and weighed plates instead of a blank set, and spends the time on pricing.
Material is grouped by shape, grade, and length. That is how a mill or service center wants to see a quote request.
Base plates, anchor rods, shear studs, touch-up paint, and temporary bracing are easy to leave out of a steel bid. We check for each of them before the package goes out.
Measured members are color-coded on the drawings, and every line in the workbook carries a sheet reference.
Send your steel quotes, shop and field labor rates, crane costs, and waste factors. We build the estimate on your numbers, in your bid template.
Frame tonnage is only part of a steel price. Connections, shop hours, coatings, freight, and crane time can move the number a lot, so each one stays on its own line.
Member schedules, sections, and connection notes don't always agree with the plans. We read them as one set and log the conflicts for you.
Group members by mark, grade, level, or erection sequence. Pick whatever matches how you buy steel and price labor.
Plates, stiffeners, bolts, and welds get their own lines. A connection allowance, if we carry one, is labeled as an allowance.
Exclusions and assumptions are listed with drawing references. Your estimator can see why a number is what it is, and change it.
Excel and PDF, organized by your cost codes, bid items, fabrication sequence, or erection zones.
Send the revised set. We compare it with the last one, mark what changed in the steel, and update the takeoff under the revision scope we agree on.
Five steps, from the day you send the drawings to the day you have a steel package you can price and check.
Upload the structural and architectural sets, Division 05 specs, addenda, and bid form. Include the project location, the bid date, and any connection design information you have.
Is it the frame only, or joists, deck, and misc metals too? We settle that with you, along with connection assumptions, alternates, and the report layout.
We take off members, plates, bolts, welds, anchors, and coatings, then sort them into the breakdown we agreed on.
Quantities get checked against sections, details, and specs. Gaps and conflicts go on a list for you to review.
You get the Excel or PDF reports and marked-up drawings. If you asked for pricing, material, fabrication, erection, and equipment costs are in there too.
Send the current set. Tell us if you need quantities only, a fabrication estimate, an erection estimate, or both together.
Start Your Steel Estimate
What you get back
Send the material list out for mill or service center quotes. Use the shop and field breakdown to plan labor, compare alternates, or load the quantities into your own estimating software. We agree on the report layout before we start.
Shapes, grades, lengths, piece counts, and weights. Plates, bolts, and anchors are listed on their own.
Plans and details color-coded by level or zone, so you can see exactly what we measured.
Material, shop hours, field hours, cranes, and coatings, priced from your inputs or a basis we agree on up front.
Exclusions, alternates, allowances, and the connection assumptions behind the numbers, all in one document.
Need more than the steel? These services cover quantities, pricing, and drawings for the rest of the job.
Quantities and marked-up plans for the steel package alone or for the whole building.
A full project cost estimate, with steel priced as one division alongside the rest of the work.
Fabrication and erection drawings developed from the approved design documents.
Partner with experienced construction professionals to deliver your project on time along with in budget.
