A construction takeoff service typically costs about $150 to $800 for one trade on a small to mid-size commercial job. Multi-trade takeoffs and large sets run higher, often $800 to $2,500 or more. The fee depends on how many trades you need, how many sheets and spec pages each trade covers, how fast you need it back, and whether the drawings are clean PDFs or scans.
The ranges below come from the price pages and pricing guides that takeoff services publish, read in November 2026. Most services quote per job, so treat these as typical, not fixed.
Typical price ranges
| What you are buying | Typical published price |
|---|---|
| One trade, small to mid-size commercial job | About $150 to $800 |
| One trade, mid-size job | Often $300 to $800 |
| Several trades on one job | Often $800 to $2,500 |
| Small set (under about 20 pages) | Often $150 to $400 |
| Mid-size set (about 25 to 75 pages) | Often $400 to $900 |
| Large set | $900 to $2,500 and up |
| Freelance estimator, hourly | Often about $7.50 to $30 an hour, with hourly rates across the market running up to about $75 |
| Rush turnaround | Typically a 20% to 50% premium |
| Monthly plan or retainer | Typically 20% to 40% less per takeoff than one-off pricing |
Turnaround is part of the price. One trade in 24 to 48 hours is what most services advertise. Multi-trade jobs typically take 48 to 72 hours.
How takeoff services price their work
Per trade or per project
This is the most common model. You send the bid set, the service looks at it, and you get a fixed quote for each trade or for the whole job. It is simple to budget. The catch is that the quote is set by someone's read of the set, so two jobs that look alike to you can be priced differently, and you often don't know why.
Per page or per sheet
Per-page pricing is rare: none of the price pages we read publish a per-sheet rate. It ties the fee to something you can count yourself: the sheets the takeoff works from. The fee is known before anyone opens the set, and it scales with the work. The thing to check is what counts as a page. If every sheet in a 300-page set counts, the fee balloons. If only the sheets for your trade count, it stays small.
Per hour
Hourly pricing is common with freelancers and some offshore firms. The rate looks low, but you don't know the total until the work is done, and the hours depend on the estimator's speed and how carefully they check. Ask for a not-to-exceed figure.
Per square foot or per item
Some services price by the building's square footage, and a few specialists price per item counted, such as per electrical device or per light fixture. Per-square-foot pricing suits area trades on simple buildings. It fits poorly when a small building has a dense set, or when your trade is a count trade like doors or Division 10.
Monthly plans and subscriptions
Contractors who bid every week often take a monthly plan: a set number of takeoffs a month for a fixed fee, with a lower price per takeoff. Check how a "takeoff" is defined in the plan (one trade? any size set?), whether unused takeoffs roll over, and what extras cost.
What drives the cost of a takeoff
- Number of trades. Each trade is its own count, with its own sheets and spec section. Under per-trade pricing, three trades cost roughly three times one.
- Size of the set for your trade. A flooring takeoff on a three-story clinic touches every floor plan, the finish schedule and several spec sections. A window film takeoff on the same building may only need the elevations, the glass schedule and one spec section.
- Drawing quality. Scanned sets cost more. Text can't be searched, the scale is harder to confirm, and small marks get lost. At least one service doubles its price for raster or dark-background sets.
- Turnaround. Rush work typically carries a 20% to 50% premium.
- Complexity. Rated openings, pairs and electrified hardware on a door job, or seismic bracing on a ceiling job, all take longer to count and check.
- Addenda and revisions. Some services include revisions and addendum updates. Others charge for each one, for example a flat fee for an overlay comparison against the new sheets. Addenda arrive close to bid day, so this matters.
- Deliverables. A total on a page is cheap. An editable workbook, a marked-up set, scope language and a list of GC questions take more work and save you more.
What to ask before you hire a takeoff service
- What exactly is included in the fee? Workbook, marked-up sheets, scope inclusions and exclusions, GC questions, field-verify list.
- How is each quantity checked? Ask whether items are counted a second time by a different method, and what happens when the two counts disagree.
- Does each line say where it came from? Schedule row, written dimension, or scaled drawing. If you can't trace a number to a sheet, you can't check it.
- How is the scale confirmed? A title block scale is not proof. Ask if each sheet's scale is checked against its own written dimensions.
- What happens when an addendum comes out? Is the update included, and up to when?
- When does the clock start? "48 hours" from a phone call and "48 hours from complete documents" are different promises.
- What won't you take off? A service that says no to some trades is telling you where its method stops.
- What happens to my drawings? Ask how long they are kept, who sees them, and whether they are used for anything besides your takeoff.
- How do you measure accuracy? Many services advertise accuracy percentages, and none of the price pages we read explain how they were measured against a known answer. Ask.
The cheapest takeoff is rarely the cheapest bid. A missed room of flooring or a hardware set applied once to a pair costs more than any fee difference between services.
Where Countersheet's pricing sits
Countersheet prices each trade by the pages the takeoff works from: the drawing sheets for that trade plus that trade's spec pages. Sections for other trades don't count, even when they sit in the same file. We tell you the page count and the fee by email before any work starts, and you pay by card or bank through Stripe.
| Pages for the trade | Fee per trade |
|---|---|
| Under 5 pages | $139 |
| 5 to 9 pages | $179 |
| 10 to 24 pages | $279 |
| 25 to 39 pages | $349 |
| 40 pages or more | Quoted when we see the set |
For example, an acoustical ceiling takeoff that works from 8 plan and RCP sheets plus 4 spec pages is 12 pages, so $279.
For contractors who bid every week there are monthly plans: 3 takeoffs a month for $449, 6 for $799, or 12 for $1,499. On a plan, one takeoff is one trade under 25 pages, and a bigger one counts as two.
Your business's first takeoff is free: one trade, a set under 25 pages, the full package. Every takeoff comes back in 48 hours from complete documents (the plans, the specifications and every addendum so far), and faster on request when we can. Revisions are free until bid day, plus one addendum.
Those prices sit at or below the typical per-trade range above. What you get for them: every item counted twice by independent methods, every quantity tied to its source, the scale of each sheet checked against its written dimensions, and anything the drawings don't show listed for field verification or as a GC question. The package is a report, an Excel workbook, a CSV and the marked-up sheets. Drawings are used only for that takeoff and deleted 30 days after the bid date.
See the full pricing, browse the trades (for example window coverings or Division 10), or request a takeoff and we'll reply with the page count and the fee. If you're new to outsourcing, what a construction takeoff is covers what a good package should contain.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a construction takeoff cost per trade?
Published prices typically run about $150 to $800 for one trade on a small to mid-size commercial job. Larger sets and multi-trade jobs cost more, often $800 to $2,500. Countersheet charges $139 to $349 per trade by page count, with sets of 40 pages or more quoted.
Why do some takeoff services charge by the page?
Page-based pricing ties the fee to something you can count yourself, so you know the price before work starts. It works best when only the pages for your trade count. Countersheet counts the drawing sheets plus that trade's spec pages and leaves out sections for other trades.
Do rush takeoffs cost more?
Usually. Rush turnaround typically carries a 20% to 50% premium across the market. Countersheet's standard turnaround is 48 hours from complete documents, and faster on request when the schedule allows.
Are revisions and addenda included in the price?
It depends on the service. Some include revisions and addendum updates, others charge for each one. Countersheet includes revisions until bid day and one addendum in every takeoff.
Is a monthly takeoff plan worth it?
If you bid most weeks, usually yes. Monthly plans typically cost 20% to 40% less per takeoff than one-off pricing. Check how a takeoff is defined in the plan, whether unused takeoffs roll over, and what extra takeoffs cost.