Doing an electrical takeoff
An electrical takeoff is device counts plus linear footage — receptacles, fixtures, and switches on one side; conduit, feeders, and homeruns on the other. CountTooling does both on the plan itself.
Count the devices
Make a counter per device type — receptacles, switches, fixtures by type, data drops, panels — each with its own color and icon so the sheet stays readable (upload your own SVG symbols to match the fixture schedule). Then click through the sheet; every click is one tally, rolled up across the whole set.
- Groups subtotal by panel, circuit, or area — the breakdown reviewers ask for.
- Quick Keys put your device types on the number row:
1places receptacles,2places switches, and your hands never leave the plan.
Measure conduit and cable runs
Trace runs with Line and Polyline against the page scale. Three details matter for electrical:
- Drops add vertical footage where a run turns up a wall or rises between floors — the footage plan-view takeoffs systematically miss.
- Snap to 45° (
J) keeps traced runs on the horizontal, vertical, and 45° paths conduit actually takes. - Line types per run type — homeruns, branch, feeders, low-voltage — so the totals break down the way you price them.
Typical floors
A high-rise with ten identical floors: count one, wrap it in a multiply zone set to ×10, and every device count and conduit length inside multiplies in the totals — the marks stay clean, the math is automatic.
Deliver the numbers
- The legend keeps live totals on-sheet; Show Report gives the full breakdown by type and page.
- Export PDF produces the marked-up deliverable with the report attached.
- Copy Summary puts a clean text tally in an email; totals are always decimal feet regardless of each sheet's scale unit.
New to the tool? Start with How to do a takeoff from a PDF — the workflow is the same for every trade.