Doing an HVAC takeoff

HVAC estimating starts from a number most takeoff tools can't produce: how much air is in each room. CountTooling measures it straight off the plan — then covers the counting and the runs like any other trade.

Room volumes first

The Room Sizer tool turns rooms into floor areas (ft²) and air volumes (ft³) — the inputs for ventilation rates, air changes per hour, and rough equipment sizing.

Set the page scale first (room sizes come from the drawing, so the tool won't start without one), pick the Room Sizer (or press V), and click two opposite corners of a room — a live readout shows the length × width while you move. When the second corner lands, the Room Size dialog opens:

Everything the dialog does is built for doing a whole floor fast:

1. The totals table at the top shows Length and Width read off the plan, the floor area immediately, and the air volume the moment a height is entered — you see the numbers before you commit.
2. Ceiling height takes feet however you'd write them — 9.5 and 9'6 both parse — and heights you've used recently appear as one-tap chips, because most rooms on a floor share a few heights.
3. Add to Room assigns the box to a room — each room in the list shows its running area and volume so far — or + New room creates one on the spot, with its own color.

After Apply, the tool stays armed with your last height and room preselected, so the next room is literally two clicks. For an L-shaped or irregular room, draw it as two or more boxes assigned to the same room — the room's totals are the sum of its boxes. Boxes render in their room's color with name and L×W×H labels, are edited from their right-click menu, and respect scale zones.

Per-room area and volume land in the Rooms sidebar, on the sheet as labels, in the legend, and in a Room Volumes table in the report and email summary. The full walkthrough: Measuring room volumes.

Count the equipment

Make a counter per device — diffusers, grilles, exhaust fans, thermostats, equipment — each with its own icon and color (upload your own symbols to match your schedule). Click each one; the tally rolls up across every sheet. Use groups to subtotal by system or by zone.

Measure the runs

Trace duct and pipe runs with Line and Polyline tools against the page scale — with drops for vertical risers so that footage counts too. Details drawn at another scale on the same sheet? Wrap them in a scale zone . Typical floors? One multiply zone counts them all.

Deliver the numbers

• The legend and Show Report break everything down by type — counts, lengths, and room volumes.
• Export PDF hands over a marked-up plan with the report bundled in.
• Copy Summary drops the numbers into an email; totals are always decimal feet, so they line up across mixed sheets.

For the general workflow end to end, see How to do a takeoff from a PDF.