Can takeoff software handle different scales on the same drawing?

MarkMetric can. It sets a scale per measurement, not per sheet, so a plan and a section drawn at different scales on one drawing are both measured correctly.

Is there PDF takeoff software for Mac?

Yes. MarkMetric runs in any modern browser, so it works on Mac, Windows, or Linux with nothing to install.

Do I have to measure a known dimension to set the scale?

No — measure against a known dimension for best accuracy, or enter the scale ratio and page size directly when the drawing states them.

Multi-scale cross-drawing takeoff

PDF takeoff software that keeps every scale on the drawing true

Most takeoff tools set one scale for a whole sheet. But a single drawing often carries a plan and a section at different scales — and the moment you measure both off one scale, every figure is wrong. MarkMetric ties a scale to each measurement, not just each sheet, so a plan at 1:100 and a section at 1:50 on the same drawing both come out true, and your quantities carry correctly across the whole set. Measure once, reference everywhere, with the working shown.

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See it in action

A scale on every measurement, not every sheet

Set the scale once, the way the drawing allows. Measure against a known dimension on the sheet — a gridline, a stated dimension, anything you can trust — which is the most accurate way. Or, when the title block states a scale but there’s nothing measurable to calibrate against, set it directly: enter the scale ratio and the page size and you’re calibrated. Either way it’s set once, MarkMetric records which method you used, and everything you then draw is real-world.

The detail or section alongside it, drawn at another scale? Calibrate that the same way, against its own measurements. MarkMetric keeps each measurement’s scale tied to the measurement itself, so nothing is converted in your head and nothing has to be reconciled afterwards.

Because the scale travels with the measurement, your totals are right across drawings as well as within them. Measure a floor on the general arrangement, a wall height on the detail, an area on a plant-room plan issued at another scale — they all sum correctly into one quantity. That is cross-drawing quantification: measure each thing once, reference it everywhere it’s needed.

MarkMetric on a basement detail sheet now calibrated at 1:10, with the Membrane height measurement selected: 3.00 m, marked Captured at scale 1:20 — One sheet, two scales — the detail is now at 1:10, and the membrane height measured at 1:20 still reads 3.00 m.

MarkMetric recalibrating a basement detail from 1:20: the prompt Apply scale to existing measurements?, new scale 1:10, with Use for new measurements only and Apply to all existing measurements — Recalibrate and MarkMetric asks before touching existing measurements — scale stays tied to each one.

Setting the scale directly from the stated ratio and page size when no measurable reference exists — No measurable reference? Set the scale directly from the stated ratio and page size.

MarkMetric on a ground-floor plan calibrated at 1:50 from its 11,000 mm overall dimension: the magenta End snap marker on the end of a wall line, with the line it snaps to highlighted — On CAD-exported drawings, points snap to the drawn lines — here the end of a wall, marked “End” before you click, on a plan calibrated to 1:50 from its 11,000 mm overall dimension.

Quantify the things a measuring tool leaves you to work out

MarkMetric doesn’t stop at lengths and areas. Build derived quantities from what you’ve measured: a wall length times its height for wall area; floor areas added for a total; a named parameter set once and flowed through everything built on it. Quantify ring beams, pile caps, concrete volumes — the figures you’d otherwise rebuild by hand in a spreadsheet. Cut a void — a sump pit, a stair opening — out of an area and it drops straight out of the quantity, so you only allow materials for the area that’s really required. Change a parameter once and everything recalculates.

MarkMetric’s derived quantities: Basement floor membrane 93.50 m² and Basement wall membrane 117.00 m², each with the products assigned to it, beside a basement wall detail at 1:20 — Derived quantities built from what you measured — the 93.50 m² slab for the floor membrane, and the 39.00 m perimeter times a 3.00 m membrane height for 117.00 m² of wall.

MarkMetric’s basement plan with the Plant room area selected and a dashed Sump pit cut-out inside it; the panel reads 17.91 m², 18.72 m² − 0.81 m² of cutouts — Cut the sump pit out and it drops straight out of the floor area: 18.72 m² less 0.81 m² is 17.91 m².

Price it with your own catalogue

A measurement is only half a takeoff. MarkMetric lets you price it with your own materials. Upload your own price list — per supplier, per account holder, per project, however you work. Assign products to your quantities and they become a priced bill of materials: your suppliers, your rates, your wastage and rounding.

And it stays yours. Your projects, measurements, and prices are held locally in your own browser, on your own machine. They are never sent to us. GDL Consultancy cannot see them, cannot store them, and cannot use them. Your rates are commercially sensitive — with MarkMetric they never leave your computer.

More on pricing every job on your own rates →

Exported Excel bill of materials with products, packs, quantities and totals — Your catalogue, your rates — exported as a priced bill of materials.

Every figure shows its working

Export to Excel and the workbook sets out each measurement, the drawing it came from, and how every total was built — so a checker, a client, or your future self can follow each number, line by line. Export the marked-up PDF and your measurements sit back on the drawing, exactly where they were taken, each sheet marked with its own scale. A clean, defensible record of precisely what’s been allowed for, and where.

Excel bill by quantity showing area times wastage divided by coverage, rounded up to packs — Every total shows its working — area × wastage ÷ coverage, rounded to packs.

Excel measurements sheet linking each measurement across drawings to the quantities it feeds — Each measurement, its source drawing, and the cross-drawing quantities it feeds.

What a takeoff tool should let you do

Worth checking before you buy any takeoff software — MarkMetric was built to do these, and little else:

Mark up the PDF properly, and hand that marked-up drawing back to you.
Let you bring your own catalogue and price the work, not just measure it.
Run in your browser, on whatever you use — Mac included, no Windows-only install.
Do one job well: measure a drawing and price the work, without fifty features you’ll never touch.

Who it’s for

If you measure a PDF and price work from it, MarkMetric is for you. Quantity surveyors and estimators. Small builders pricing their own jobs. Site teams measuring the next phase of works. Waterproofing, roofing, and specialist contractors. Surveyors and tender writers. Material suppliers quoting from a client’s drawings. One tool — because the job is the same across all of them: measure once, price it, show the working.

MarkMetric is a one-time £495 lifetime licence — no subscription. It runs in your browser, and your data stays on your machine.

Watch the video Get MarkMetric

See the full product overview →

Common questions

Can takeoff software handle different scales on the same drawing?: MarkMetric can. It sets a scale per measurement, not per sheet, so a plan and a section drawn at different scales on one drawing are both measured correctly.
Is there PDF takeoff software for Mac?: Yes. MarkMetric runs in any modern browser, so it works on Mac, Windows, or Linux with nothing to install.
Do I have to measure a known dimension to set the scale?: No — measure against a known dimension for best accuracy, or enter the scale ratio and page size directly when the drawing states them.