AutoCAD quantity takeoff: the tools I have, what each one exports, and how it all connects to the model
An AutoCAD quantity takeoff is calculated from the lines, hatches, blocks and texts in the drawing, so it is only as good as the order in the drawing. To work fast without losing the source, I developed an AutoCAD add-in with tools for each kind of quantity: areas and rooms, walls, lengths, counts and export to Excel by floor. I have experience in taking off quantities from AutoCAD drawings for residential buildings, basements and private houses, and this guide goes through the tools group by group. What follows is my own use and experience, not a list of the software's capabilities.
AutoCAD quantity takeoff: what you need before you start
Before measuring, I put the drawing in order: the drawing units, cm or metres; clear layers for walls, flooring and openings; and closed boundaries wherever an area is needed. For a whole building, a frame is created for each floor with the "Create floor frames" button. The default runs from floor minus 3 to floor 7, with a frame of 2,500 by 3,000 cm and a spacing of 100 cm, and the floor name is written automatically. From then on, every tool that exports by floor knows which floor each line belongs to.
The flow in short: drawings → floor frames → measuring tools → an Excel file next to the drawing → bill of quantities (BOQ).
The measuring groups: what each group measures and what it exports
| Group | Sample buttons | What is measured | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantities | "Extract to Excel", "Blocks by floor", "Sketches", "Evidence", "Print floors to PDF", "Clean copy for sharing" | Elements from the selection or from the whole drawing, blocks by floor, a catalogue by floor, layer and colour | An Excel file, numbered sketches with item and description, a PDF page for each floor, a DWG copy without the working layers |
| Measurement log | "Quantity tools", "Measure + log", "Legend D", "Block count" | Measuring in a window by layer and type, foundation areas by the thickness labels, a count by the block's real name | A measurement log as a table file next to the drawing, with a note field for the bill |
| Properties and selection | "Selection info", "Properties panel", "Smart select", "Select inside boundary", "Smart deselect" | Total lengths and areas for each selection, by type and layer; selecting similar objects by their visible colour | A summary on the command line, and the area copied to the clipboard |
| Hatch measurement | "Hatch groups", "Select similar", "Assign codes", "Highlight group" | Areas by layer, pattern, colour, scale and angle; assigning each hatch to a nearby text code | A table file with the groups and their areas |
| More hatch tools | "Hatch to polyline", "Hatch area", "Wall hatch", "Hatch boundary" | Area, the boundary as a polyline, walls by thickness | A table file of walls with length and thickness |
| Rooms and areas | "Detect room", "Multiple rooms", "Detect rooms", "Room count", "Rooms internal data" | A polyline for each room by clicking inside it, including bridging door openings; name, number and area | Labels on the plan, and room data stored inside the polyline |
| Lines and lengths | "Export lines and areas by floor", "Length by layer", "Total length" | Line lengths, hatch areas and wall thicknesses by floor frame, including external references | Excel by floor, read-only from the drawing |
| Walls | "Walls and lines to Excel" | Wall thickness from pairs of parallel lines, with layer filtering and a live preview | Excel, and optional marking on the plan |
| Dimensions, blocks and counting | "Export dimensions", "Sum dimensions", "Count", "Symbol count" | Dimension values; blocks, texts, lines and hatches by floor | A table file or Excel by floor |
| Export to Excel | "Full room export", "Export texts", "Dimensions to Excel", "Rectangle to Excel" | Rooms by physical floor, with duplicates cleaned up and a check against the floor outline from Revit | Excel with a rooms sheet by floor and an area check sheet |
The support groups: import, clean-up and order in the drawing
- References: importing all the drawings, a list to Excel, merging, sorting, and repairing a damaged file only after a backup.
- Area and PDF import: importing PDF and DWG files, importing rooms and the floor outline from Revit, and shading the rooms with a different colour for each room.
- Frame and outline: closing gaps between line ends, and "Drawing check", which finds open polylines and zero-length lines.
- Speed, clean-up and utilities: speeding up heavy files, and merging duplicate lines with a preliminary analysis, a single undo and a log of every deletion.
- Numbering, display and settings: running numbering, a return to 2D, language, a personal ribbon editor, and a chat with AI about the drawing.
AutoCAD's own tools: how I use them
Even without the add-in, AutoCAD has measuring tools that I work with every day. This is how I use them, and where I stop to check:
- AREA: I use it to measure the area and perimeter of a closed boundary or of points I pick, and to add or subtract areas, for example a floor minus a shaft. On an open polyline the software calculates the area as if a straight line closed it, and the perimeter leaves that line out, so I first check that the boundary is closed.
- MEASUREGEOM, DIST and LIST: I use them to check a single object or an enclosed space before I trust a total. The quick measure option does not measure dimensions and hatches, so for me it is a checking tool, not a source for the bill.
- DATAEXTRACTION: I use it to send block counts, lengths and areas to a table in the drawing or to an Excel file, with formula columns and a totals row. In its settings I choose whether objects inside blocks and external references are included, so that nothing is counted twice. Objects in a block inserted with a non-uniform scale are left out of the extraction, and the software says so.
- COUNT and fields: the block count in recent versions flags overlapping blocks, but it does not count objects from external references, texts or hatches, so I compare it with the extraction. A field that shows a polyline's area in a label does not update by itself, and I refresh it before printing.
The constant trap is the units: in a drawing in centimetres the area comes out in square centimetres, while the bill needs square metres, so every file of mine records the drawing units and the conversion. The software's official page: AutoCAD on the Autodesk website. AutoCAD and Autodesk are trademarks of their owner, which has no connection with this site.
Example: walls by floor, from the drawing to Excel
| Floor | Wall lines, m | Wall length, m | Gross area, m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minus 1 | 140 | 70 | 196.0 |
| Ground | 186 | 93 | 260.4 |
| First | 172 | 86 | 240.8 |
| Total | 498 | 249 | 697.2 |
This is what an AutoCAD quantity takeoff looks like after floor frames. The tool finds pairs of parallel lines and calculates the thickness from them. In the example all the lines are paired, so the wall length is half the length of the lines, and the wall area is the length times the height. The height comes from the section, and the openings are deducted later according to the methods of measurement. Every line in the file keeps the floor, the layer and the drawing it came from, as described on the quantity calculation file page.
How it all links to the model
My method: every quantity is recorded together with its source, so that it can be linked to an element in the model or in the drawing. In practice it works like this:
- Rooms and outline from Revit: "Import rooms to polylines" and "Import floor outline" draw the rooms and the floor outline in the drawing as they are in the model.
- Data inside the polyline: "Rooms internal data" stores a name, number, area and level on each polyline, and "Read room data" displays and exports it.
- Check: "Full room export" compares the total of the room areas with the floor outline from Revit.
- Evidence: for each entity an image is saved with a red frame and a stamp of facts: layer, ID, area or length, file and date. The drawing itself does not change.
- On the Revit side: a panel connected to the open model selects and isolates an element by its unique ID.
The rule: a quantity from AutoCAD without a layer, a floor and a source drawing is a number without an address. The tools here are built so that the address is recorded together with the number.
In a DWG drawing, a quantity surveyor checks the layers and the blocks first, because an untidy drawing gives a wrong count whatever the tool.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a description of everything AutoCAD can do?
No. It is how I use AutoCAD and my own add-in in quantity surveying work, and what I have learned from that work. The software's official documentation describes all the commands.
Do you need a model for an AutoCAD quantity takeoff?
No. You can calculate from the drawings alone. When there is a model, the rooms and the floor outline come from it, and checking against the areas is easier. Working with a model is covered on the model quantity takeoff page.
What do you do when the drawing is untidy?
Clean-up comes first: closing gaps, merging duplicate lines and a drawing check. Measuring on a messy drawing gives a number that is hard to explain.
Can the results be split by floor?
Yes, through the floor frames. See also quantity takeoff and BIM model enrichment.
Who works with the tools?
I do, as a quantity surveyor for construction projects. The add-in is my working tool, and every quantity that comes out of it is checked before it goes into the bill.
Have a project? Tell me briefly what the project is and what already exists. When the project is a good fit, I usually reply with focused questions and a written quote.
Contact me for a quote* Created with AI for marketing, for illustration only. Not reviewed by Yaakov Avital and not professional advice. Every project must be checked on its own by a professional quantity surveyor and an engineer.