Remote quantity takeoff: measuring a project abroad from a model, and what pricing there needs
Remote quantity takeoff for a project outside Israel is a question that comes up for developers and design offices that also build abroad: can a project in the United States or the United Kingdom be measured from here? A takeoff from a Revit model or from drawings crosses any border, because it is geometry and rules of measurement. Pricing is a different story: it rests on local prices, local wages and local rules. This page explains what travels, what does not, and what is needed so that a measurement made here can serve a project built there.
What travels: remote quantity takeoff from a model or drawings
Measurement is the same everywhere: lengths, areas and volumes, under rules that define what is measured and how. A Revit model or an IFC file of a project abroad opens here exactly like a model of a project in Israel, and drawings are measured like any drawing. What changes is the rules. In the United Kingdom, detailed measurement for bills of quantities commonly follows the RICS New Rules of Measurement (NRM2). In the United States, estimates are often organised by the CSI MasterFormat divisions, and contractors usually prepare their own takeoff from the drawings. In Israel the work follows the general specification and its rules of measurement. So before starting, agree with the client which rules apply and which units: metric, or the imperial units used in the United States. The differences between the systems are on the page methods of measurement in Israel and worldwide.
A model is still not a bill of quantities. Even a good model has walls that are joined wrongly, double floors and elements with no material, so every quantity is checked against the drawings. The Revit behaviours that distort quantities are on the page quantities from a Revit model.
What does not travel: local prices, wages and rules
The price of work is built from wages, crew productivity, material prices and what local regulations require. None of these moves from Israel to another country: Israeli price lists do not apply there, wages and productivity differ, and the building methods themselves differ. Even in Israel there is no single price for every contractor, as explained on the page construction estimator, and abroad the gap only grows. So I do not take on pricing abroad. What I do is write down what is needed to price there:
- A local source of prices, or the client's own prices.
- Wages and crew productivity in the project's region.
- The rules of measurement the client works to, and the units.
- The project specification: what every wall, floor and roof is made of.
- The local codes and approvals that affect the work.
A quantity surveyor may be an engineer or a registered building technician, like Yaakov Avital. In my work I measure the quantities the way a contractor who has to build them would, and pricing and estimates are an extra service: verbal feedback on prices together with you, with no commitment.
Kamai, quantity surveyor, estimator: the names of the role
In Israel the profession is called כמאי (kamai) or חשב כמויות, and its closest match is the British quantity surveyor: the person who turns drawings into quantities and builds the bill of quantities. In the United States the same work is usually done by a construction estimator or a cost estimator, and the measuring step is called the takeoff. Site titles differ too. The Israeli works manager (מנהל עבודה), a certified role in Israel, is closest to the superintendent on a US site, and on a British site to the site manager or the general foreman, depending on the company. A project manager is called a project manager in all three countries.
Construction types by region, and what they change in the takeoff
In Israel, residential buildings usually have a reinforced concrete frame with concrete block walls, and so do many private houses. In the United States most new houses are built with a light wood frame, and larger buildings with steel and concrete. In the United Kingdom many houses are built of masonry, brick and block, and timber frame is also common. These are general descriptions; what decides on each project is its specification.
A wood frame raises a question that hardly comes up in Israel: should the bill count every stud in the wall? In a Revit model such a wall is usually a wall type with layers, and the studs themselves are often not modelled one by one. The answer depends on the use. A bill by trade describes the wall by area with its build-up, the way an Israeli bill describes a gypsum board wall. A material order needs a count of studs, top and bottom plates and sheathing boards, and that count comes from the wall type and the spacing in the specification, not from the model.
How a remote quantity takeoff works
- The material: a Revit or IFC model, drawings and the project specification.
- The agreement: rules of measurement, units, the language of the descriptions and the structure of the bill.
- The measurement: a quantity for every item, with a reference to the elements in the model or to the drawing it was measured from.
- The questions: a list of gaps between the model, the drawings and the specification, for the designers to decide.
- The pricing: by the client, or by someone who knows the local market, following the list of what is needed.
How quantities are taken from a model, which elements and in what order, is on the page model quantity takeoff.
My rule: measurement crosses borders, prices do not. A remote quantity takeoff should say exactly what was measured, under which rules, and what is missing for pricing, rather than pretend that an Israeli price list fits a project abroad.
Frequently asked questions
Can a quantity surveyor in Israel take off a project abroad from a Revit model?
Yes, when the model is detailed enough and the rules of measurement and the units are agreed in advance. Where the model is missing information, the drawings and the specification fill the gap, and every gap is recorded as a question.
Can the same quantity surveyor also price the project?
Pricing needs the prices, wages and rules of the place. Without a local source there is no reliable price, so I write what is needed to price the work and do not give a number based on Israeli prices.
Does the bill need to count every wood stud?
It depends on the use. A bill by trade measures the wall by area with a full description of its layers. A material list counts the components from the wall type and the spacing in the specification.
In which units are the quantities delivered?
In the units agreed with the client: metric, or imperial units such as square feet and cubic yards for a project in the United States. More about the work of a quantity surveyor for construction projects.
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.