A takeoff is a list of all the materials required to build a project based on the supplied plans. For example, if you had plans for building a dock, the plans might show a typical section of dock and you would use that to extrapolate how many board feet of timber and how many bolts you would need.
In some industries, it is common for manufactures to perform a takeoff and provide the itemized estimate to prospective bidders on a project or the awarded contractor. However, that is typically not the case in the custom fastener industry. The ability to do an accurate takeoff is a specialized skill, and while our talented staff at Portland Bolt can do a great number of things, we simply do not have the technical expertise to dissect a set of construction plans competently or expeditiously. Plus, we do not want to assume the liability associated with misinterpreting the drawings or simply making an error when taking off the bolts. It would also be extremely difficult for us to be price-competitive if we had to cover our costs to do the takeoff and simply don’t have the resources to offer this service on each and every project we bid. This doesn’t mean that if you have a specific drawing, set of drawings, or an anchor bolt schedule you’d like us to look at we won’t, we just aren’t able to take a whole set of plans and figure out all of the locations and counts or determine the exact scope of what you’d need from us. If you do have any questions that arise while looking through your plans, please feel free to give us a call and we will do everything we can to help.