DRYWALL · INTERIOR SCOPETRADE · DRYWALL

Walls, boards, openings, ceilings, assemblies.

Wall-type legends are where drywall takeoff either works or quietly undercounts.

Drywall takeoff is an assembly problem, not a linear-feet problem. BuildBid reads the wall-type legend, matches every wall on the plan to its assembly, and breaks the quantity out by layer: framing, insulation, board (by thickness and type), finish level.

Openings are deducted correctly by default. Doors, windows, and wall-mounted equipment are pulled from the schedule and subtracted from the wall area — with the option to keep the deduction off for shell-and-core pricing.

Ceilings are handled as their own scope. Drop-grid, hard-lid, soffit, and bulkhead quantities land separately with the assembly type pulled from the reflected ceiling plan.

Try on a sample interior packageSee sample takeoff
WORKFLOW · HOW IT ACTUALLY RUNS5 STEPS
  1. STEP 01

    Upload A-series + wall-type legend

    Floor plans, wall-type legend, door and window schedules, reflected ceiling plans, partition details. Specs sections 09 21 / 09 29 / 09 51 are cross-read.

  2. STEP 02

    Walls matched to assemblies

    Every wall segment is matched to a wall-type from the legend. Framing, insulation, board layers, and finish level populate from the assembly definition.

  3. STEP 03

    Openings deducted

    Doors and windows pulled from the schedule, matched to their locations on the plan, subtracted from the wall area. Toggle per-project for shell-and-core.

  4. STEP 04

    Ceilings extracted separately

    Reflected ceiling plans drive a separate ceilings quantity set — drop grid, hard lid, soffit, bulkhead — each with assembly type and area.

  5. STEP 05

    Review + export

    Draft lands sorted by confidence. Nudge any wall to reassign its type, correct an opening, or override a finish level. Export CSV or into a BuildBid estimate.

PAIN · WHAT THIS REPLACES

Where the hours actually go today

  • Wall-type legend mis-matches — the takeoff tool cannot tell Type A from Type A1 and silently bundles them.
  • Opening deductions either ignored or double-counted because the schedule and plan are in separate tools.
  • Ceiling scope glued onto the wall scope when it should be priced as a distinct assembly with its own labor rate.
  • Soffits and bulkheads missed entirely because they only appear on the reflected ceiling plan and the takeoff tool only read the floor plan.
LIMITS · WHAT BUILDBID IS NOT YET

Honest gaps — read before you buy

  • Curved walls and free-form partitions are handled but with lower confidence than orthogonal layouts — flagged for review.
  • Fire- and smoke-rated assembly upgrades are inferred from the wall type, not from a UL-listing cross-reference.
  • Acoustic STC-rated assemblies treated as their own wall type if the legend defines them; otherwise they are flagged for manual classification.
  • Interior finish scope (paint, tile, flooring) is out of scope for this workflow — see the broader estimate product for finish assemblies.
REVIEW FOCUS · WHAT TO CHECK3 AREAS
CHECK 01

Floor plan with walls color-coded by wall-type — each segment matched to an assembly from the legend.

CHECK 02

Wall-type drilldown — assembly layers (framing, insulation, board by layer, finish) listed per type with quantity rolled up.

CHECK 03

Reflected ceiling plan extraction — drop-grid, hard-lid, soffit areas separated with assembly type.

NEXT · TRY ON A SAMPLE

Sample plans, zero setup. The draft comes back with quantities, confidence flags, and the source rows we used. You review before you send.

Try on a sample interior package