A takeoff QA checklist to run before every bid
A practical pre-bid review checklist for civil takeoff: calibration, sheet coverage, duplicates, units, derived quantities, revisions and cross-checks.
6 min read
Key takeaways
- Check calibration on every sheet before checking anything else.
- Confirm sheet coverage — omissions outnumber measurement errors.
- Verify units and derived conversions independently.
- Reconcile against the engineer's quantities by scope, not in total.
Most bad bids are not bad measurements. They are a missed sheet, a stale calibration, a duplicate at a match line, or a conversion applied twice. This checklist takes twenty minutes and catches nearly all of them.
1. Calibration
- Every sheet used for scaled measurement has been calibrated, not assumed.
- Each calibration was verified against a second known dimension.
- Half-size sheets have been identified and handled.
- Enlarged insets and details were calibrated separately from their parent sheet.
- Re-issued sheets were re-calibrated rather than inheriting the old scale.
2. Coverage
- Sheet count matches the index; no referenced sheet is missing.
- Every scope in your matrix has been measured on every sheet that shows it.
- Off-site and separate utility packages were included.
- Details and cross sections were consulted for section dimensions.
- Notes and general specifications were read for scope-changing requirements.
3. Duplicates and gaps
- Match-line convention was applied consistently across all sheets.
- Structure counts match the profile and structure tables.
- Linear totals reconcile against station ranges or perimeters.
- No scope is measured on both a civil and an architectural sheet.
4. Units and derived quantities
| Check | How |
|---|---|
| Every quantity has a unit | Scan the export for unlabeled numbers |
| Reported units match the bid form | Compare item by item |
| Conversions applied once | Trace one item from measurement to export |
| Tonnage uses a stated density | Confirm the factor and its source |
| Earthwork basis stated | Bank, loose or compacted |
5. Plausibility
- Do the areas sum to roughly the site area?
- Is pipe footage in a sane ratio to structure count (typically 200–400 LF per structure)?
- Is base stone tonnage proportional to paved area and section thickness?
- Are per-acre earthwork volumes in a range you have seen before?
- Does anything differ from a similar past project by more than you can explain?
Plausibility checks catch the errors that pass every mechanical check. If a number surprises you, find out why before bid day rather than after award.
6. Revisions and documentation
- Quantities reflect the latest issued revision of each sheet.
- Every addendum has been reviewed against your scope matrix.
- Assumptions, exclusions and plan discrepancies are written down.
- Each quantity can be traced to a sheet and a visible measurement.
Run in that order, this checklist moves from the errors that affect everything (calibration) to the ones that affect single line items. That ordering matters: there is no point plausibility-checking a quantity measured on a sheet that was never calibrated.
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