Structural steel estimating checklist

This checklist reflects common practice and is not engineering or commercial advice. Adapt it to your office standards, contract and the applicable design code. Final quantities must be reviewed by a qualified professional.

1. Before you start

• Confirm the drawing set is complete: general notes, plans, sections, details and schedules.
• Confirm every sheet is at the same revision and matches the bid documents.
• Read the general notes for material grades, bolt types, coating and connection design responsibility.
• Read the structural steel specification and note what is classed as miscellaneous metal.
• Confirm units and the drawing standard (imperial and AISC, metric and IS, Eurocode).
• Set up the takeoff template with level, member type, section, mark, count, length, weight and source columns.
• Open a query log for anything unclear.

2. Drawing review

• Walk every framing plan grid by grid and highlight members as you list them.
• Check sections and elevations for braces, hangers and members that do not show in plan.
• Check details for lintels, edge members, kickers and posts called out with "see detail".
• Cross-check plans against the column, beam and brace schedules.
• Note camber, moment connection and composite symbols and confirm what they mean in this office's notation.
• Look for phased or alternate scope: future expansion, add-alternates, demolition.
• Check the architectural set for canopies, screens and support steel not on the structural sheets.

3. Member takeoff

• Every member has a section designation, resolved through the schedule if needed.
• Every member has a mark, or a generated stable number if the drawings do not give one.
• Every line records the sheet and grid where the member was found.
• Column heights come from the column schedule or elevations, not from plan.
• Brace lengths come from elevation geometry, not from the dashed line in plan.
• Repeated bays are checked bay by bay, not copied.
• Illegible or conflicting labels are logged as queries, not guessed.

4. Lengths and weights

• Lengths come from dimensions and grid spacing first, scaling last.
• Any scaled dimension was measured on a drawing calibrated against a known dimension on the same sheet.
• The list states whether lengths are grid-to-grid or fabrication lengths, and does not mix them.
• Weight per unit length comes from the current section tables for the applicable standard.
• Plates and built-up members use volume multiplied by density.
• Units are consistent throughout, and the total states its unit.
• Totals are subtotalled by level and by section so they can be reconciled.

5. Connections and miscellaneous steel

• Base plates, anchor rods and leveling plates are counted from the base plate schedule.
• Connection steel is either taken off from details or covered by a documented percentage allowance.
• The allowance reflects the framing type: moment frames and heavy bracing need more.
• Stiffeners, gussets, bearing plates and embed plates are included.
• Miscellaneous metal (stairs, rails, ladders, grating) is listed separately per the specification.
• Shear studs, deck and bolts are either included or explicitly excluded.

6. Quality checks

• Column count matches the column schedule.
• Infill beam count per bay matches the framing pattern.
• Total weight per unit floor area is within the normal range for the building type.
• No highlighted member on the drawings is missing from the list, and nothing on the list is unhighlighted.
• A second person has walked the drawings against the list.
• All queries are either resolved or carried as stated assumptions in the bid.

7. Handoff

• The takeoff states the revision it was taken from.
• Assumptions, allowances and exclusions are listed on the front page.
• The list can be traced: every quantity points to a sheet and grid.