Takeoff from a DXF
with no CAD licence
The vector file already holds the exact lengths. Sorting the layers by trade is all it takes to get quantities: that is exactly what this module does, across eighteen families.
Structure, partitions, joinery, floors, paint, electrics, plumbing, HVAC, external works.
Every trade comes out in its own main unit, not everything in linear metres.
A badly named layer is reassigned to the right trade and the totals recompute.
The CAD file already knows everything, nobody asks it
When the architect delivers a DXF, wall lengths, room areas and window counts are already in the file, to the millimetre. Yet the takeoff gets redone with the mouse in a CAD program, layer by layer, with measure commands and a notepad on the side.
The module reads the geometry directly: polylines, arcs, blocks, hatches, area labels. It classifies layers by trade from their names, sums lengths, areas and block occurrences, and compares the computed area with the area written on the drawing when there is one.
What the DXF module extracts
Classification by trade
Layer names are interpreted to file every entity in the right family of works.
Lengths, areas, counts
Three totals per trade, computed from the geometry rather than from a visual estimate.
Per-layer detail
Every trade unfolds into layers, which makes each total traceable back to the drawing.
Annotated area check
When the drawing carries a written area, the gap with the computed area is shown as a percentage.
Layer reassignment
Naming conventions vary from one practice to another: one menu is enough to fix the classification.
CSV export
The full table, trades and layers, goes into your spreadsheet to receive your prices.
DXF takeoff questions
What if my layers are badly named?
The automatic classification recognizes the most common conventions, and everything else lands in the unclassified bucket, visible at the top of the table. You reassign those layers once and the quantities are complete.
Do I need to convert my DWG?
The module reads DXF, the exchange format every CAD program exports with one command. If you only have a DWG, a DXF export from any tool on the market is enough, with no loss of geometry.
Does the result replace a quantity surveyor?
No, it gives back the data-entry hours. The reading still has to be done: deciding what is counted twice, what belongs to another trade, what the drawing never modelled. The module supplies the raw material, exact and traceable.
Other features
Comparisons
Use cases
From the blog
Make your next DXF talk
Drop in a file you received this week and read the quantities by trade.