Exterior Finish Takeoff ($249): Wall-by-Wall Cladding, Stone and Stucco Quantities, Eaves, Flashing Schedule and a Budget by Grade From Your House Plans

Exterior FinishesTakeoff from plans

Exterior Finish Takeoff: Your Elevations Measured, Every Wall Assigned a Finish, the Eaves and the Flashing Scheduled, and a Budget by Grade, Before Anyone Quotes

For a new house or an addition: the wall-by-wall sheet I would do for my own build, with the cladding areas, the stone corners, the stucco details, the eaves and the numbers, done on yours.

The exterior is the finishing line that gets quoted off a rendering and an allowance more than any other, and the one where the allowance is most often half the real number. A takeoff is the measured alternative: every elevation off the drawings, gables and openings in, the finish you want on each wall, the stone and brick with their corners and sills, the stucco bands and frieze by the foot, the soffit by depth, the trough by run, every flashing and transition listed, and a budget at three grades. Hand it to three contractors and the quotes come back on the same page; hold it against a builder’s allowance and you know in a minute whether the number was honest.

Done by a Tarion-registered Ontario builder who has taken off a few hundred houses and finished most of them in stucco and stone over ICF. Turnaround five business days from receiving the drawings.

What you get

Exterior Finish Takeoff
$249

One house or addition, from your elevations. HST added at checkout.

  • Every elevation measured off the drawings: gross wall, gables, openings, net area by cladding with waste
  • Stone and brick areas with corners and sills; stucco details by the foot: bands, frieze, quoins, colour changes
  • Soffit depth and length, fascia, eavestrough runs and downspout count; the attic venting the soffit must give
  • Flashing and transition schedule: every opening, every roof-to-wall, every change of material, with the ledge or shelf angle where masonry needs one
  • A budget at builder, mid and premium grade at October 2026 Ontario rates, per cladding and per square foot of net wall
  • The twelve-line scope to send to three contractors so the quotes come back comparable
  • The allowance check, if there is a builder’s contract to hold it against
Order the takeoff
Exterior Quote Review
$99

Up to three quotes, plus your photos. HST added at checkout.

  • Every quote put on the same twelve-line grid, side by side
  • The net wall area checked against your house, gables and openings in, and the eaves counted
  • The product each one actually named: brand, profile, thickness, colour, or “siding” and nothing else
  • What each one leaves out, in dollars: tearoff, house wrap, flashing kits, strapping, trim, eaves, the bin
  • Whether there is a unit rate for rotten sheathing and fascia, and for stucco, whether the bands and frieze are priced
  • The price per square foot checked against Ontario October 2026 rates
  • A plain answer: sign this one, go back to that one with these questions, or walk
Order the quote review

Building new or finishing a basement? Read what the takeoff covers.

Houses over 4,000 sq ft, multi-unit buildings, and plans without elevations are quoted separately; email first. If the house ends up being built by ICFhome.ca, the takeoff fee comes off the contract.

How it works

  1. Order. Pay by card on the Stripe page; HST at checkout; receipt and a page telling you what to send.
  2. Send the drawings. Reply to the receipt with the plan set as a PDF: all four elevations, the floor plans, sections if there are any, and the window schedule. Say whether the walls are wood frame or ICF, what finish you want where, and the soffit depth if the drawings do not show it.
  3. Get the takeoff. Within five business days: a spreadsheet and a PDF. Elevations with gross, openings and net; area by cladding with waste; stone and brick with corner and sill lengths; stucco details by the foot; soffit length by depth, fascia, eavestrough runs and downspout count with the venting and sizing checks; the flashing and transition schedule; the three-grade budget by cladding and per square foot of net wall; the twelve-line scope; and notes on anything in the elevations that will cost more than it looks (the three-storey rear wall, the stone that stops at a siding line with no flashing drawn, the deep overhang the soffit price did not expect).
  4. Use it. Send the scope to three contractors. Compare on the grid. Or take it to the builder meeting and ask about the allowance.

What it is not

It is not a contractor’s quote; it is the thing a contractor’s quote should be checked against. The contractor’s site measure governs the contract. It is not a structural review of the masonry support (the designer and the building department own that), not an energy model, and not a product endorsement. It is a builder’s measured takeoff with a builder’s budget, which is what I would want before I signed anything with anyone.

What gets found, most sets

  • Elevations that say “stone” on the front with no ledge drawn and no line where it meets the siding.
  • A stucco house with 26 windows, bands drawn on every one, and an allowance that priced square feet only.
  • A 36 in. overhang on every eave and a soffit allowance written for 12 in.
  • Fibre cement drawn to grade, 6 in. below where the manufacturer allows it.
  • Four roof-to-wall intersections and not one kick-out flashing on the set.
  • An allowance of $12 a sq ft of wall on a house the owners picture in fibre cement and stone.

Before you order, the free version

The exterior cladding calculator does this takeoff for walls you type in, with the three grades and the per-square-foot number, and the eaves calculator does the soffit and trough. If your house is a simple rectangle and you have an hour, that is the free version. If the house has three materials, deep overhangs, a stone front, stucco details, an allowance to check, or you want it on paper with a builder’s name on it, that is what the $249 is for.

Questions people ask

What format do the plans need to be in?

PDF, with all four elevations and the window schedule. Scanned paper plans are fine if the dimensions are readable. For a re-side without plans, photos of each side with a tape in the frame and the main dimensions written down will do; say so when you order.

Can you do just the eaves, or just the front elevation in stone?

Yes. A single elevation or the eaves alone is a common order; same price, faster turnaround.

Will the contractors accept your takeoff?

They will measure the house themselves, as they should, and the good ones will be glad to have the same wall list the other bidders have. Where they disagree with the areas, you will have a specific conversation instead of a vague one.

Does this cover the windows and the roof?

The flashing where the cladding meets them, yes. The windows themselves and the roofing are separate trades with their own calculators on the site: windows and roofing.

The document the quotes should start from

Every contractor pricing the same house, from the same sheet, with a builder’s budget beside it. Five business days, $249.

Order the takeoff, $249New-home exterior costs