Insulation Takeoff ($249): Every Surface of the Thermal Envelope Measured From Your Plans, the Assembly and R-Value Each One Needs, Quantities, the Air Barrier Line and a Budget

Insulation & Air SealingTakeoff from plans

Insulation Takeoff: Every Surface Measured, Every Assembly Named With Its R-Value, the Air Barrier Drawn as One Line, and a Budget, Before Anyone Quotes

For a new house, an addition or a basement finish: the surface-by-surface sheet I would do for my own build, done on yours.

Insulation on a new house gets quoted off a line in the builder’s contract that says “insulation to code” more often than any other trade, and “to code” has three different answers depending on which SB-12 package the designer picked. A takeoff is the measured alternative: the attic floor and the cathedral slopes off the roof plan, the walls off the elevations with the openings out, the basement walls full height, the rim joists by the foot, the floor over the garage, the slab; the assembly each surface needs with the effective R-value; the bags, batts, board feet and boards that assembly takes; the air barrier traced from footing to ridge with the blower door target written down; and a budget at this month’s rates. 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 “to code” was priced.

Done by a Tarion-registered Ontario builder who has taken off a few hundred houses, most of them ICF, where the wall takeoff is short and the attic one is not. Turnaround five business days from receiving the drawings.

What you get

Insulation Takeoff
$249

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

  • Every thermal-envelope surface measured off the drawings: attic, cathedral slopes, above-grade walls, basement walls, rim joists, exposed floors, slab
  • The assembly and the R-value each surface needs under the SB-12 package the house is being built to, with the effective number
  • Quantities by product: bags of blown insulation, batts by size, board feet of foam by surface and thickness, rigid board, poly and tape
  • The air barrier drawn as one line, with the details at the rim, the windows, the ceiling and the service penetrations, and the blower door target
  • ICF walls recognised as insulated: nothing double-counted that the wall already has
  • A budget at October 2026 Ontario rates, by surface and for the house, frame or ICF
  • The scope to send to three contractors so the quotes come back comparable, and the allowance check if there is a builder contract
Order the takeoff
Insulation Quote Review
$99

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

  • Every quote put on the same ten-line grid, side by side
  • The attic or wall area checked against your house, and the existing R-value checked against your ruler photo
  • The product each one actually named: cellulose or fibreglass, closed or open cell, the thickness, the bag count, or “insulation” and nothing else
  • What each one leaves out, in dollars: air sealing, baffles, hatch, pot light covers, removal, masking, the thermal barrier
  • Foam quotes converted to board feet so they compare; batt quotes checked for the vapour barrier and the air barrier
  • The rebate claim checked: the tier, the participating list, the paperwork
  • 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 sections or wall heights 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: floor plans, elevations, sections, the roof plan and the window schedule, plus the SB-12 compliance form or the energy design summary if the designer has done one. Say whether the walls are wood frame or ICF, what heating the house will have, and whether the basement is being finished now.
  3. Get the takeoff. Within five business days: a spreadsheet and a PDF. Every surface with its area; the assembly and the nominal and effective R for each; quantities by product; the air barrier line and the details at the rim, windows, ceiling and penetrations; the ventilation note (HRV, bath fans, make-up air); the budget by surface and for the house; the scope for the contractors; and notes on anything in the set that will cost more than it looks (the cathedral great room drawn with 2×10 rafters, the walkout wall that is half above grade, the garage with a bedroom over it, the pot lights drawn in an insulated ceiling).
  4. Use it. Send the scope to three contractors. Compare on the grid. Or take it to the builder meeting and ask what “to code” meant.

What it is not

It is not a contractor’s quote; it is the thing a contractor’s quote should be checked against. It is not the SB-12 compliance form or an energy model, which the designer or the energy advisor stamps; it uses theirs where it exists and says what it assumed where it does not. It is not a heat-loss calculation; that is a separate stamped document that this takeoff feeds. 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

  • “Insulation to code” in the contract and no SB-12 package named anywhere in the set.
  • A cathedral ceiling drawn in 2×10 rafters, which holds about R-28 of batt and needs R-31, with no foam in the budget.
  • Basement walls insulated to the frost line on the section, which stopped being legal in 2009.
  • A bedroom over the garage with the floor insulation priced as if it were an interior floor.
  • Twenty-two pot lights in the attic plane and no airtight boxes in anyone’s number.
  • An ICF house with “R-20 batts and poly to exterior walls” still in the builder’s allowance from the last house he did.
  • No blower door target anywhere, so the air barrier is whatever the framer felt like that week.

Before you order, the free version

The attic calculator, the foam calculator and the wall assembly calculator do most of this for surfaces you type in, and new-home insulation cost has a 2,000 sq ft house worked through in frame and in ICF. If your house is a simple rectangle and you have an hour, that is the free version. If the house has a cathedral slope, a walkout, a room over the garage, 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 floor plans, elevations, at least one section and the window schedule. Scanned paper plans are fine if the dimensions are readable. For a basement finish without plans, a sketch with the wall lengths and heights, the window sizes and photos of the walls and the rim will do; say so when you order.

Can you do just the basement, or just the attic?

Yes. A basement finish or an attic alone is a common order; same price, faster turnaround.

Does it cover ICF houses?

Especially those. The walls and the basement are counted as insulated at the form’s effective R, nothing is added to them, and the takeoff is the attic, the slopes, the slab, the rim where there is one, and the ceiling air barrier. It is a short sheet and it stops builders carrying a frame-house insulation allowance on an ICF house. Why nothing gets added.

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 surface list the other bidders have. Where they disagree with the areas or the assemblies, you will have a specific conversation instead of a vague one.

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 insulation costs