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Bluebeam flooring takeoff: how it works, and when to use something else
Bluebeam Revu is a PDF markup and measurement tool used right across construction. This page shows how a flooring takeoff is done in Revu, where it gets slow for flooring work in particular, and how Squaro takes a different route. It also says plainly when Bluebeam is the better choice.
What Bluebeam Revu is good at
Revu is general purpose. Bluebeam describes it for estimators as a way to measure, count and organise quantities directly from PDFs and push the data to Excel, with tools for length, polylength, perimeter, area, volume, wall area and count. It is strong at PDF markup, at keeping every measurement in a Markups List with author, date and subject, and at collaboration: on the Core plan and above you can host Studio sessions where a team marks up the same drawings at the same time. The Complete plan adds Dynamic Fill, which fills an area bounded by the lines on the drawing so irregular rooms are quicker to measure, and Quantity Link, which connects measurements to an Excel workbook. If one tool has to serve several trades, document control and design review, Revu does a great deal.
How to do a flooring takeoff in Bluebeam, step by step
- Open the plan PDF in Revu. Revu itself runs on Windows.
- Set the scale. From the Measurements panel, choose Calibrate, click the two ends of a known length on the drawing, type the length and choose the pages it applies to. Bluebeam's help notes that a preset scale is only safe if the PDF was not rescaled when it was created.
- Trace each floored area. Choose Tools, Measure, Area and click each corner of the room, or on the Complete and Max plans use Dynamic Fill to fill the room up to its walls. Give each floor type its own subject, such as Hybrid or Carpet, so you can filter them later.
- Deduct what is not floored. Use the Polygon Cutout tool to take an island bench or a void out of an area measurement.
- Export the quantities. From the Markups List, choose Summary and export CSV or XML for a spreadsheet (on the Basics plan the summary output is PDF only), or link live measurements to Excel with Quantity Link on Complete and Max.
- Finish the estimate in the spreadsheet. Add waste, round up to packs or roll lengths, count trims, add stairs and extras, and price it.
Where it gets slow for flooring
Scale and calibration. A builder's plan set may have been combined, re-saved or printed to fit a page before it reaches you, and then the printed scale can no longer be trusted, so each page has to be calibrated against a known length. A small error in that calibration line carries into every room on the page.
Rooms one at a time. Each room is its own trace or fill, then a subject, then a check. A house with a dozen floored areas across two storeys is a lot of clicks before any pricing starts.
The selections live elsewhere. Which floor goes in which room comes from the builder's selections or colour schedule. You read that and apply it by hand as you trace.
Flooring rules happen outside the tool. Revu gives you square metres. The doorway strip under each door, robes and kickboard recesses, stairs, waste, whole packs, carpet roll widths and trims per opening are added in your spreadsheet or custom columns that you build and maintain.
Example only
The sizes and pack size are made up to show the steps.
A bedroom traced in Revu reads 3.6 × 3.4 m, 12.24 m². The robe adds 0.6 × 1.8 m, 1.08 m², for 13.32 m². With 7% waste that is 14.25 m², which at 1.86 m² per pack is 7.66 packs, so you order 8. Only the first figure came out of the takeoff tool; the rest is your method, applied by you, for every room.
How Squaro does it differently
Squaro is built only for flooring and blinds contractors who quote from builders' plans. You upload the working drawings and the selections, and Squaro reads them. It measures each room from the printed dimension strings, the same figures you would read off the plan, not from the scale of the drawing, so there is no calibration step. Each room shows the page and the dimension text it used, and readings that are hard to make out are marked low confidence with a note of what to check.
Then it applies your own rules and price book: doorway allowances, robes, kickboard recesses, stairs, waste, rounding to packs or rolls, and trims per opening, for hard floors, carpet off the roll and blinds from window schedules. The estimator checks every line before the quote PDF goes to the builder. Squaro runs in a web browser, so there is nothing to install. More detail is on the flooring takeoff software page.
Bluebeam and Squaro side by side
| Bluebeam Revu | Squaro | |
|---|---|---|
| How takeoff is done | You calibrate the scale, then trace or fill each area and apply cutouts | Reads the printed dimension strings for each room; you check each line |
| AI reading of plans | Max plan lists AI drawing reviews, AI drawing comparisons, AI multi-view stitching and AI integration via MCP; automatic room area takeoff is not listed | Reads plan sets and selections to find and measure each room |
| What it reads | Any PDF drawing, any trade | Builder working drawings, selections and window schedules, metric only for now |
| Flooring rules and pricing | Set up by you in custom columns or a linked spreadsheet | Your rules and price book applied to every room |
| Pricing published | Yes: AU$451, AU$550, AU$737 and AU$979 (Max, introductory) per user per year, tax inclusive | Being confirmed during early access; free during early access unless agreed otherwise in writing |
| Platforms | Revu for Windows desktop, plus Bluebeam on web and mobile | Web browser |
| Regions | Australian site with AUD and NZD pricing, and other regional sites | Launching in Australia; open to NZ, UK, Ireland, US and Canada |
| Free trial | 14 days of the Max plan, no credit card required | Early access by request |
| Best suited to | Mixed trades, commercial work, markup, document control and team collaboration | Flooring and blinds contractors quoting new homes from builder plans |
Prices and features change: checked 4 October 2026.
When Bluebeam is the better choice
- You quote several trades, or flooring is one part of a wider estimate.
- Your drawings are commercial plans without dimension strings on every room, where tracing to scale is the only way to measure.
- You need markup, drawing comparison, document control or Studio collaboration with builders and consultants.
- Your plans are in feet and inches. Squaro reads metric plans only for now.
- You want a tool that is fully released today. Squaro is in early access, and it is not a markup, stock or accounting system.
The flooring estimating software guide sorts the kinds of tools and suggests a fair test on your own plans, and takeoff vs measure-up covers when a takeoff from plans is the right starting point.
Sources
Bluebeam details are taken from Bluebeam's own website and support pages, checked 4 October 2026.
- Bluebeam pricing (Australia): https://www.bluebeam.com/au/pricing/
- Bluebeam free trial (Australia): https://www.bluebeam.com/au/free-trial/
- Bluebeam Max (Australia): https://www.bluebeam.com/au/bluebeam-max/
- Bluebeam for estimators (Australia): https://www.bluebeam.com/au/solutions/estimators/
- Set the page scale on your drawing: https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/how-to/set-the-page-scale-on-drawing.html
- Area measurement: https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/tools/area-measurement.html
- Cutout tool: https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/tools/cutout-tool.html
- Dynamic Fill overview: https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/features/dynamic-fill-overview.html
- Organize and summarize results: https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/window/markups-list-summary.html
- Markup summary: https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/batch/summary.html
Bluebeam and Revu are trademarks of their owner; Squaro is not affiliated with Bluebeam.
Related reading
- Compare flooring softwareHow Squaro compares with other takeoff, estimating and business tools.
- PlanSwift for flooring takeoffOn-screen takeoff in PlanSwift for flooring, and how Squaro differs.
- Measure Square alternativeA flooring takeoff and estimating platform compared with Squaro.
- RFMS alternativeA flooring business system compared with a plan reading quoting tool.
- Flooring takeoff softwareHow Squaro measures rooms from the printed dimension strings.
Quote your next plan set with Squaro
Squaro is open to a small group of flooring contractors first. Tell us how you quote and we will set up your rules with you and run your first plan.
Request early accessRather see it first? Book a demo on your own plans.