Measure the Build — free material calculators for concrete, decking, tile, drywall & fencing
Measure the Build is a free US takeoff hub for contractors and DIY homeowners: type your measurements, get the quantity, and see every step of the math — the same way you'd check an estimate. 10 calculators live today across concrete, decking, tile, drywall, and fencing. No sign-up, nothing to install. Units are imperial; terminology is US trade vernacular.
Each calculator ships as a static page with the working shown in the HTML. Physical constants — bag yields, board face widths, waste defaults — live in a sourced data layer. When a figure is only a trade convention, the page says so instead of dressing it up as a manufacturer yield.
Manufacturer data sheets · published standards · labeled trade conventions
Calculators
10 tools live today. Each one names its sources and shows the intermediate steps.
Concrete
Concrete Bag Calculator
Cubic feet or yards, then whole bags by size — slab, footing, or post holes
Concrete
Sonotube Concrete Calculator
Cylinder volume and whole bags for round form tubes — with optional center void
Decking
Deck Board & Joist Calculator
Board count by brand width, optional even set-out, joists for the span, and waste
Tile
Grout Calculator
Grout pounds from tile size, joint width, and depth — bag count by product
Tile
Tile Calculator
Tile square footage, piece count, and optional boxes for floor, shower, or backsplash
Tile
Shower Tile Calculator
Multi-surface shower takeoff — walls, floor, ceiling, niche, openings, tiles and boxes
Drywall
Drywall Sheet Calculator
Sheet count for walls and ceilings by common US panel sizes
Fencing
Fence Materials Calculator
Posts, post depth, wood pickets, vinyl panels, chain-link mesh, and concrete bags
Fencing
Fence Post Depth Calculator
Compare Quikrete’s ⅓–½ guidance, chain-link baselines, and your local frost or product requirement.
Fencing
Fence Picket Calculator
Picket count with exact gap or even bay spacing, end remainder, and waste
Tile takeoff: Tile Calculator for a single rectangle; Shower Tile Calculator for walls, floor, ceiling, and niche. Fence planning cluster: Fence calculators and material guides.
Why trust the numbers?
Coverage rates and bag yields come from manufacturer data sheets when they exist. Where the trade uses a rule of thumb instead — waste percent, post embedment — that figure is labeled as a convention, not dressed up as a published yield. Conflicts between sources (for example Trex gap figures that disagree across Trex’s own pages) are called out on the tool page instead of silently averaged.
The full source hierarchy and how corrections land is on the methodology page. Who runs Measure the Build and why it exists: about. Questions or a bad constant: contact.
Frequently asked questions
How many bags of concrete do I need for a slab?
Enter your slab dimensions in the Concrete Bag Calculator. It converts cubic feet or yards to whole bag counts by size (40 lb, 60 lb, 80 lb) using Quikrete’s published yields and shows every step of the math.
How do I calculate how many tiles I need?
Use the Tile Calculator for a single rectangle or the Shower Tile Calculator for walls, floor, ceiling, and niche. Both show the waste factor used and label it as a trade convention or a manufacturer figure.
How many deck boards do I need?
The Deck Board & Joist Calculator accounts for brand-specific face widths (Trex, TimberTech, pressure-treated), optional even set-out, and waste — and flags where Trex’s own documents disagree.
Is Measure the Build free to use?
Yes. Every calculator is free, requires no sign-up, and nothing is installed. Calculator inputs stay in your browser.
More detail: concrete bag calculator, tile calculator, shower tile calculator, and deck board calculator.
Field notes
Longer walkthroughs that sit next to the calculators — not blog filler. For fencing, use the fence hub instead of dumping every post-depth article here.
Concrete
How Many Bags of Concrete Do You Actually Need
Cubic feet to bag counts, when ready-mix beats bagging, and why Quikrete’s two post-depth docs disagree.
Concrete
How Many Bags of Concrete for a Footing?
Trench volume from length × width × depth, Quikrete yields, and when a footing leaves bag territory.
Decking
How Many Deck Boards Do You Need (And Why Brand Actually Matters)
Covered width vs face width, Trex/TimberTech conflicts, and waste that isn’t a brand yield.
Decking
How a Deck Board Calculator Actually Works
Inputs to buy count: dimensions, face width, gap, waste — and why Trex/TimberTech/PT presets disagree.
Decking
How Many Deck Joists Do You Need
Joist count from length and on-center spacing, linear feet of stock, and why spacing follows the board maker.
Drywall
How Many Drywall Sheets Do You Need
Room takeoff with USG 4×8/4×10/4×12 coverage, large openings, and EPD-labeled waste—not a layout optimizer.
Drywall
4×8 vs 4×10 vs 4×12 Drywall
USG face coverage, fewer joints versus carrying weight and access—without inventing mud or screw rates.
Tile
How Many Tiles Do You Need
Area to pieces with labeled floor/wall/diagonal waste conventions—and optional boxes from your carton.
Tile
Tile Waste Factor: How Much Extra?
Why 10/15/20% defaults are trade conventions here—not TCNA yields—and how attic stock differs from cut waste.
Tile
How Much Grout Do You Need
Chart-cell lookup first, calibrated formula only in a documented zone—MAPEI, LATICRETE, TEC, ARDEX.