Upload the plans.
Get the numbers back.
Measured off your drawings, priced to your job. Four documents back in three working days. Internal, external, roofs, floor coatings — if you can paint it, we can price it from a plan.
- Scope
- Internal · external · roofs · floors
- You get back
- 4 documents · Excel + 3 Word
- Turnaround
- Three working days
- First one
- Free
Send us a tender you're actually bidding. The first one is free.
Not a sample, not a teaser — your job, your numbers, the full four-document pack. One per business, up to 20 sheets. No card, nothing to cancel. If the drawings aren't good enough to price properly, we tell you before we start.
Send a set
Measuring the set is the part nobody bills for, and the part the money leaks out of.
So we do it — room by room, off the sheetThe plans land at 4pm. The tender closes tomorrow.
Fourteen sheets, a finishes schedule that contradicts the plan, and a revision cloud nobody mentioned. Measuring it takes most contractors 45 minutes to several hours before a single price goes on the page — unpaid, at night, after a full day on the tools.
That's the part we took off your hands. We're painters. We've sat at that desk.
Your rate or ours.
Most painters aren't certain what their hour costs. Wages are only part of it — super, workers comp, portable long service, leave, the ute, the insurance, the hours you spend quoting and never bill for.
Every other service hands you an empty box and asks you to type a rate into it. If you haven't got one you guess, and a guess on the rate is a guess on the whole job.
So here is ours, before you have to pick.
- Award wage, painter
- $32.50
- Super, comp, long service, leave
- $44.90
- Only 82% of paid hours get billed
- $54.76
- Vehicle, insurance, tools, admin
- + $35.00
- What one hour actually costs
- $89.76
Queensland, 2026‑27. Your own state's figures get used on your job, and every line of it is on the page and yours to change. The full derivation is in the worksheet below.
Use ours
Priced on the build-up above — award wages, statutory on-costs and production rates for your state. Shown line by line. Nothing hidden in a database.
Use yours
Know what your hour costs? Send the number and we price on it. If it differs from the build-up, we say so and show you both.
We price it both ways
Two priced versions of the same job, one price. Yours and ours side by side, with the difference in dollars. You don't have to work your own rate out before you send the plans — that's the thing you came here to fix.
Four documents. Three to win the job, one to run it.
Almost nobody in this category will show you a finished deliverable before you pay. Here is ours in full, measured from the drawing above.
1 · The Excel worksheet
Every room, every surface, every rate — unlocked. Excel because you will want to change something. Change your rate or your coats and the job re-prices.
2 · The costings document
Labour, materials, the rate build-up behind them, and everything we flagged. Word because you read it once and file it. This one is for you, not the builder.
3 · The scope summary
Systems by zone, quantities, inclusions, exclusions and the open questions. Not a dollar sign anywhere, and that is checked before it leaves. Attach it to your quote — it is the scope that governs if anyone argues later.
4 · The site scope
Every room and every external area, in the order you walk them. System, coats, square metres, hours allowed — and a column to write in what it actually took. This is the one nobody else gives you. Your foreman runs the job off it and can see whether he is ahead or behind in the room he is standing in, while there is still time to do something about it.
Excel worksheet — quantities tab
Meridian Community Health Centre · Sheet CT-SAMPLE-01 Rev C · measured 1:100| Room | System | Walls m² | Ceiling m² | Trim lin m | Coats | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Waiting / entry | Zone 1 | 86.4 | 49.9 | 36.8 | 2 | 24.0 |
| 02 Consult | Zone 2 | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 2 | 8.5 |
| 03 Consult | Zone 2 | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 2 | 8.5 |
| 04 Consult | Zone 2 | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 2 | 8.5 |
| 05 Treatment | Zone 2 | 33.8 | 9.8 | 14.4 | 2 | 8.1 |
| 06 Procedure | Zone 2 | 32.4 | 9.0 | 13.8 | 2 | 7.7 |
| 07 Corridor north — flagged | Zone 1 | 118.4 | 29.3 | 42.5 | 2 | 26.9 |
| 08 Pathology | Zone 2 | 31.1 | 8.1 | 13.2 | 2 | 7.3 |
| 09 Specimen | Zone 3 | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 10 Clean utility | Zone 3 | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 11 Dirty utility | Zone 3 | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 12 Accessible WC | Zone 3 | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 13 WC | Zone 3 | 27.0 | 5.7 | 11.5 | 2 | 6.2 |
| 16 Corridor south | Zone 1 | 97.2 | 20.9 | 41.4 | 2 | 22.4 |
| 17 Staff room | Zone 4 | 33.8 | 9.4 | 14.4 | 2 | 8.1 |
| 18 Lockers | Zone 4 | 25.7 | 5.6 | 10.9 | 2 | 5.9 |
| 19 Office | Zone 4 | 28.4 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 20 Office | Zone 4 | 28.4 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 21 Records | Zone 4 | 27.0 | 6.2 | 11.5 | 2 | 6.3 |
| 14 Store · 15 Plant · 22 Comms | — | Excluded — no finish nominated. See RFI 03. | ||||
| Measured subtotal — 19 spaces | 788.5 | 225.2 | 327.7 | 188.0 | ||
| Preliminaries — set-up, protection, access, make good | 18.0 | |||||
| Total labour hours | 206.0 | |||||
| Cost line | Quantity | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 206.0 hr | $89.76 / hr | $18,490.56 |
| Materials and sundries | 1,013.7 m² | $6.50 / m² | $6,589.05 |
| Subtotal, excluding GST and margin | $25,079.61 |
Excel worksheet — rate build-up tab
Worked example · Queensland · 2026-27| Component | Basis | $ / hour |
|---|---|---|
| Base hourly wage | Painter, award classification | 32.50 |
| Superannuation | 12.0% of base | 3.90 |
| Workers compensation | 4.2% of base | 1.37 |
| Portable long service levy | Statutory | 0.98 |
| Leave, public holidays, sick | Accrued on paid hours | 6.15 |
| Employment cost per paid hour | 44.90 | |
| Billable fraction | 0.82 — travel, set-up, quoting, weather | 54.76 |
| Overhead recovery | Vehicle, insurance, tools, licences, admin | 35.00 |
| Cost per billable hour | 89.76 |
This is the page nobody publishes.
Every other service either asks for a rate you may not have, or quietly applies one out of a database you can't see. Both leave you holding a number you can't defend when a builder pushes back on it.
So we show the whole derivation. If your super, your workers comp or your overhead differ, change those lines and the takeoff re-prices. If your crew genuinely achieves more than the production rates we've used, tell us and we'll say so on the page.
And note what isn't here: margin. This is cost. What you add on top is a commercial decision about the job, the builder and how badly you want the work, and it isn't ours to make.
Scope summary — the Word file you attach
.docx · goes to the builder · carries no pricesMeridian Community Health Centre · Painting and protective coatings
This scope summary forms part of the quotation and should be read with Sheet CT-SAMPLE-01 Rev C.
Paint systems, by zone
- Zone 1 — circulation. Waiting, entry and both corridors: one coat sealer undercoat, two coats low sheen acrylic to walls, flat acrylic to ceilings.
- Zone 2 — clinical. Consult, treatment, procedure and pathology: one coat sealer undercoat, two coats washable semi-gloss acrylic, to allow for cleaning.
- Zone 3 — wet areas. Specimen, utilities and WCs: one coat sealer undercoat, two coats anti-bacterial coating, returned 300 mm above the tiled dado.
- Zone 4 — staff and admin. Staff room, lockers, offices and records: one coat sealer undercoat, two coats low sheen acrylic.
- Trim. Architraves, skirtings and door frames: one coat primer, two coats water-based enamel.
Measured quantities
- Walls 788.5 m² · ceilings 225.2 m² · trim 327.7 lineal m, across 19 of the 22 spaces on the sheet.
- Measured from Sheet CT-SAMPLE-01 Rev C at 1:100. Scale verified against the figured 21 000 overall and 11 750 depth dimensions.
- Ceiling height 2700 mm assumed unless noted otherwise. Wall areas gross, with no deduction for openings under 2 m².
Inclusions
- Preparation, minor filling and sanding to new plasterboard surfaces.
- Protection of floors, joinery and fixtures, and make good on completion.
- All access within reach of a two-metre platform.
Exclusions
- Room 14 Store, Room 15 Plant and Room 22 Comms — no finish nominated on the plan or the schedule. See RFI 03.
- Corridor 07 beyond the measured extent — see RFI 01.
- Tiled surfaces, floor coverings, ceiling grid and tiles, and all joinery finished off site.
- Remedial work to existing substrates not visible at the time of measurement.
- Out-of-hours or staged work, unless confirmed in writing before the works commence.
Qualifications
- Colours are to the interior designer's schedule, which had not been issued at the time of measurement. A change of sheen level or a dark base colour may alter coat counts.
- Preparation and application in accordance with AS/NZS 2311 and the manufacturer's current technical data sheets.
Costings document — the flag list
.docx · front page of the costings, not an appendixThree items on this set we could not settle from the drawings. Each one is here with where it sits, what it's worth, and what would close it out.
FLAGGED
Corridor 07 — Zone 1 / Zone 4 boundary at grid B
The finishes schedule stops the Zone 1 circulation finish at grid B, but the plan washes the corridor through to grid G. Measured between 99.9 m² and 118.4 m² of wall depending on which you read. The difference is 18.5 m², 2.9 hours and about $381. Taken at the high reading — one cell in the workbook switches it. Ask the builder which document governs.
HELD
Zone 3 extent — Rev C, dated 18.09.26
Rev C revised the Zone 3 extent with no revision note issued. The anti-bacterial coating is priced returning 300 mm above the tiled dado, per note 4. If Rev C raised the dado or extended Zone 3 into room 08, this line moves. Ask for the Rev C revision notes.
HELD
Rooms 14, 15 and 22 — no finish nominated
Store, Plant and Comms appear on neither the plan wash nor the finishes schedule. Excluded rather than assumed — they may be unpainted, or they may want a sealer coat. About 88 m² of wall between them if they come back into scope.
Colour schedule not issued
Note 8 on the sheet says colours are to the interior designer's schedule, which wasn't issued. Priced at two coats throughout. A dark base colour or a sheen change in any zone can add a coat — worth confirming before you sign.
Site scope — the sheet your foreman runs the job off
.docx · printed and carried · carries no pricesMeridian Community Health Centre · Site scope · Sheet CT-SAMPLE-01 Rev C
Every location in the order you walk it. Allowed hours came from measuring the drawing, not from watching anyone work. If actual keeps beating allowed on the same kind of room, that is our estimate to fix — tell us.
Internal — Level 1
| Location | System | Walls m² | Ceil m² | Trim lm | Allowed hr | Actual | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Waiting / entry | Sealer + 2 low sheen · flat to ceiling | 86.4 | 49.9 | 36.8 | 24.0 | ||
| 02 Consult | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 8.5 | ||
| 03 Consult | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 8.5 | ||
| 04 Consult | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 35.1 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 8.5 | ||
| 05 Treatment | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 33.8 | 9.8 | 14.4 | 8.1 | ||
| 06 Procedure | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 32.4 | 9.0 | 13.8 | 7.7 | ||
| 07 Corridor north | Sealer + 2 low sheen · see note below | 118.4 | 29.3 | 42.5 | 26.9 | ||
| 08 Pathology | Sealer + 2 washable semi-gloss | 31.1 | 8.1 | 13.2 | 7.3 | ||
| 09 Specimen | Sealer + 2 anti-bac · return 300 above dado | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 10 Clean utility | Sealer + 2 anti-bac · return 300 above dado | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 11 Dirty utility | Sealer + 2 anti-bac · return 300 above dado | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 12 Accessible WC | Sealer + 2 anti-bac · return 300 above dado | 28.4 | 6.5 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 13 WC | Sealer + 2 anti-bac · return 300 above dado | 27.0 | 5.7 | 11.5 | 6.2 | ||
| 16 Corridor south | Sealer + 2 low sheen · flat to ceiling | 97.2 | 20.9 | 41.4 | 22.4 | ||
| 17 Staff room | Sealer + 2 low sheen | 33.8 | 9.4 | 14.4 | 8.1 | ||
| 18 Lockers | Sealer + 2 low sheen | 25.7 | 5.6 | 10.9 | 5.9 | ||
| 19 Office | Sealer + 2 low sheen | 28.4 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 20 Office | Sealer + 2 low sheen | 28.4 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 6.6 | ||
| 21 Records | Sealer + 2 low sheen | 27.0 | 6.2 | 11.5 | 6.3 | ||
| Measured subtotal | 788.5 | 225.2 | 327.7 | 188.0 | |||
| Set-up, protection, access, make good | 18.0 | ||||||
| Total allowed | 206.0 |
Trim, throughout
Architraves, skirtings and door frames: one coat primer, two coats water-based enamel. 327.7 lineal metres, inside the room hours above.
Do not paint
14 Store · 15 Plant · 22 Comms. No finish nominated on the plan or the finishes schedule, so they are not in the price. If someone on site tells you to paint them, ring the office before you start. That is a variation, not an inclusion.
Before you start
- Corridor 07. The plan and the finishes schedule disagree about how far the Zone 1 finish runs. Priced to grid G, the longer read. Check with the builder before you cut in.
- Zone 3 dado. Anti-bacterial coating returns 300 mm above the tiled dado. If the tiler has raised it, stop and ring.
- Colours. Not issued when this was measured. Priced two coats throughout. A dark base or a sheen change can add a coat.
- Ceiling height 2700 assumed. Anything taller, let us know.
External
None on this job — it is an internal fit-out. Where a job has them, soffits, fascia, barge, gutters, downpipes, eaves linings and walls by elevation come as their own part of this sheet, with the access notes against each one.
Every room comes back graded.
No takeoff is certain the whole way through. Most services quietly pad the uncertain parts, or bury them in an exclusions page nobody reads. Three grades here, and no fourth.
Solid, and we'll stand behind it
Measured and priced normally. You can bid it without thinking about it.
Uncertain, but we can put a range on it
Its own line up front, with the range, the reason and what it's worth in dollars. You choose where in that range to bid. Your risk, your call.
Can't be established from what we were sent
Excluded and written up, with exactly what would close it. Better an honest gap than a confident guess.
If you're leaving something out or pricing it as provisional, put it as its own line rather than a page of exclusions at the bottom, so we can see what we've got.
— a head contractor, on one of our own bidsSend us a tender you're actually bidding. The first one is free.
Not a sample, not a teaser. Your job, your numbers, the full four-document pack exactly as shown above.
- One free takeoff per business. Up to 20 sheets. No card, no subscription, nothing to cancel.
- The complete pack. Excel worksheet, costings document and quote summary — same as a paid job.
- Three working days from the day the drawings land.
- We tell you straight if the drawings aren't good enough to price properly, before we start.
Priced on sheet count. No subscription.
Tendering is lumpy — three in a fortnight, then nothing for a month. No seats, no lock-in, nothing ticking over through a quiet stretch.
- Fit-outs, single-level refurbs, small commercial
- Marked-up drawings, quantity schedule, rate build-up, scope, flag list
- Three working days
- Where most commercial bids land
- Everything in Single
- Separable portions priced as their own lines
- Multi-level and multi-building sets
- Everything in Standard
- Priced portion by portion so you can bid in parts
Australian dollars, excluding GST. Not sure which tier? Send it — we confirm before any work starts.
What this isn't.
Worth knowing before you send anything.
A painter who's still on the tools.
I'm Shane McLeod, I'm fifty-five, and I left school the day I turned fifteen. At sixteen I was on $3.15 an hour at Coles when a painter mate of the family offered me five dollars to come and work for him. I became a painter for a pay rise of a dollar eighty-five an hour.
Ten years on the tools after that, licensed in New South Wales at the time. Good painter, ordinary businessman. So then I set out to learn the business side.
When I came back I took a management job with one of the largest painting contractors in the country. My job there was estimating hours for quoting, and bringing jobs in on target. That is this product. CoatTakeoff is the work I was paid to do for them, done for painters who can't afford to hire someone to do it.
Then I started McLeod's on my own as the only painter, in a town I'd been away from long enough to have no connections left. Two years later there were forty painters on the books across Cairns and Townsville.
The question every takeoff has to survive is where did this rate come from? A bureau can only say "our database". I can tell you what I'm paying a crew this week, because I'm paying one. And I've lost work on measurement I should have taken more care over — which is why every uncertain room on your takeoff gets its own line instead of being buried at the bottom.
If something looks off to you, say so and I'll look at it myself. That isn't a support policy, it's just who answers.
- Trade
- Painting & protective coatings
- Started painting
- 1987, at sixteen
- Based
- Cairns, QLD
- QBCC licence
- 15231701
- NSW licence
- 125063C — held to 2018
- ABN
- 72 645 984 096
- Status
- Currently trading, on the tools
Before you send a set.
I genuinely don't know my hourly rate. Is that a problem?
What do you need from me?
Why three days and not overnight?
What if a takeoff comes back wrong?
Send a set and see what comes back.
The first one is free. Fill in the form above, or email the plans through with the scope you're bidding — we'll confirm everything before any work starts, and tell you straight if the drawings aren't good enough to price.