How to Measure Square Footage With Your Phone for a Material Takeoff

Can you measure square footage with your phone for a material takeoff?

Yes. Measure each surface with your phone, multiply length by width, then add a waste factor before you order. For a single room, see how to measure a room with iPhone.

How do you measure floor square footage with your phone for flooring or tile?

Open the Measure app and walk the room’s edges corner to corner, multiplying length by width for floor area. A Pro iPhone’s LiDAR scanner captures the whole floor in one pass. On Android, an ARCore app does the same job.

That raw number is not an order quantity: Shaw Hardwood’s own instructions call for a 5 to 10 percent waste factor, more for diagonal or herringbone installs.

How do you measure wall square footage with your phone for paint or drywall?

Measure each wall’s length and height, multiply for gross square footage, and add the walls together. Then subtract the openings: measure each door and window, and subtract height times width.

Turn a takeoff photo into an itemized estimate, free →

How do you measure a roof’s square footage from the ground with your phone?

You cannot safely walk a roof’s slope to measure it with your phone. Instead, measure the footprint or eave lines from the ground, then convert that flat footprint into actual roof area with a pitch multiplier, derived from rise over a 12 inch run. Read the pitch with a level, then apply the multiplier below.

How do you measure a deck or fence with your phone?

A deck prices by square footage; measure length and width like a floor. A fence prices by linear footage; walk the line and add the runs.

Both run outdoors past where the Measure app and most ARCore apps hold steady. Moasure, a motion sensor tool, covers that range: its own specs put length at up to 1,000 feet, accuracy within 0.5 percent.

iPhone vs Android: what’s different for a material takeoff?

Both platforms measure square footage with your phone. The tools differ.

Google built its own Measure app, then stopped supporting it; the listing no longer resolves. ARCore stays active, and third party apps fill the gap.

How to measure square footage with your phone, start to finish

1. Pick the tool for the surface

   Measure app or ARCore app for a wall or floor. LiDAR scanner on a Pro iPhone for a whole room. Moasure for a long fence, deck, or roof footprint.

2. Measure the surface and record the raw numbers

   Corner to corner for a floor or wall, eave to eave for a roof, run to run for a fence.

3. Apply the waste factor or the pitch multiplier

   Add 5 to 10 percent to flooring per Shaw’s instructions, subtract openings from a wall total, or apply a roof’s pitch multiplier.

4. Turn the takeoff into a priced estimate

   Photograph the space and let SimplyWise Cost Estimator build material, labor, and fee lines. Enter your quantities, adjust, and send the quote.

SimplyWise Cost Estimator for your takeoff

Keep reading

• How to Measure a Room With iPhone: a single space.
• Which iPhones Have LiDAR: the model reference.
• Deck Material Calculator: your deck’s material list.