Quantity Take-Off Methods

Quantity Take-Off Methods

Civil Engineering PE Exam – Quantity Take-Off Methods
Copyright ©All Rights Reserved

No part of this material may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews, without written permission.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this material may have changed since publication and may no loner be valid.

Any resemblance in the images in this material to actual people or locations is merely coincidental. Images in this material may not be reprinted, copied, modified, reproduced, published, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or utilized in any other manner without written permission.


I. Project Planning

A. Quantity Take-Off Methods

Quantity Take-Off Methods require detailed measurements of a building’s components, materials, and construction labor to determine a scope of work required and a cost estimate of the construction project. The values for Quantity Take-Off Methods are typically measured and calculated by building construction estimators using the construction documents, building plans, and specifications to determine the scope and cost estimate.

Quantity Take-Off Methods on the Civil Engineering PE Exam will test your ability to measure and calculate various building materials or components such as:

  • Building Materials
    • Roofing
    • Walls
    • Flooring
  • Site Development
    • Soil cut and fill
    • Landscaping
    • Hardscaping
  • Structure
    • Steel
    • Concrete
    • Wood (Timber)
  • Foundations
    • Retaining Walls
    • Footings

Helpful resources in preparing for these questions are:

  1. Learn Civil Engineering – further instructions and guidance as well as several practice problems.
  2. Cost Estimation – the Project Management for Construction website.
  3. Cost Estimating – the Whole Building Design Guide website, a program of the National Institute of Building Sciences.
  4. Glossary of Construction Cost Estimating – Wikipedia glossary of terms related to construction cost estimating.

The ability to know which unit of measure is needed and to calculate various quantities is a must-have skill for these types of questions.

For example:

  • Earthwork – measured in cubic yards (PowerPoint presentation)
  • Concrete – measured in cubic yards
  • Masonry – measured in number of bricks or blocks
  • Mortar – measured in cubic feet
  • Lumber – measured in board feet (Board feet = (thickness x width x length) ÷ 144)
  • Roofing – measured in square feet
  • Siding, Flooring, etc. – measured in square feet
  • Structural Steel – measured in pounds or tons

Quantity Take-Off Methods

Civil Engineering PE Exam Resources
NCEES
Contact Us

Civil Engineering Structural PE Crunch Time

A 30-Day Plan to Prepare for the
Civil Engineering Structural PE Exam

Civil Engineering Structural PE Crunch TimeClick HERE for more Civil Engineering Structural PE Crunch Time Resources

Checklist:

  1. Graduated from an ABET accredited engineering program … check
  2. Passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam … check
  3. Worked under the supervision of a Licensed Professional Engineer for at least four years … check
  4. Applied for and received approval from your State’s Engineering Board to sit for the examination … check
  5. Registered with NCEES to take the Civil Engineering PE Exam … check
  6. Studied and prepared diligently for the past two to three months … oops!

Items 1 thru 5 were relatively easy.
You went to college, got your Engineering Degree, and passed the FE Exam in your senior year.
You then took an Engineer-In-Training position and put in your four years learning to be a practicing engineer.
Your supervisors and co-workers then began encouraging you to pursue professional licensing.
So you filled out the paperwork, contacted to your local board, and got approved for the exam.
You applied to NCEES, paid the fees, and have a reserved spot on exam day.
But then something happened.

Life. Work. Stuff.

No matter how hard you tried; no matter how dedicated you meant to be; you just haven’t been able to prepare.

The exam is in little over a month.

Panic.

There’s still time if you’re willing to put in the effort and commit to giving it your best effort.

  • This plan is aggressive.
  • You won’t have much of a life outside of work for the next month, but that’s a small price to pay to prepare for the exam.
  • You will have to work hard.

If this is your situation and you’re ready to make this happen, let’s get started …


Each day is listed below with specific topic(s) to study.

Each topic will require:

Some of the topics are hot-links to:

  • useful information (i.e. research and resource gathering)
  • sample or practice problems (i.e. problem solving)

We highly encourage you to print what you find (information, examples, charts, sample problems, etc.) and organize into binders for easy retrieval prior to exam-day.

It’s Civil Engineering Structural PE Crunch Time


PROJECT PLANNING

Day 1


MEANS AND METHODS

Day 2


SOIL MECHANICS

Day 3

Day 4


STRUCTURAL MECHANICS

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7


HYDRAULICS AND HYDROLOGY

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10


GEOMETRICS

Day 11


MATERIALS

Day 12

Day 13


SITE DEVELOPMENT

Day 14

Day 15


ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES
Loads and Load Applications

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Forces and Load Effects

Day 20

Day 21


DESIGN AND DETAILS OF STRUCTURES
Materials and Material Properties

Day 22

Component Design and Detailing

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26


CODES AND CONSTRUCTION
Codes, Standards, and Guidance Documents

Day 27

Day 28

Temporary Structures and Other Topics

Day 29

Day 30


Civil Engineering Structural PE Crunch Time

Civil Engineering PE Exam Resources
NCEES
Contact Us