How it works

The same steps a quantity surveyor and an LCA consultant would follow, done automatically, with every number left open for you to check.

  1. Drop in the drawings

    Vector PDFs exported from CAD, whole design packages as zip or rar files, scanned sets, or photos of the sheets.

  2. Check what was read

    A review screen lists every page, what it was, and anything that could not be read. You fill in the gaps before the numbers are used.

  3. See the carbon and lower it

    Results by material and by assembly, with ranked swaps and the rules for your region.

  4. Hand it on

    Reports and data in the formats builders, reviewers and LCA practitioners already use.

1. Reading the drawings

Each page is identified by its sheet number and discipline. Floor areas come from the area tables, building length and width from the plan's dimension strings, wall heights from sections and level markers, and window and door sizes from the schedules. Wall, floor and roof build-ups come from the assembly schedule.

When a CAD export draws its notes as lines instead of text, or the set is a scan, the pages are read as images instead. Sets with dozens of sheets take a few minutes this way, and the screen shows the progress.

2. Measuring the materials

Quantities come from plain geometry, the same arithmetic an estimator does by hand:

  • Wall area is the perimeter times the wall height, less the windows and doors.
  • Concrete is slab area times thickness, plus footings and foundation walls.
  • Framing follows the stud and joist spacing on the drawings.
  • Insulation is counted by area and R-value, the way EPDs declare it.

Where the drawings are silent, the gap is filled from the building code minimums or a researched typical value for the region. Those lines are labelled assumed and listed, so nothing is hidden.

3. Turning quantities into carbon

Each quantity is matched to a published A1 to A3 factor from an environmental product declaration (EPD) or a recognised industry dataset, converted into that EPD's own unit, and multiplied out. The source, unit, geography and validity of every factor are shown on its line.

Factors live in a database, not in the calculation, so a supplier's own EPD can replace a generic one in a few clicks. Transport to site (A4) and construction waste (A5) are reported separately, and carbon stored in wood is shown on its own, never subtracted.

4. Lowering it before the spec is locked

Like-for-like swaps are ranked by the carbon they save. Apply one and every result updates, and the change is logged with its effect so the printed report shows the design as drawn and as improved. Prices you enter put cost next to carbon on every swap. Where materials are bought from changes the transport figure.

5. Reports people can use

  • Full report: project details, results, charts, changes, the rules for your region and the full bill of quantities.
  • Submission package: the report with Excel and raw data, laid out in the order the NRC whole-building LCA guidelines use.
  • Builder takeoff: an Excel workbook of quantities, carbon and changes.
  • Home carbon label: one page for buyers, lenders and municipalities.

Results are A1 to A3 estimates for decisions and screening. Where a city requires a signed assessment, the export is built to be carried into BEAM, MCE2 or Athena by a qualified practitioner.

See it run on your own plans

Send us a drawing set and we will walk you through the takeoff and the carbon result in 20 minutes.

Book a demo