MeasureSquare has been a leader in digital takeoff and estimating solutions for over 20 years. When paired with MeasureSquare CRM, your takeoff data becomes significantly more powerful, enabling automation, eliminating double-entry, and streamlining your entire workflow.

This section covers how MeasureSquare’s takeoff platforms integrate with the CRM, best practices for handling materials and labor, and how to leverage MeasureSquare Web.

1. Takeoff Platforms

MeasureSquare offers several top-tier takeoff systems:

• MeasureSquare 8
  
  

• MeasureSquare Mobile
  
  

• MeasureSquare Stone
  
  

• MeasureSquare Web — a web-based takeoff solution embedded directly in the CRM
  
  

When used alongside MeasureSquare CRM, these platforms become part of a unified pipeline that connects takeoff, estimating, proposals, purchasing, and project management — all without retyping or duplicating data.

In the CRM we call our takeoff files Diagrams (you can always customize the names of your modules in Settings -> Modules), but we’ll do our best to merge the terms for the purposes of this guide.

2. MeasureSquare Cloud

To maximize collaboration and eliminate file-related issues, we strongly recommend storing all takeoff projects on the MeasureSquare Cloud.

Benefits of using the Cloud:

• Shareable 3D Viewer links for your team, customers, and installers
  
  

• Automated project backups
  
  

• Automatic project sharing across users or teams
  
  

• A single, consolidated list of takeoff files
  
  

• Reduced errors — especially duplicate file versions
  
  

Once you upload a takeoff project into MeasureSquare CRM, it is automatically saved to the cloud. Because of this, cloud storage is the safest and most efficient method for managing takeoff projects.

To ensure that all of your projects are stored and edited on the cloud, you need to follow typical cloud-syncing practices: you'll need to make sure you sync the project before your updates are available on the cloud.

Resources:

3. Using MeasureSquare Takeoff with MeasureSquare CRM

Regardless of your current habits in MeasureSquare 8, Mobile, or Stone, introducing the CRM takes your data utilization to a new level:

No more double-entry — truly.

When you follow best practices, your team will only enter information once, and it will flow automatically into:

• Estimates
  
  

• Proposals
  
  

• Price Requests
  
  

• Purchase Orders
  
  

• Work Orders
  
  

• Closeout documents
  
  

For this reason, it’s often helpful to revisit how you use MeasureSquare 8. Any product information you enter during takeoff—such as vendor, trade, or selling unit—will save you time downstream in the CRM.

4. Performing Your Takeoff

Performing the takeoff is a skill in itself, and we have plenty of resources to help you get started on that side of things.

Free On-Boarding:
When purchasing a license you will receive two free 30 minute training sessions. This can be scheduled with your Customer Success Rep, if you have any questions about it you can always reach out to us at support@measuresquare.com.

Udemy:
We currently have free Udemy starting classes for each of our takeoff products. These are designed for beginners or as refreshers of the program. They're great if you have little to no knowledge of the different Measure Square platforms. All you have to do is sign up via one of the links below. 

Udemy MeasureSquare 8 Commercial Class

Udemy MeasureSquare Mobile for iPad Class

Udemy MeasureSquare Stone and Tile Class

YouTube Playlists:
We are always uploading and updating our YouTube playlists for all platforms. You can watch these videos at your own pace and pause at any time. 

Commercial Playlist

iPad Playlist

Stone Playlist

Knowledge base articles:
Our knowledge base is updated constantly, it is also another great resource that you can use at your own pace.

You can find our knowledge base here. 

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5. Product Database Creation & Management

Now that you're using MeasureSquare CRM, your product database is even more impactful than it is during the takeoff phase. Your product data originates within the takeoff, and then is passed to your proposal (Quote or Bid). When the job is awarded, that same product data is passed from your proposal, to your Submittals, Purchase Orders, and Work Orders. Eventually it can even be used on Change Orders, Invoices, Bills, and your Schedule of Values. The point is, you want the data behind your products to be polished and precise. 

On each project, you'll need to build out your Project Items list according to the needs of the job. 
The purpose of the Product Database is to reduce the amount of time it takes to build out this Project Items list.
With this in mind, your particular product database needs will depend on your company and what types of work you do.

Commercial Contractors:

Most commercial subcontractors are dealing with unique products on every single project, with very little overlap on any products outside of typical sundries and trims. In talking to these contractors, we've also found that commercial users do not end up utilizing product-specific reporting at any point during the process. 

They simply do not need to house a massive database of products. The creation and management of these databases often outweigh the benefits they provide. 

If you're a commercial contractor that currently maintains a complex database, you should ask yourself: are we really using this data? If the answer is yes, keep it up. If not, you can consider simplifying your product management process.

These facts lead us towards Measure Square's official best-practice for commercial contractors using the product database: creating generic product templates.

When creating your database, you're trying to account for 95% of the scenarios that you'll run into on a typical project. This means you can start with the basics.
If you're a commercial flooring contractor, you may want to start by creating products for LVT, Ceramic Tile, and Sheet Vinyl among other things.

On a project where you need to install Ceramic Tile, you'll simply use the pre-built Ceramic Tile product from your database instead of creating a new one within your project.

To really meet the 'best-practices' standard, you'll also want to utilize add-on products within each of these templates. At the very least this will save you a few seconds each time you use the template.
In some of the more extreme cases, such as Sheet Vinyl with Flash Coving, your addon products can save you several minutes upon use.

When I apply my Sheet Vinyl template to a room, it will also include:
 - Cove Cap, Cove Former, Power Tape, and Flash Cove Labor around the perimeter of the room
 - It will include Weld Rod and Weld Rod Labor on the seams of the room.
 - And of course it will apply (Adhesive and Sheet Vinyl Labor) to the area of the room.

You can also build-in other scenarios such as floor prep (i.e. pre-create an LVT product with patch underneath), or prepare for situations where you'll need a lot of different templates (i.e. A large tile project with 14 grout colors, some epoxy grout, some mastic, etc).

The point is, you want to map your team's knowledge into your Measure Square Product Database. It will save you significant time on every single project.

Through the MeasureSquare Cloud, you're also able to share product databases throughout your team, and control who is allowed to make modifications to the database.

This article shows how you are able to share a created Product Catalog with other users, allowing them to use what someone else has created and to receive updates to those catalogs at the click of a button.
How do I share a profile or product catalog to other user via MeasureSquare Cloud?

6. Figuring Material Products in MeasureSquare

Different teams use takeoffs differently: some enter every detail during the takeoff, while others only capture quantities and complete the details elsewhere. With the CRM in place, the more complete your product data is at the takeoff stage, the more automation you unlock later.

Fields you should fill out for every material product:

1. Vendor

• Enables automation for Price Requests and Purchase Orders.
  
  

2. Trade

• Allows sorting proposals by trade and enhances Work Order automation.
  
  

3. Sell By

• Defines how the product is sold (e.g., box, roll, pallet).

• Converts base units (SqFt, SqYd, LnFt, Each) into selling units (Cartons, Boxes, Pieces, Buckets, etc.)

• Automatically rounds usage up to the next full selling unit.

Example: Carpet tile might be measured in SqYd but sold by the Box. Setting “Sell By: Box” ensures accurate purchasing and prevents under-ordering by rounding up to the next full box.

Of course there are other (more obvious) mandatory fields such as the name, description, waste, and sizing information. 

Using Add-Ons in either MeasureSquare 8 or MeasureSquare Mobile

Be sure to attach adhesives, labor, trims, and accessory items using MeasureSquare’s Add-On System. This ensures that all necessary materials are automatically included in takeoff and carried into the CRM.

Link: How to use add-ons in MeasureSquare 8
Link: How to use add-ons in MeasureSquare Mobile

7. Figuring Labor Products in MeasureSquare

MeasureSquare CRM’s labor system is flexible enough to match the wide variety of workflows used in the flooring industry. Labor can be automatically calculated using the Add-On System in MeasureSquare 8/Mobile.

Key best practice:

Pay special attention to the Trade field for labor products — this is what enables the CRM to automatically create Work Orders.
(Example: all Tile labor → Tile Work Order)

Custom Labor Units and Conversions

MeasureSquare supports custom units beyond square footage or linear footage.

Example:
If you want to calculate labor by Days instead of square yards:

1. Set Sell By: Days
   
   

2. Enter your SY per Day rate (e.g., 95 SY/Day)
   
   

3. Choose the rounding increment (e.g., quarter-day)
   
   

The system will then:

• Convert the takeoff quantity into Days
  
  

• Apply your rounding rule
  
  

• Provide consistent labor calculations across all projects
  
  

You can use the same approach to convert labor into Hours, Shifts, or other units.

Build Labor Into Templates

Ideally, labor products should be pre-built inside your Product Catalog.
This allows your team to:

• Use standardized labor items
  
  

• Eliminate repetitive setup
  
  

• Maintain consistent pricing and calculations
  
  

Link: How to use add-ons in MeasureSquare 8
Link: How to use add-ons in MeasureSquare Mobile

8. MeasureSquare Web

MeasureSquare Web is the CRM’s built-in, browser-based takeoff system. You can access it through any CRM Diagram by clicking Edit. It closely resembles MeasureSquare 8 and supports:

• Drawing or AI-generating rooms
  
  

• Creating and applying products
  
  

• Managing tile patterns
  
  

• Generating cut sheets
  
  

• Making quick edits on existing diagrams
  
  

Who should use it?

MeasureSquare Web is ideal for:

• Project Managers
  
  

• Sales staff
  
  

• Team members who need quick edits
  
  

• Users who do not perform full-time estimating
  
  

Performance Considerations

Because it is web-based, MeasureSquare Web may slow down on large or complex projects.
  For takeoffs larger than ~5,000 SqFt, use MeasureSquare 8 instead.

Accessing MeasureSquare Web

To open a diagram in MeasureSquare Web:

1. Open any Diagram in the CRM
   
   

2. Click Edit