About Cut and Count

We build material takeoff calculators for construction and home improvement projects — tools that produce a complete parts list, not a single number.

Why this exists

Almost every project estimator online works the same way: take an area, divide by a material size, add a flat percentage, print a total. It is fast, and it falls apart the moment you take it to a supplier. It does not tell you how many joist hangers to buy, how many bags of concrete the footings need, or how many balusters keep the guard legal.

We think the useful output is the itemised list — and the reasoning behind it. If you can see why a number is what it is, you can judge whether it applies to your project. If you cannot, you are just trusting a black box with your money.

How the calculators are built

The calculations live in a single tested engine rather than being written separately into each page. Every formula is covered by automated tests written against examples worked out by hand, and no calculator ships while those tests are failing. When we change a formula we work the new example by hand first, rather than adjusting the expected value to match whatever the code now produces.

The methodology page documents every assumption, constant and source we use.

Editorial approach

Our guides are drafted with AI assistance and then checked against the calculation engine and the cited sources before publication. Numbers in our articles come from the same tested engine that powers the tools, so an article and a calculator cannot disagree. Pages carry the date they were last verified.

Where a figure depends on local code, local climate, or a structural judgement, we say so and point you to your building department instead of guessing. We would rather publish fewer numbers than publish confident wrong ones.

What we are not

We are not engineers, and this site is not engineering advice. Our estimates are for planning and budgeting. Permits, inspections, structural sizing and code compliance are between you, your contractor, and your local building department.

Contact

Corrections, questions and requests for new calculators are all welcome: hello@cutandcount.com. See the contact page.