Material calculators that show their work
Type your measurements, get the quantity, and see every step of the math — the same way you'd check a takeoff. No sign-up, nothing to install.
Manufacturer data sheets · published standards · labeled trade conventions
Calculators
Six tools live today. Each one names its sources on the page and shows the intermediate steps.
Concrete
Concrete Bag Calculator
Cubic feet or yards, then whole bags by size — slab, footing, or post holes
Decking
Deck Board & Joist Calculator
Board count by brand width, joists for the span, and waste for cuts
Tile
Grout Calculator
Grout pounds from tile size, joint width, and depth — bag count by product
Tile
Tile Calculator
Tile pieces and square footage with layout waste for the pattern you pick
Drywall
Drywall Sheet Calculator
Sheet count for walls and ceilings by common US panel sizes
Fencing
Fence Calculator
Posts, pickets or panels, rails, and post-hole concrete bags
Why trust the numbers?
Coverage rates and bag yields come from manufacturer data sheets when they exist. Where the trade uses a rule of thumb instead — waste percent, post embedment — that figure is labeled as a convention, not dressed up as a published yield. The full source hierarchy, conflicts we found, and how corrections land is on the methodology page.
Field notes
Longer walkthroughs that sit next to the calculators — not blog filler.
Concrete
How Many Bags of Concrete Do You Actually Need
Cubic feet to bag counts, when ready-mix beats bagging, and why Quikrete’s two post-depth docs disagree.
Decking
How Many Deck Boards Do You Need (And Why Brand Actually Matters)
Covered width vs face width, Trex/TimberTech conflicts, and waste that isn’t a brand yield.