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Estimating and material takeoff

# How do you measure a roof and get a material list from the address, without a ladder?

**In the Blue Crane Roofing Division, you type the address and the app measures the roof from Ontario's open lidar and aerial photos: squares, pitch, faces, eaves, hips, valleys and ridge.** It then writes the material list for the roof system you pick, counts every bundle and roll, and prices each line at your supplier's price first. Blue Crane Works builds it in Hamilton, Ontario. No paid aerial report is needed for the first number.

Published 5 November 2026 by Blue Crane Works, Hamilton, Ontario

[Book a 30-minute walkthrough](https://bluecraneworks.ca/solutions.html#contact)
[Call 905-570-5344](tel:+19055705344)

**Data** Ontario lidar

**Systems** Asphalt, steel, flat

**Prices** Yours first

**Report fee** $0

Squares

24.6

Pitch

6/12

Eaves

152 ft

Hips

4 × 21 ft

Ridge

38 ft

Likely within

about 7%

Illustration with sample numbers

## Where does the measurement come from?

From public data the province and others publish, not from a report you pay for per roof. The height of every roof comes from the [Ontario Digital Surface Model (Lidar-Derived)](https://data.ontario.ca/en/dataset/ontario-digital-surface-model-lidar-derived), a lidar survey at half a metre that captures rooftops as well as the ground, published under the [Open Government Licence - Ontario](https://www.ontario.ca/page/open-government-licence-ontario). The outline of the house comes from [Microsoft's open building footprints](https://github.com/microsoft/GlobalMLBuildingFootprints) and [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright), and the pin lands on the right door using [Statistics Canada's Open Database of Addresses](https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/lode/databases/oda) and, where a city publishes one, the city's own address list. Ontario's open aerial photos sit under the drawing so you can see what was measured.

The app then traces the roof on the photo three times, snaps each trace to the lidar heights, and keeps the one that agrees best, saying in plain words which it kept and why.

## How close is the measurement?

Every measure says how close it is likely to be, on screen and on the crew's page. The traced measure is usually within about 7%, and says "check" with about 12% when the traces disagree. When trees or a neighbour's roof hide more than half the roof from the lidar, it does not guess: it says *See it on site* and lists the reasons.

One check we ran in October 2026: a Hamilton house for which a paid aerial report gave 31.4 squares re-measured at 30.6 to 32.4 squares across runs. A first number on the first call is the point. The roof is still confirmed on site before the job is ordered, and the app has a screen for exactly that.

| Figure | Where it comes from | What you can change |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Squares | Each face's area from the traced outline and its lidar slope | Waste allowance, faces left out |
| Pitch | Lidar heights across each face, in twelfths | Any face's pitch |
| Edges | Eaves, rakes, hips, valleys and ridge, in feet | Tap a side to switch hip and gable, type an edge |
| Walls | Where a roof meets a wall, for step and head flashing | Feet of wall, overhang |
| Confidence | How far the three traces agree, and how much is hidden | Confirm on site with your own numbers |

## What goes on the material list?

Everything the crew needs on the truck, counted in the units a yard sells, for the roof system you choose: architectural, 3-tab or designer shingles; steel shingles, ribbed steel or standing seam; or a flat roof in 2-ply SBS, EPDM, TPO or PVC. Shingles come in bundles, underlayment and ice and water in rolls, trims in lengths, fasteners in boxes, each rounded up, with the reason for every line written beside it.

The counts follow the [Ontario Building Code](https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-building-code) where the code sets them. Ice and water shield at the eaves is run in as many 36 inch courses as it takes to reach a line 300 mm inside the wall, and box vents make up what a hip roof's short ridge cannot vent. Flat roofs count parapet feet, drains, scuppers, new polyiso, cover board, vapour retarder and the screws and plates that hold them.

## How does the app price the material list at my supplier's prices?

Your price wins, always. Type your supplier's price for a line once and every estimate after uses it. Where you have not, the app takes a published Southern Ontario price in a fixed order: a store's regular shelf price, then a yard's web price, then a regional building book, and every one of those lines shows the store, the date it was read and the link.

Some materials have no published price anywhere in the region: steel panels and trims, membranes, starter strip and designer shingles are sold at the counter or through a distributor account. Those lines keep their quantity and say *needs a supplier price* until you type yours. The app never fills a gap with a guess, and your labour is priced only from your own rates per square, blank until you set them. At setup we load your supplier's sheet with you.

| Order | Price source | Shown on the line |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Your own price, typed once in Roof prices | Your price |
| 2 | A Hamilton-area store's regular shelf price | Store, date, link |
| 3 | A Southern Ontario yard's or chain's web list price | Yard, date, link |
| 4 | The regional building book, where nothing fresher was found | Book, date |
| None | No published price exists | Needs a supplier price |

## What happens after the roof is measured?

One tap writes the estimate. The measured roof, the material list and your labour go into a priced estimate on your letterhead, and from there into the [proposal, the signature and the deposit](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roofing-proposals-and-payments.html). The Blueprint view draws the plan with every length in feet and inches, the pitch and squares of each face, four elevations and a 3D roof that turns, for the crew or the homeowner. Every measured roof is kept in the roof book, so the next call from the same street starts from the last measure. Already have an estimate written in Excel or as a PDF? The app reads it in rather than making you retype it.

## See it on a roof you already know

Book a 30-minute walkthrough. Bring the address of a roof you have already done, and we measure it with you so you can judge the number against one you know. Then we walk the material list, the proposal, the dispatch board and the crew app, and you tell us how your company works. You leave with a straight answer about what your own app would take and cost. Prices in Canadian dollars, plus HST.

[Book a 30-minute walkthrough](https://bluecraneworks.ca/solutions.html#contact)
[Call 905-570-5344](tel:+19055705344)

## The Roofing Division

1. [**Overview**The whole roofing company in one app](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing.html)

2. [**Measure and material list**Squares, pitch and a priced material list from the address](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roof-measurement-and-material-takeoff.html)

3. [**Proposals and payments**Proposal, signature, deposit and invoices in one place](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roofing-proposals-and-payments.html)

4. [**Inspection and insurance reports**Photos and talk on the roof, one tagged report](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roof-inspection-insurance-reports.html)

5. [**Scheduling and dispatch**Signed roofs onto crews, days and weather](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roofing-scheduling-and-dispatch.html)

6. [**Crew app and time clock**My day, hours, payroll and tickets](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roofing-crew-app.html)

7. [**What it replaces**One app in place of the stack](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roofing-software-vs-legacy-programs.html)

8. [**Southern Ontario coverage**Which lidar survey covers your area](https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/southern-ontario.html)

Talk to the people who build it: [905-570-5344](tel:+19055705344), Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Source: https://bluecraneworks.ca/roofing/roof-measurement-and-material-takeoff