Tile takeoff software that counts in tiles, not square metres

Every other flooring type on a quote is a number of square metres with a percentage on top. Tile is not bought that way. It is bought by the tile, packed in boxes that hold a whole number of tiles, and laid with two consumables that have to be ordered alongside it. So a tile takeoff in AreaSum carries three things the other types do not: a tile product (size, thickness and box size), a surface (floor or wall), and a lay pattern.

Wastage comes off the pattern rather than off the material: straight 10%, brick bond 12%, diagonal 15%, herringbone 20%, plus 2% for tiles with a side of 600 mm or more and 5% for rooms under 3 m². Set per room and overridable per room, so the herringbone ensuite and the straight-laid living room carry different figures, and your shop's own numbers win when they differ. The trade context is in the tile wastage by pattern entry.

A rectangular room is counted on the grid: whole tiles along each wall, joint included, with the part-tile at the end of a run bought as a tile. A 6.0 by 0.9 m hallway in 250 mm tiles is 24 down and 4 across, 96 before wastage, where dividing the area gives 93. On a hallway that is three tiles; across a job it is a second trip. Polygon rooms use the area method, and the report says which was used.

Boxes come from the tile count, not from dividing the area by the box label, so a room that needs one tile more than six boxes hold is ordered seven. The box coverage entry covers why the label figure is worth checking.

Grout is worked out from the joint volume for your tile size, joint width and thickness, with an allowance for what stays in the bucket and on the float, then rounded to the bag sizes suppliers sell. Adhesive comes off the trowel notch suggested for the tile size and surface, with more where large tiles are back-buttered. Both land on the PDF in whole bags next to the tiles and boxes.

Walls matter: in a bathroom they are most of the tile by area. Upload or draw each elevation as its own page, mark its rooms as wall, and they pick up a 1.5 mm joint and a 6 mm trowel in place of the floor defaults. Floor and wall totals are reported separately for each tile product, on screen and on the export.