Quick Answer: Count bricks and blocks, mortar, and wall ties per wall type. CyanBuild reads your masonry drawings, measures each masonry wall in square feet, applies the bond pattern and unit size from the notes to compute brick or block count, and sizes mortar, wall ties, and joint reinforcement per wall type. Each line item carries a confidence flag so your estimator knows what to verify.
Masonry takeoff is the process of measuring every quantity on a masonry plan, the units your trade actually bills on. Done by hand it means counting symbols one by one and tracing runs with a scale wheel, which is slow and error prone. AI reads the same drawings in seconds and reports the same quantities, with the math shown for every number. CSI Division 04 covers masonry, and most of what you bill on lives in the wall schedules, elevations, and notes.
CyanBuild measures masonry quantities off the scaled PDF, DWG, or image. The result is a line item takeoff tied back to the sheet and location it came from, so your bid is defensible and your order is accurate.
What Trade Specific Takeoff Means for Masonry
Trade specific takeoff for masonry means counting what a mason actually orders and lays, not what a general contractor assumes is on the wall. A GC takeoff might stop at square footage. A masonry takeoff breaks that wall into modular brick, engineered brick, CMU, half units, soap units, lintel block, bond beam block, mortar by type, joint reinforcement, wall ties, flashing, weeps, and sealants. Each has a unit cost and a waste factor that only a mason knows.
It also means reading the bond pattern. A running bond lays more units per square foot than a stack bond, and a Flemish bond lays a different mix of headers and stretchers than either. The note that says 1/3 running bond changes your count. The note that says tooled concave joint changes your mortar volume. Good takeoff software reads these notes and applies them, instead of handing you a raw square foot number that you correct by hand.
The architect typically calls out wall type, fire rating, bond pattern, mortar type, reinforcement spacing, and flashing locations all on one wall type schedule. Your takeoff has to pull all of that per wall type and roll it into a count. Generic on screen takeoff tools stop at area. Trade specific masonry takeoff software turns that area into an order.
What Counts on the Drawings
On a masonry set you pull from floor plans, exterior elevations, wall type schedules, structural sections, and masonry notes. Floor plans give wall lengths and openings. Elevations give wall heights and parapets. Wall type schedules give unit size, bond, mortar type, reinforcement, and fire rating.
The quantities you typically count include clay brick by type and size, CMU by size from 4 to 12 inch, mortar by type N S or M, joint reinforcement by linear foot, wall ties by count, bond beams and lintels by linear foot, flashing at base heads sills and copings, weeps and vents by count, and control joints and sealant by linear foot.
Openings cut your count down but add lintels, sills, and flashing. A wall that looks like 100 square feet on plan might net to 80 square feet after a door and two windows, plus three lintels, three sills, and three flashing runs. Software that only nets area misses the lintels and flashing, which is where masonry bids lose money.
What Good Takeoff Software Does for Masonry
Good masonry takeoff software reads the scaled drawing, reads the wall type schedule, and ties the two together. You trace or select a wall, and the tool knows from the schedule that it is an 8 inch CMU running bond with Type S mortar, joint reinforcement at 16 inches on center, and wall ties at 24 inches on center. It computes the block count, mortar volume, joint reinforcement length, and tie count in one pass, and shows the math.
It handles openings automatically. When a wall has a door or window, the tool subtracts the opening area from the unit count and adds the lintel, sill, and flashing runs. You should not have to manually subtract every door and then add every lintel. That is where hand takeoff breaks down and where software earns its keep.
It separates veneer from backup. A composite wall might be 4 inch brick veneer tied to 8 inch CMU backup with an air gap. Your count has to treat those as two separate walls with two material lists, tied together by the wall tie count. Software that lumps them into one wall gives you one wrong number instead of two right ones.
It carries confidence flags. AI takeoff tools vary in accuracy, and masonry drawings are messy. A flag that says this wall count is High confidence because the schedule was clear, versus Low confidence because the bond pattern was not noted, tells your estimator where to spend their review time. Low confidence lines show the math and the assumption made, so the estimator verifies in seconds.
Must Have Features for Masonry Takeoff
- Wall type schedule reading, so the tool pulls unit size, bond, mortar type, and reinforcement per wall type instead of asking you to retype it
- Opening detection that subtracts area from the unit count and adds lintels, sills, and flashing automatically
- Veneer and backup separation, so a composite wall counts as two walls tied by the tie count
- Bond pattern application, so running, stack, Flemish, and 1/3 running bonds each compute the correct units per square foot
- Joint reinforcement, wall tie, and weep counts driven by the spacing in the notes, not a default you override
- Linear takeoff for bond beams, lintels, flashing, control joints, and sealant, tied to the same wall selection
- Confidence flags on every line, with the math shown for Low confidence items
- Export to Excel or PDF with every quantity tied to its sheet and location
What to Watch Out For
Watch for software that only counts square feet and leaves the unit conversion to you. That is a generic area tool, not a masonry takeoff tool. If you still have to multiply area by units per square foot by hand, you are doing the takeoff the software is supposed to do.
Watch for tools that ignore the wall type schedule. If the tool asks you to manually enter the bond pattern and mortar type for every wall, it is not reading the drawing, it is reading your typing. Schedule reading is what separates trade specific software from generic on screen measurement.
Watch for tools that do not separate veneer from backup. A single wall count on a composite wall is wrong for both the brick and the block, and it misses the tie count entirely. If the tool cannot handle a wall type with two wythes, it cannot handle modern masonry.
Watch for AI takeoff with no confidence flags. AI is fast but it is not always right, and masonry drawings have ambiguities the AI has to guess at. If the tool gives you a number with no flag and no math, you cannot defend it in a bid review and you cannot tell which lines to verify.
How CyanBuild Fits
CyanBuild reads masonry drawings in PDF, DWG, DXF, or image format and produces a line item takeoff covering brick and CMU counts by type and size, mortar by type, joint reinforcement, wall ties, bond beams, lintels, flashing, weeps, and control joints. It reads the wall type schedule, applies the bond pattern and unit size, separates veneer from backup, and handles openings by subtracting area and adding lintels. Every line carries a High, Medium, or Low confidence flag, with the math shown for Low confidence items. Export goes to Excel or PDF with every quantity tied to its sheet and location.
Putting It Together
Masonry takeoff is not square footage. It is units, mortar, reinforcement, ties, and flashing, counted per wall type and adjusted for openings. Good software reads the schedule, applies the bond and unit size, separates veneer from backup, handles openings, and flags what it is unsure about. That turns a masonry drawing into a defensible bid and an accurate order. Start with the wall type schedule, let the software carry the bond and unit math, and spend your review time on the Low confidence lines.