Step by step
How to make a materials shopping list
A list in square metres is not something you can order from. This is how the measurements become packs, tins, boards and lengths — on one page, in the units a merchant actually sells.
Free to start. One project and three saved calculations. What a project holds →
- 1
Save each calculation into a project
Every calculator has a save block under the result. Name it, pick the project, pick the room.
- ·Leave the room unselected and it saves against the project rather than a room. Useful for anything that belongs to the job rather than one space.
- ·A free account holds one project and three saved calculations.
- 2
Open the shopping list
It is in the main menu under Planning and budgeting, and on the project overview.
- ·One card per saved calculation, with every material line exactly as the calculator worked it out.
- ·Filter by project with the chips at the top when you have more than one.
- 3
Take it to the merchant
Copy list puts it on the clipboard as plain text. Print gives you paper.
- ·The text version pastes into an email or a message to a supplier.
- ·The printed version carries a header and nothing else, so it is readable in a van.
- 4
Or print the whole project
The project document totals quantities across every room, grouped by trade.
- ·Tiles and stone, concrete and screed, paint and surface, timber and boards, insulation, hardware and fixings.
- ·This one sums. The shopping list deliberately does not — see below.
- ·The project PDF needs a paid plan, and carries a watermark unless you are on Pro.
What it is, and what it is not
It does
- ·Every material line, in the unit it is sold in
- ·Waste already inside the quantity
- ·Grouped by project, filterable
- ·Copy as text, or print
- ·The product name you typed, not just "paint"
It does not
- ·Tick items off — there are no check boxes
- ·Let you edit a quantity in place
- ·Export as CSV or a spreadsheet
- ·Sum across calculations (the project document does)
- ·Include tools — those live on the Budget tab
Building something, rather than finishing a room
A deck, a carport or a stud wall drawn in the 3D builder produces its own order list — stock lengths rather than cut lengths, because nesting means you buy fewer, longer pieces than you cut — plus screws, post bases and hangers counted from the model. The builder prints that as a job sheet with your own assembly notes beside it.
What each order is made of
The quantities come from these build-ups, and so does the waste inside them.
Common questions
How do you make a materials list for a renovation?
Work out each surface separately, in the units the material is sold in, then collect them. A list in square metres is not a list you can order from — merchants sell packs, tins, boards and lengths, and the conversion is where waste gets lost. Saving each calculation into one project does the collecting for you.
Does the shopping list add up quantities across rooms?
No, and that is deliberate. A card reads "18 boards × 4.0 m = 76.5 lm", and adding two of those together produces a number that means nothing. The project document does aggregate, grouped by trade, because there the quantities have been reduced to comparable units first.
Can you tick items off as you buy them?
Not yet. It is a list to order from rather than a list to work through — copy it, print it, or send it to a supplier. If you want to track what has actually been bought, log it as an expense against the room, which is what the budget is for.
Does the list include waste?
Yes. Waste is part of each quantity rather than a percentage added at the end, because it varies by material and by pattern — a straight-laid tile floor wastes around 10%, a 45-degree diagonal around 17%. The figure you see is the figure to buy.
What about tools?
Separately, on the Budget tab of a project. It builds a tool list from the trades already in the project and asks Have, Buy or Rent for each one — only what you do not own counts toward the total. Tools are a real cost on a first renovation and belong in the budget rather than the material order.
Free to try — no sign-up, nothing to install. What the estimator covers →