Disclaimer

Independent, third-party operator

MaterialMath is built and operated independently. It is not a manufacturer, retailer, trade association or government body, and nothing on this site should be read as coming from one. Where a product, brand or standard is named — a manufacturer's data sheet, the International Residential Code, ASTM, and others — it is cited as a public source, not as a partner, sponsor or endorser of this site.

Treat every number this site produces as a researched reference estimate, not a final or authoritative determination. It exists to help you plan and budget. The final word on quantities, code compliance and safety belongs to your supplier, your building department, and a licensed professional where one is required.

What these tools are

MaterialMath publishes material quantity and cost estimators for planning and budgeting. They apply published formulas and published figures to the dimensions you enter. They are useful for deciding what to buy, comparing options, and sanity-checking a quote.

What they are not

• Not an engineered design. Nothing here sizes a structural member, checks a load path, or verifies that an assembly will carry what you intend to put on it. The deck and rebar calculators in particular produce quantities from prescriptive tables, not from analysis.
• Not a code compliance determination. Where a tool checks a dimension against a code limit — the stair calculator most obviously — it checks against the model code as published, cited on the page. Your jurisdiction adopts a version of that code, may amend it, and frequently lags publication by years. Only your building department can tell you what applies to your project.
• Not a professional takeoff. Estimates assume simple geometry. Real buildings have jogs, openings, out-of-square walls, uneven ground and site conditions that no dimension you can type into a form will capture.
• Not financial or tax advice. Cost figures are your own prices multiplied by computed quantities. They include no labour, delivery, disposal, permit, tax or contingency unless you enter them.
• Not a safety assessment. Several of these tools relate to work that can injure or kill — roofing at height, excavation near buried utilities, structural framing, HVAC and electrical adjacent decisions. Nothing here evaluates whether the work is safe for you to do.

Verify before you buy or build

Always confirm quantities against your own measurements and your supplier's actual pack sizes before ordering. Product coverage varies by brand, by production run, and by site conditions. The figures used here are typical published values, and each page states its sources and the date they were checked.

For anything structural, safety-critical, or requiring a permit, engage a licensed engineer, architect or contractor. For anything where a code limit applies, confirm the requirement with your building department before you cut, pour or fasten.

Accuracy and updates

Every rate, coverage figure and code limit on this site carries the date it was last verified, shown in the page footer and in the sources list. We correct errors as quickly as we can once they are reported, and we welcome sourced corrections — see the contact page.

Despite that, figures change. Manufacturers reformulate products and revise coverage. Codes are amended. A figure that was correct when verified may not be correct when you read it. The verification date is there so you can judge for yourself how much weight to put on it.

Limitation of liability

MaterialMath provides this site and its calculators "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and accuracy.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, MaterialMath accepts no liability for any loss or damage — including but not limited to over-ordering, under-ordering, wasted material, project delay, failed inspection, rework, property damage or injury — arising from the use of, or reliance on, any calculation, figure or statement on this site.

You are responsible for verifying that any quantity, dimension or method is appropriate for your project and compliant with the requirements that apply to it.

External links

This site links to manufacturers, standards bodies and government agencies as sources. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or availability. Some outbound links to retailers are affiliate links; where they appear, they are disclosed. Affiliate relationships never affect what a calculator computes.

Last updated 2026-08-04.