ProtaSteel : Creating the Material Lists of Steel Structures Elements

Creating Material TakeOff for Steel Structures

Quantity TakeOff

ProtaSteel automatically creates material lists of the whole of the steel structure. "Material Lists" is located under the  "Drawing and Reports" tab. 




Prepare Material Takeoff

User can prepare the material list for (selected or all).
This function will generate 4 Excel Spreadsheets at one time, which are:
If you leave any object selected, a material list will be prepared for only those selected objects. 
  1. Material Plate List: This command creates the material plate list. Material quality, surface area and weight of the materials are included in the excel list.

  1. Material Profile List : This command creates breakdown of the material profile list. Material quality, weight, quantity and surface area of the materials are included in the excel list.  

  1. Material Profile List - Summary: This command creates a summary table of the profiles. All material weights and surface areas are included in this excel list.   
  1. Material Rib List: This command creates the anchor bolt list. Material quantities, weights, and lengths of the anchor bolts are included in the excel list.  


Part Assembly List:

User can prepares part and assembly list for (selected or all) objects.  
If "Exclude from Detailing" field is checked; those objects will be skipped. 
    1. Profile Plate Part List

    1. Rebar Part List

    1. Assembly List


List Assembly Subparts

    1. Assembly Subparts : List all the parts in all of the assemblies.


Prepare Bolt List 

    1. Bolt Reports : Prepares bolt list for the (selected or all) bolts.  
If you leave any object selected, a material list will be prepared for only those selected objects. 



Prepare Assembly Bolt List

User can prepares assembly bolt list for (selected or all) objects.

Then the newly opened excel file shows the material list for all profiles, plates, bolts and solids. 
If you leave any object selected, a material list will be prepared for only those selected objects. 



Prepare Washer/ Sloped Washer List

User can prepares washer/Sloped list for (selected or all) bolts. 



Generate Steel Members Quantity Takeoff Table

Method 1

To generate quantity takeoff of steel members which sorting by sections used in project, please refer to following steps:-
  1. Go to Drawings & Report > Material Takeoff > Prepare Material Takeoff
  2. Click "OK" on the the Group Selector Dialog. 
  3. Two Quantity Takeoff Tables (with different format) will automatically export as CSV file. 
Snapshot below is an example of reports using Method 1 to generate the quantity takeoff tables. 


Method 2
To generate quantity takeoff of steel members which sorting by sections & members (e.g. beams, purlins, etc) used in project, please refer to following steps:-
  1. Go to Drawings & Reports > Steel Detailing > Gross Profile Material List
  2. Select corresponding format and units, and click "Execute Report".
  3. Click "Save" to export generated report as CSV file. 
For ProtaSteel 2019 or older version, exported CSV file data is not in table form, you will need to use excel function "Text to Column" to change it into table format. 


Snapshot below is an example of reports using Method 2 to generate the quantity takeoff table. 
For ProtaSteel 2019, table is required to be edited using "Text to Column" function in MS Excel. 


Quantities generated in both methods is not including cuts, connections, unions, and wastage. 
Tips: How to use "Text To Columns" in MS Excel: