Four steps, one job
A job is the same four steps whoever is doing it: work out what you need, plan it, buy it, build it. The packs below are those four steps, each one holding the pages that do that part of the job. Nothing here is a new tool — it is the way through the ones that already exist.
Start at Calculate if you have not measured yet. If you already have your figures, Plan is where they turn into one list. Everything is free, needs no account, and keeps your measurements in your browser.
Calculate
Get the numbers. Nineteen calculators, each returning a purchasing answer — how many boards, which tins, how many tonnes — with the working behind it.
- All 19 calculators, grouped by jobthe full directory, with search if you would rather type the material
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Walls & ceilings
- Plasterboardsheets, screws, tape and jointing
- Painttins to buy for the coats you are applying
- Brick & blockworkbricks, blocks and mortar
- Wallpaperrolls, including pattern repeats
- Insulationrolls for an area, with waste
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Floors & interiors
- Flooringpacks, underlay, beading and ply
- Carpet & rugsmetres off a roll, with seams
- Kitchen worktoparea to order, mitres and upstand
- Tilesboxes, adhesive, grout and spacers
- Skirting boardlengths, allowing for doorways
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Garden & landscaping
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Groundworks & driveways
- Concretewet volume, cement, sand and aggregate
- Pavingslabs, sub-base, bedding sand and edge
- Mortar & sandsand and cement for a mix
Plan
Turn the numbers into a job: one list for the whole thing, and the working shown so you can check it before you buy.
- Project Planner — one list for the whole jobdescribe the job or add calculations as you go; every material ends up on one list
- Worked example: a 6 × 4 m patiothe planner as it is meant to be used, with the list it produces
- How we got your numbermeasurement, area, coverage, waste, purchase quantity — the five steps every figure goes through
- Calculation basis on every calculatorthe standard product size, waste allowance and rounding rule each page assumes
Buy
Order it once. The shopping list is the part to take to the yard, and the part that stops a second trip.
- The "Don’t forget" checklistthe lines a calculator returns as an estimate or an optional extra, gathered before you order
- What to do with the leftoversunopened bags, part-used tins and spare slabs — what keeps and what does not
- DIY patio materials guidewhat each layer of a patio is for, and the order it goes down
- Sub-base depths guidethe one number people get wrong, and what each depth is for
- How the price-check panels workmerchant names appear as plain text: this site takes no orders and shows no live prices
Build
Do it right. The rules, the safety points and the how-to guides that go with the quantities.
- Site safetythe hazards that actually injure people on jobs like these, and how to cut them down
- Regulations & standardsbuilding regulations and British Standards, summarised with the official source for each
- All how-to guidesincluding the printable PDFs for taking outside
- Building & structurewalls, ceilings and structural work
- Groundworkssub-bases, concrete and drainage
- Interiors & flooringrooms, walls and floors
- Landscaping & gardenlawns, planting beds and decking
- Paving & drivewayspatios, paths and vehicle areas
Where to go next
If you are not sure which pack you want, the homepage starts from the job (“laying a patio”, “plasterboarding a room”), and the Project Planner takes the job in words. Every calculator keeps your measurements in your browser — there is no account and nothing is uploaded. See the privacy policy for the detail.