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The short version
Split demolition from new work before the first click. Give each device family its own count and its own search. Check fixtures against the fixture schedule and panels against the one-line. Measure conduit to scale, count homeruns where they leave the plan, and reconcile the whole set against the panel schedule.
The technique for running the search itself, and checking what it missed, is in How to count symbols on a drawing. The rest of the Revu workflow, scale and totalling the markups, is in How to do a takeoff in Bluebeam Revu.
Watch it run
The estimator asks for the count in plain English, and each count lands on the sheet as a native Revu markup they can edit.
Electrical takeoff, in order
Split demolition from new work before you count anything
The same receptacle symbol on the demolition sheet and the power plan means the opposite thing, and a search run across the whole set adds them together into one number that is wrong in a way that looks plausible. Settle demolition, new work and existing-to-remain first, and name every count by which one it is.
This matters more on electrical than on most trades, because the symbol genuinely does not change between the two conditions. A wall gets drawn differently when it comes out; a duplex receptacle does not.
Decide what one symbol means, one device family at a time
A floor plan can carry a simplex, a duplex, a quad and a GFCI receptacle, four different symbols and four different prices, drawn close enough together that a search boxed too loosely returns a mix of all four. Fixtures, switches and panels are their own families with their own variation.
Treat each family as its own count with its own name before you place the first mark. A count called "Recept" answers nothing about which of the four it is; a count called "Recept, duplex, new work, 120V" survives being read by somebody else next week.
| Device family | Variety | Confirmed on |
|---|---|---|
| Receptacles | Simplex, duplex, quad, GFCI | Panel schedule, circuit by circuit |
| Light fixtures | One symbol per type, by tag | Fixture schedule |
| Switches and controls | Single-pole, three-way, dimmer | Panel and fixture schedule together |
| Panels and equipment | One symbol, drawn once | One-line or riser diagram |
| Conduit and homeruns | A run in LF, a homerun by count | Measured to scale; homeruns counted where they leave the plan |
Count fixtures against the fixture schedule, not by eye
A light fixture symbol repeats across a floor, and what it means is written on the fixture schedule on another sheet, not on the plan itself: type, wattage, mounting. A tag on the plan with no matching row on the schedule is a hard stop, not a guess.
Read the schedule before you count, so every fixture family already has a name that matches a real line item, and a tag the schedule does not carry gets flagged rather than counted into a type it might not be.
Let a visual search find the volume, one family at a time
Box up one clean instance of a single device, run the search, turn the matches into counts, then start the next family. A selection that mixes two receptacle types is a selection the search cannot tell apart either.
The checking discipline is the same one How to count symbols on a drawing covers in full: look for the instance with no mark on it rather than trusting the number the panel hands back, and take the legend and any typical details out of the total before you read it.
Locate panels on the plan, size them on the one-line
A panel gets one symbol on the power plan, which tells you where it sits. What it actually is, the circuits it carries and the equipment it feeds, is on the one-line or riser diagram, usually a different sheet entirely.
Counting the plan symbol without reading the one-line prices where the gear goes and misses what the gear is. Both sheets are part of this count, not one of them.
Measure conduit to scale, count homeruns where they leave the plan
Conduit is a length trade hiding inside a counting trade. Runs get measured to the sheet scale in linear feet, the same discipline as any other trade’s length work, and the scale check belongs here as much as anywhere else.
A homerun is the point where a circuit leaves the visible plan on its way to the panel, so it gets counted where the line stops on the sheet rather than traced as wire the drawing never actually shows.
Reconcile every family against the panel schedule
The panel schedule lists circuits, and often the device load on each one. A gap between what the plan shows and what the schedule carries is real information: a revision that landed on one sheet and not the other, a circuit added late, a device moved to a different panel.
The count is not finished when the search is finished. It is finished when it agrees with a source that was not the drawing, and a disagreement is a question for an RFI, worth more to the bid than the count on its own.
Counting demolition and new work into one number
The same symbol appears on both sheets and means the opposite thing on each. Decide it in step 01 or carry it into the bid twice.
Boxing a duplex and matching quads along with it
A visual search matches shape. A selection loose enough to include more than one receptacle type returns a mixed family, and every count after it inherits the mix.
Trusting a device tag the schedule does not carry
A fixture or panel symbol with no matching schedule row is not a type you can guess your way into. Name it and flag it, the same rule as any other unresolved tag.
Sizing a panel off the plan symbol alone
The plan gives you where a panel sits. The one-line gives you what it actually is. Reading only one under time pressure prices the wrong gear, or leaves it unpriced.
Tracing wire that is not drawn
A homerun is counted where the circuit leaves the visible plan, once, not followed across the sheet as a path the drawing never shows.
Counting a superseded revision
A set with an addendum has two versions of some sheets. The count is only as current as the sheet it ran on, and nothing in the total says which one that was.
Never reconciling against the panel schedule
A count that has never been held against the schedule is a number nobody has questioned. The disagreement is usually where the RFI is.
Questions people ask
How do I count receptacles when duplex and quad look almost the same at plan scale?
Search one type at a time. Box up a single, clean duplex and run the search for duplex alone, then start a fresh search on a quad. A selection wide enough to catch both is a selection the search cannot separate either, and the count that comes back mixes two different prices into one total.
Do I count a fixture that has no schedule entry?
Not as any particular type. A symbol on the plan with nothing matching on the fixture schedule is a hard stop rather than a guess: name it, flag it, and let it get resolved by the schedule catching up or by an RFI, the same as any unresolved tag on any other trade.
How do I handle a device symbol that appears on both the demolition and the new-work sheet?
As two different counts. The symbol is identical on both sheets and means the opposite thing on each, so settling demolition, new work and existing-to-remain before the first click is what keeps a search across the set from adding them into one wrong number.
Where does a panel actually get sized, if not on the power plan?
The one-line or riser diagram, usually a separate sheet from the power plan. The plan symbol tells you where the panel sits; the one-line tells you what it is and what it feeds. Both belong to the same count.
How do I count a homerun?
Where the circuit leaves the visible plan on its way to the panel, once per circuit. A homerun is a point on the sheet, not a wire path the drawing traces to the panel, so it gets counted at the edge of the plan rather than followed across it.
The faster way through it
Or ask for the count out loud
“Count the duplex receptacles on E-201.” Our AI model reads the sheet, works out which symbols the scope covers, and drives the Bluebeam Revu you already have open to place the counts. They land in your Markups list as native, editable markups, named the way you asked for them. It asks before it writes.