--- title: "Faster Takeoffs: Tips & Tricks for Construction & Remodeling Pros" url: "https://pro.houzz.com/pro-learn/blog/faster-takeoffs-tips--tricks-for-construction--rem" datePublished: "2025-03-19T23:02:29+0000" dateModified: "2025-12-19T09:15:28+0000" author: "Stephan Rabimov" topics: - "Product News" - "Blog Post" --- Houzz Pro Learn > Houzz Pro News # Faster Takeoffs: Tips & Tricks for Construction & Remodeling Pros Boost Your Efficiency: Quick Tips for Faster, Smarter Takeoffs Looking to create fast, accurate estimates with minimal effort? Our Houzz Pro Takeoff software is here to help you streamline your process and get the job done quicker. With these simple shortcuts, you can make takeoffs faster, more accurate, and more professional – every time. This guide dives deep into how Houzz Pro Takeoffs can transform your workday. Not only will it make takeoffs a breeze, but it can also help simplify other tasks like estimating, change orders, purchase orders, and invoicing. Let’s dive into some of our best tips for getting the most out of Houzz Pro Takeoffs – the first in our “Tips and Tricks” series. **Get the most from the tools** Houzz Pro’s Takeoffs makes it easy to find your way around because we’ve built in ways to learn about each feature and how to apply it to your business: - Hover over the tools in the toolbar to see a short description explaining what each tool does. - Open the live chat in the bottom right side of the screen to type in any questions to learn more about a tool or be connected to a Product Support Specialist. ## Use keyboard shortcuts Want to work faster? [These keyboard](/pro-help/r/keyboard-shortcuts) shortcuts will help you zip through your takeoffs with ease. Our top pick: Hold the **Shift** key while measuring lengths to keep your lines at a 90-degree angle – it ensures precision every time. Here are some other shortcuts that’ll save you time: - SPACEBAR → Hold the spacebar down and click with your mouse to pan around the canvas. - SHIFT →  hold the SHIFT key while measuring lengths, the line will snap to a 90 degrees angle and you can ensure straight lines - CMD + ‘P' → hide/show thumbnail panel (left panel) - CMD + ‘D’ → hide/show Measure Drawer (right panel) - SHIFT + 'T’ → hide/show Toolbar - D → Hold ‘option KEY’ when selecting a measurement on canvas to ‘duplicate’ it - CTRL/CMD + ‘Z’ → Undo functionality - CTRL/CMD + ‘F’ → to do keyword Search on active page [https://www.youtube.com/embed/ghYDAr49oO8](https://www.youtube.com/embed/ghYDAr49oO8) ## Pin pages so they are easy to find For large sets of plans, find key pages faster by clicking the pin icon in the left rail where your plans are loaded. Then, simply pin the necessary page. Then, to view those pages select the ‘pinned pages’ filter. This feature is particularly useful when only a selection of pages are needed to complete a takeoff. Pinning precise pages reduces screen clutter and lets you effortlessly maneuver between them. Learn more about pinning [here](/pro-help/r/thumbnail-settings). ## Search for keywords in plans Need to locate the measurements of a particular product but can’t remember which plan it’s featured in? Simply type in a keyword in the search bar on the left rail, such as “drywall” or “concrete”, and any plans containing these terms will be identified and highlighted. The keyword search feature saves the time and hassle of browsing through every plan to find the details of a specific faucet or floor tile. ## Hide layers when creating a takeoff When working on Takeoffs, keep the canvas uncluttered by hiding layers. Click on the eye icon in the measurement drawer on the right hand side to hide or show shapes on the canvas. To apply this to individual measurements, click the three dots icon to the right of the measurement, then select Hide Layer. This feature is particularly helpful when measuring for multiple trades or materials on the same page. For more details on hiding layers, click [here.](/pro-help/r/hide-show) ## Let  AI Measure For You Using our Houzz Pro Takeoff AI assistant, Automate, can make  creating Takeoffs even faster and easier. Automate scans your uploaded plans, and identifies the pages that AI can measure. Use Automate to measure areas and lengths, and count items on floor plans, reducing the amount of measuring you need to do manually to complete a Takeoff. For more details on how Automate does the heavy lifting for you click [here.](/pro-help/r/automate-takeoffs) ## Build Assemblies to make estimating and ordering more efficient Creating Assemblies in Takeoffs helps automate your company’s estimating and ordering processes by grouping and calculating all the costs and measurements related to each line item, such as a door or drywall. With Assemblies, individual items are grouped together to create one parent item on an invoice or estimate. For example, by creating an Assembly for ‘Drywall’, the measurements for ‘Drywall’ in the takeoff will calculate the auxiliary materials and costs associated with that measurement, such as how many 8x4 drywall sheets are needed, how much plaster, how many screws and the labor time needed to install the required square feet of drywall. Learn more about Assemblies [here](/pro-help/r/how-to-create-assemblies). New to Houzz Pro? Learn more about our best-in-class software for winning clients, managing projects and simplifying your workflow, click [here](https://www.houzz.com/pro). Stephan Rabimov leads Content Marketing at Houzz. Portland resident. Global citizen. 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