The essentials in 30 seconds
- The métré (quantity take-off) measures each item of work in its unit; the DPGF (itemised lump-sum price breakdown) is the tender template that comes out of it.
- One unit per item, set once, identical in the CCTP and in the DPGF.
- Measuring rules vary between practices: choose yours and write them into the CCTP.
- The take-off counts the finished work; the company includes its offcuts in its unit price.
- On a lump sum, write into the contract who answers for the quantities and how a gap is handled.
What is a quantity take-off, and how does it differ from a DPGF?
The métré, or quantity take-off, measures each item of work in the project and calculates its quantity in its unit: square metres of partition, linear metres of skirting board, number of sockets. Our guide to estimating works treats it as the step of quantities by trade package; here, we go one level down.
It serves first to estimate: a good unit price applied to a wrong quantity gives a wrong estimate. Then to tender: carried into the DPGF, your quantities are what make two companies price the same project. Under a CFAI mission (the French interior designers' council contract), it takes shape at APD (detailed design), is consolidated at PCG (general design package), then serves at AMT (works contract assistance) and CET (works supervision and cost accounting).
| Document | What it is | Who prepares it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Métré (quantity take-off) | Measuring and calculating the quantity of each item of work | Interior designer or cost consultant; the company often redoes its own | Estimating, preparing the tender |
| Quantitatif (quantity schedule) | List of items and their quantities, without prices | Whoever did the take-off | Basis of the estimate and of the DPGF |
| DQE (détail quantitatif estimatif, bill of quantities) | Estimated quantities × unit prices | Quantities by the project manager (maître d'œuvre), prices by the company | Unit-price contract, settled on the quantities executed |
| DPGF (décomposition du prix global et forfaitaire, itemised lump-sum price breakdown) | Lump-sum price broken down by trade package and line item | Template by the architect, prices by the company | Comparing bids, tracking the works |
The distinction comes from French public procurement: article R2112-6 of the French Public Procurement Code contrasts unit prices, applied to the quantities actually executed, with lump-sum prices, due whatever the quantities; in practice the DQE goes with the former, the DPGF with the latter. On private projects the mechanism is the same: at unit prices, a wrong quantity is corrected in the final account; on a lump sum, it stays with one of the parties.
Which unit for each trade package in renovation?
These are the units of common practice, with no value as a standard: some studios count doors per unit, others as a whole. In French documents, "ml" means linear metre (lm below), "u" unit, "ens." ensemble (as a whole) and "ft" forfait (lump sum).
| Trade package | Usual units |
|---|---|
| Demolition, strip-out | m² (finishes, partitions); u (fixtures, doors); ens. (full strip-out) |
| Partitions, linings, suspended ceilings | m² |
| Plastering, painting | m² (walls, ceilings); lm (skirting boards, cornices) |
| Floor and wall tiling | m²; lm (skirting) |
| Wood and resilient flooring | m²; lm (skirting boards) |
| Joinery, fitted furniture | u (door sets); lm (shelves, casings); ens. (a unit of furniture described by drawing) |
| Electrical | u per point; ens. (distribution board) |
| Plumbing | u per fixture; lm (pipe runs, when described) |
| Site set-up, protection, cleaning | ft (lump sum) |
The rule that matters: one unit per item, set once, identical in the CCTP and in the DPGF. If the CCTP (the technical specification) describes the skirting board per linear metre and the DPGF buries it in the square metres of paint, each company picks its own reading. The CCTP carries the description and the measuring rule, the DPGF the same unit plus the quantity (see our article on writing the CCTP).
"Ens." and "ft" both stand for a global price for a service that is not measured. Legitimate for site set-up or a distribution board described in the CCTP, they become a problem as soon as they cover measurable work: "Bathroom strip-out: 1 ens." from three companies gives three prices with no way of knowing what each one counted (tiling up to the ceiling or half-height, shower tray, screed).
Net or gross areas: which measuring rules should you apply?
This is where two honest take-offs part ways, because conventions vary from one reference document and one practice to another: some deduct every opening, others only above a certain area, others count the reveals separately. None of them is "the" rule for your project: choose yours, trade package by trade package, and write it into the CCTP. Points to settle:
- Net or gross, and which deductions: windows, doors, service ducts, openings in floors.
- Developed surfaces: window reveals, beam downstands, soffits, boxings. Counted separately or included: say which.
- Heights: a wall is measured up to the finished ceiling. With a suspended ceiling at 2.50 m under an existing ceiling at 2.90 m, wall painting stops at 2.50 m.
- Floors: with or without what stands on them (kitchen, full-height cupboard, bathtub).
That leaves offcuts. The take-off quantifies the finished work, as it will be laid; in common professional practice, the company includes cuts, breakage and offcuts in its unit price, since they depend on the format, the setting-out and the laying pattern. Inflating the quantity would make the client pay for the offcuts twice: say so in the CCTP.
How do you do a take-off, on drawings and on site?
The take-off starts from a site survey. If drawings exist, check them on site before measuring from them: a few control dimensions per room (lengths, diagonals, height, openings) are enough. In an old building, a drawing accurate to a few centimetres remains usable; a drawing that misses a partition does not.
Measure room by room, so that no cupboard gets skipped, then group trade package by trade package: the take-off sheet makes the link. Example: a living room of 5.20 × 4.10 m, 2.80 m floor-to-ceiling, two windows of 1.20 × 2.15 m and a door of 0.90 × 2.10 m, with the rule above:
| Room | Item | Dimensions (m) | Number | Deductions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Living room | Wall painting | 18.60 (perimeter) × 2.80 | 1 | 2 windows + 1 door, i.e. 7.05 m² | 45.03 m² |
| Living room | Reveal painting | (2 × 2.15 + 1.20) × 0.30 | 2 | – | 3.30 m² |
| Living room | Ceiling painting | 5.20 × 4.10 | 1 | – | 21.32 m² |
| Living room | Timber skirting | 18.60 (perimeter) | 1 | Door 0.90 | 17.70 lm |
| Living room | Engineered wood flooring | 5.20 × 4.10 | 1 | – | 21.32 m² |
Keep two decimals and round only when carrying figures into the DPGF, with a single rule. Number each line like the DPGF item it feeds. Check the order of magnitude: perimeter × height, minus openings. And keep the sheet: during CET, it is used to check an interim payment application, price an omission or carry out a joint re-measurement (see our article on site supervision).
Who answers for the quantities in a lump-sum contract?
Two ways of tendering coexist. Either your quantities are the reference: every company prices the same quantity and flags in writing, before submitting its bid, those it disputes; the bids are then directly comparable. Or each company does its own take-off and commits to its quantity, at the cost of heavier levelling. The two can be combined: your quantities as the reference, with the company able to state another one, line by line.
On a lump sum, article 1793 of the French Civil Code provides that the architect or contractor who has undertaken the lump-sum construction of a building, according to a plan settled and agreed with the owner, cannot claim any price increase, neither for a rise in labour or material costs nor for changes made to that plan, unless those changes were authorised in writing and their price agreed with the owner. Case law draws consequences from this for the take-off:
- Necessary works fall within the lump sum. In the renovation of a bank branch, where demolition had revealed unexpected rock, the Cour de cassation held that additional works fall within the lump sum if they are necessary to complete the work (Cass. 3e civ., 18 April 2019, no. 18-18.801, full text on Légifrance).
- A wrong take-off can make its author liable. The Court held that the lump-sum nature of the contract did not exempt the project manager from compensating the company's loss, where the error in their study had led it to under-price its bid (Cass. 3e civ., 19 January 2017, no. 15-20.846, analysed on Village de la Justice).
- A clause can organise the checking. The Court upheld the rejection of additional works amounting to 13% of the contract, under a contract that required the company to check the CCTP works under its own responsibility and to report errors and omissions within ten days (Cass. 3e civ., 6 March 2025, no. 23-18.916, analysed by Kohen Avocats).
A prior question is whether article 1793 applies to your project at all, since it targets the construction of a building. The Court applied it to the bank branch, which included a structural and demolition package, but held in 2022 that interior fit-out works fell outside its scope (Cass. 3e civ., 16 February 2022, no. 21-12.060, summarised by WebLex). The answer depends on the works and the contract; it is the courts that characterise the contract.
Practical consequence: write into the contract documents who answers for the quantities, within what time an error must be reported and how a gap is handled, for instance at the bid's unit price and in writing. Also specify in your own mission contract what your take-off covers.
Which take-off mistakes cost the most?
- Mixing units. Skirting in m² here, in lm there: the gap looks like a price gap without being one.
- Forgetting ceilings and returns. Reveals, downstands, soffits, cupboard backs: missing from the drawing, present on the invoice.
- Measuring gross without saying so. A company that measures net assumes you got it wrong, or keeps the difference.
- Putting "ens." everywhere. No levelling is possible on a line without a quantity.
- Measuring on unchecked drawings. Without control dimensions, the error repeats in every bid.
- Not measuring the strip-out. It is measured like the installation; left as a whole, it hides the gaps.
- Rounding up on every line. Over a hundred lines, the estimate swells. A margin is taken once, in writing.
From take-off to DPGF: how do you compare bids line by line?
If the sheet is clean, each total, grouped by trade package and item, becomes a DPGF line with its description, unit and quantity. Our annotated DPGF example shows the full template.
When the bids come in, read the quantities before the prices. If a company has replaced your quantity with its own, settle the gap first: either your take-off is right and the company prices your quantity, or it has spotted something you missed, and the correction goes out, dated, to every company. The remaining gaps are price gaps, read line by line: see our method for comparing contractor quotes and our guide to tendering to contractors.
So, what about Nodal?
In Nodal, each DPGF line carries a unit and a quantity: you carry over those from your take-off sheet, into a template built in the tool or imported from your existing DPGF (.xlsx or .csv). The price library provides estimated unit prices, and every line remains editable.
When you tender, you choose who answers for the quantities. Either yours are the reference and the company only prices: if its file comes back with other quantities, Nodal flags the take-off gap line by line, without ever applying it. The comparison flags, it does not decide. Or you let the company fill in its own quantities, line by line. Either way, the bids are compared line by line. These tendering features depend on your plan: see pricing.
Article written on September 27, 2026. A professional synthesis intended to organise a take-off and a tender, which does not constitute legal advice. Whether article 1793 of the French Civil Code applies to renovation works depends on the works and the contract, and is assessed case by case: have your contract checked by a lawyer.