Use cases
Built for the trades.
SiteSum does the arithmetic between the tape and the saw. Here is who uses it, for which jobs, and which of the ten builders does the work. Every example on this page was worked by the app’s own engine.
01
Framers
Walls, floors and roofs, laid out from the plans and cut from the stack, all day.
The jobs
- Mark studs, joists and rafters at 16" or 24" on center, measured from the end so sheet edges land mid-stud.
- Plan the cuts for a wall’s worth of studs, plates and headers from the board lengths the yard sells.
- Check a floor or a wall for square from its two sides before the sheathing goes on.
- Add and subtract feet, inches and sixteenths without changing them to decimals first.
02
Stair builders
One measurement, floor to floor, and the whole flight has to come out even.
The jobs
- Work out the risers, riser height, treads, total run and stringer from the total rise.
- See when a riser height falls between sixteenths, marked ≈, before it adds up over the flight.
- Space balusters evenly between posts with every gap under 4", and get each mark from the post.
In SiteSum
Worked example · 9' 0" rise
14 risers at ≈ 7-11/16", stringer ≈ 14' 1"
03
Roofers and roof framers
Pitch, run and overhang in; rafter length and the shingle order out.
The jobs
- Get the rafter line length from the run and pitch, with the overhang added and half the ridge taken off.
- Give the pitch as x/12 or in degrees, and get the rise and the roof angle.
- Order shingles by the square and the bundle for each roof plane, with waste.
In SiteSum
Worked example · 32' × 16' roof plane, 10% waste
5.63 squares, 17 bundles
04
Deck and fence builders
Frames that have to be square, footings that have to be ordered, and railings an inspector will check.
The jobs
- Square a deck frame from its two sides: the diagonal is the third.
- Plan joist and rim cuts from 8’ to 16’ boards, buying the least lumber.
- Order concrete for round piers or footings, in yards or bags, rounded up.
- Space railing balusters evenly with every gap under the limit.
05
Concrete and flatwork
Order short and the pour stops; order long and it goes back on the truck.
The jobs
- Work out slabs, continuous footings and round columns in cubic yards, with waste, rounded up.
- Count 60-lb and 80-lb bags for small pours, or 20-kg and 25-kg bags in metric.
- Work the area of rectangles, triangles and circles for forms and finishes.
06
Finish carpenters and cabinetmakers
Work where a sixteenth shows, and sometimes a thirty-second does.
The jobs
- Split an opening into equal parts and read the answer as a fraction, not a decimal.
- Switch to 1/32" or 1/64" precision for trim, casework and cabinet doors (Pro).
- Convert any answer to millimetres when the hardware or the drawings are metric.
- Keep a running tape of every measurement, so nothing has to be written on the wall.
In SiteSum
- Feet-inch-fraction keypad
- Paper tape
- Conv: ft-in, in, ft, mm, cm, m
- 1/32" and 1/64" precision (Pro)
Worked example · 31-5/8" opening ÷ 3
≈ 10-9/16", or ≈ 10-17/32" at 1/32"
07
Drywall, siding, flooring and tile installers
The job is mostly area, and the order is mostly sheets, boxes and waste.
The jobs
- Count 4×8 (or any size) sheets for a wall or a ceiling, with waste.
- Count tiles and boxes for a floor from the tile size and how many come in a box.
- Work the area of odd rooms from rectangles, triangles and circles.
08
Remodelers, contractors and estimators
Several trades’ arithmetic on one job, and someone who needs a clean copy of it.
The jobs
- Price a lumber order by the board foot.
- Keep one tape per job, with a name and notes, and archive it when the job is done (Pro).
- Hand over a job’s numbers as a PDF or CSV through the share sheet (Pro).
- Run any of the ten builders without a signal, in a basement or on a new lot.
In SiteSum
- Board feet
- Cut list
- Concrete
- Materials
- Named jobs and notes (Pro)
- PDF and CSV export (Pro)
Worked example · 10 × 2×10 × 12'
200 board feet
09
Homeowners and weekend builders
One deck, one set of basement stairs, one shed, done right the first time.
The jobs
- Add up a tape measure’s worth of numbers the way they read: feet, inches and fractions.
- Try any builder three times free before deciding whether Pro is worth it.
- Use it without an account or an email address; nothing you type leaves the phone.
Ten builders. One keypad.
Free to download, with the feet-inch keypad free for good and three free runs of every builder. Pro is $24.99, once, or $34.99 for a family of up to six.