How it works
Everything happens online. This guide shows you how to sketch, measure and photograph your space so we can draw it accurately. No technical knowledge needed: if you can use a tape measure and a phone camera, you can do it.
- 1Sketch, measure, photographUsing this guide, in about an hour per floor.
- 2Send it to usBy WhatsApp or email. You get a written quote, usually within a few hours.
- 3We drawIf anything is unclear, we ask in writing before guessing.
- 4You receive your drawingsPDF and DWG by email, with the revisions agreed in your quote.
What you need
A tape measure
5 m or longer. A laser measure is quicker and more accurate, but not essential.
Paper and pencil
Squared or graph paper helps you keep proportions, but plain paper is fine.
Your phone
For photos, and to send everything to us on WhatsApp.
A helper, if possible
Long walls are much easier to measure with someone holding the other end.
Sketch the layout
Draw each floor as if you were looking down from above. It doesn’t need to be to scale, but the more proportional it is, the better.
- One floor per sheet. Use a separate sheet for each floor, and the loft if it’s involved.
- Draw every wall, door and window. Include stairs, chimney breasts, built-in cupboards and anything fixed.
- Name every room. Kitchen, bedroom 1, bathroom and so on, so we can match photos and measurements.
- Mark the front of the house. Write “front” or “street” on the right side of the sheet.
- Leave space around the plan. You’ll need it to write the measurements in the next step.
Measure
Write every measurement on your sketch, in millimetres if you can (2,500 mm rather than 2.5 m). Accurate measurements are what make accurate drawings.
- Measure every wall, not just two. Rooms are rarely perfectly square, so opposite walls can differ.
- Measure about 1 m above the floor. This keeps you clear of skirting boards and furniture.
- Add one diagonal per room. Corner to opposite corner. It tells us whether the room is square.
- Locate doors and windows. Measure from the nearest corner to the opening, then the opening’s width.
- Measure heights. Floor to ceiling, floor to window sill, and window height.
- Measure a wall’s thickness. At a door frame, from one face of the wall to the other.
- Kitchens and bathrooms: note the services. Positions of the boiler, radiators, sockets, taps, toilet and waste pipes.
- Lofts: measure the height. From the loft floor to the underside of the ridge, at its highest point.
Take photos
Photos show us what measurements can’t: ceilings, beams, fittings and how the space really looks.
- Four photos per room. Stand in each corner and aim at the opposite corner, so every wall is covered.
- Hold the phone horizontally. Landscape photos show more of the room.
- Use daylight and switch the lights on. Avoid dark or blurry photos, and don’t use the zoom.
- Outside: all sides of the house. Front, rear and sides, plus one from across the street showing the whole building.
- Close-ups where it matters. Windows, beams, the boiler, the loft hatch and anything unusual.
- For planning projects: Photograph neighbouring extensions and the rear gardens next door.
Send it to us
Send everything in one go if you can. It’s the quickest way to get an accurate quote.
- Your sketch with measurements. A clear photo of each sheet, taken from directly above.
- Your photos, room by room. Send them in order, and add the room name as a caption.
- What you’d like to do. A few lines describing the project, or a sketch of your ideas.
- The property address. Needed for planning drawings and location plans.
- Any deadline. For example a planning submission or a builder’s start date.
Common mistakes
- Mixing units. Stick to millimetres throughout, or write the unit next to every number.
- Measuring along the skirting. Measure higher up the wall, where nothing is in the way.
- Rounding too much. Write 3,465, not “about 3.5 m”.
- Forgetting heights. Ceiling, sill and window heights are easy to miss and hard to guess.
- Dark or partial photos. If a wall isn’t in a photo, we can’t see what’s on it.
Not sure about something? Send what you have and we’ll tell you exactly what’s missing.
Got your sketch and photos?
Send them over and get your quote, usually within a few hours.