Aerial Takeoff for Paving That Prices the Right Scope (2026)
Price the pavement your crew is responsible for. Build a reviewed scope with surface quantities, exclusions and the field questions that affect your number.
An aerial takeoff for paving should separate asphalt and concrete paving quantities, remove areas outside the contract, and identify access questions before an estimator prices the work. Asset Search by PorchRocket returns reviewed scopes with dated evidence in your estimating workbook. Start with a paid pilot and agree on delivery and acceptance rules. Confirm pavement depth, repair needs and operating restrictions through project documents and a focused site visit before releasing the bid.
What matters most
- Removing 55,000 square feet from a 180,000-square-foot tender changes a sealcoating line by $11,000 at the example rate of $0.20 per square foot.
- Asset Search returns fits, rejects with reasons, and unresolved sites with the field check needed to settle them.
- Saving 2.75 estimating hours on each of 32 sites releases 88 hours in the worked portfolio model.
- Ground Control supplies commercial property lists for $10 to $20 per building; Asset Search scopes the paving work through a separate custom quote.
Say a sealcoating tender describes a 180,000-square-foot lot, but 55,000 square feet fall outside your work. At $0.20 per square foot, pricing the whole outline adds $11,000 to the quote. Your calculator can be right while your bid covers the wrong pavement.
The deductions are specific: a 26,000-square-foot concrete apron excluded from sealcoating, 19,000 square feet maintained by an adjoining tenant, and a 10,000-square-foot section reserved for a later phase. These sections do not overlap, and the paved-area figures already exclude planting islands. The current bid covers 125,000 square feet. Someone has to connect those instructions to the drawing before the estimator applies a rate.
Asset Search by PorchRocket does that scope work with your estimating team. We combine aerial and satellite views with property information and your project documents, then return reviewed quantities, exclusions and open field questions in your workbook. Judge the service by how much checking remains before you can price the job.
How do estimators measure a parking lot from imagery?
Start with a dated, scaled overhead view, trace each work section separately, and reconcile the resulting areas against the buyer’s scope before assigning prices.
Open the tender drawing beside the view. On a lot with front customer parking and a separate rear court, I would give each entrance and detached paved area its own section number so a later change in treatment affects only the rows assigned to that section. Keep those IDs through the bid.
Use imagery suitable for measurement. The U.S. Geological Survey’s explanation of orthoimagery describes images corrected for terrain and camera geometry to produce a uniform scale. That is the basis for measuring from the view. A screen capture with an uncertain scale is a poor starting point for a bid quantity.
Record the acquisition date with the measured section. The USGS imagery data dictionary distinguishes the dates photographs were acquired from the date an image entered inventory. If the tender drawing shows an entrance that is missing from an older view, ask the buyer for the current boundary before tracing it; the date on the file you downloaded will not settle when that entrance was built.
My measurement sequence is straightforward: identify the work boundary, trace the paved sections, deduct internal islands, then compare the result with any supplied quantities. Keep the original drawing and the deductions available for review. If the buyer changes the east entrance, you should be able to identify the affected rows without starting over.
For parking lot measurement from satellite imagery, the same review applies. Check whether the available view resolves the edges you need. Mark a hidden edge as uncertain and assign a check; do not make the polygon look precise by clicking more points along a shadow.
This approach also fits a broader asset inventory from aerial imagery. The inventory locates the site and records the evidence. The paving takeoff adds the work boundary and quantities that your estimating process needs.
What the drawn boundary leaves out
A measured outline answers the area question; your paving bid also needs written decisions about maintenance responsibility, treatment limits and access to each section.
For the tender example, the 19,000-square-foot adjoining area looks connected to the main lot. The reason to exclude it comes from the buyer’s instructions. I would not infer maintenance responsibility from pavement color, a parcel line or the direction parked cars face.
Ask for the document that assigns the work. That might be the marked tender plan or a written clarification from the owner. Keep its revision beside the section number. A note reading “tenant area” is too loose if two tenants use the same drive aisle.
Access deserves its own review. Before you schedule the paver, mark the proposed entrance and ask the operations contact to confirm the route your crew may use, the hours it is available, and which loading movements must continue while that section is being worked. Put the answer in writing.
Here is how I would reconcile the example before pricing:
| Section | Measured area | Instruction in the example | Treatment in the current bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main customer parking and connecting lanes | 125,000 sq ft | Included in current sealcoating scope | Carry to the priced area |
| Concrete paving at loading apron | 26,000 sq ft | Excluded surface and treatment | Keep visible as an exclusion |
| Adjoining tenant’s paved area | 19,000 sq ft | Maintained under a different agreement | Exclude with the written boundary |
| Deferred rear section | 10,000 sq ft | Owner reserves it for a later phase | Track separately for future pricing |
| Gross paved outline | 180,000 sq ft | Starting measurement only | Reconcile all four sections to this total |
The deductions total 55,000 square feet, or about 30.6% of the gross outline. Refining the measurement by a few feet will not settle that scope difference. The estimator needs the exclusion decisions first.
Keep alternate work separate too. If the owner requests a price for the deferred section, add an alternate tied to its section number. Do not quietly put it back into the base area and call the higher total a more cautious bid.
A finished paving scope in the estimator’s workbook
Asset Search returns the measured pavement together with its disposition, supporting evidence and outstanding question, so an estimator can trace each priced row to a decision.
A finished scope should fit the workbook your team already prices from. Agree on the column names before ordering a portfolio. If your bid sheet uses square yards while the branch worksheet uses square feet, request both with an explicit unit column. A number without a unit should fail the import review.
A branch estimator opening this workbook for the first time should be able to follow section P04 from its quantity row to the marked rear court and then to the field question that held up pricing, using the same ID throughout. Name the photos accordingly.
| Workbook field | What belongs in it | Estimator’s use |
|---|---|---|
| Site and parcel | Your location ID, address and parcel reference | Match the investigation to the tender location |
| Pavement section | A stable ID and dated view | Find the exact measured footprint |
| Surface and quantity | Asphalt or concrete paving; area and unit | Assign the correct bid line or exclusion |
| Scope authority | Drawing revision or owner instruction supplied | Explain why the section is included |
| Deductions | Area, reason and affected section | Reconcile gross and net quantities |
| Access observation | Visible approach with any unanswered operating question | Plan the field check and production review |
| Reviewed disposition | Fits, rejects with reason, or unresolved | Decide which work can advance |
| Next check | The specific fact needed and person responsible | Close the open item before pricing |
Ask for all dispositions. A rejected section explains a deduction. An unresolved site tells the branch what to investigate. Dropping those records leaves the estimator guessing why the returned file contains fewer locations than the tender.
For Asset Search, “fits” means the evidence meets the search rules agreed with your team. Keep that status separate from your sales stage. An unresolved site comes back with the field check that settles its classification; retain any further estimating questions against the individual pavement sections.
Request a reconciliation total for every location: included area plus excluded area plus separately held area equals the gross paved area reviewed. Count each footprint once in that total. If an alternate overlaps the base scope, identify it as a replacement treatment and keep it out of the area reconciliation. This catches a loading lane counted once with the front lot and again with the rear court before either row reaches the pricing tab.
How to measure a parking lot for sealcoating
Measure only the asphalt sections receiving the specified treatment, deduct excluded areas, and keep repair quantities separate from the square footage used for sealer coverage.
Begin with the agreed boundary. Trace islands and other untreated interior areas as deductions. Split sections that receive different coat counts. If a drive lane needs a different treatment from the parking bays, give it a separate row before calculating material.
The tender example has 125,000 square feet in scope. Dividing by nine gives approximately 13,888.89 square yards. Keep the unrounded area in the calculation and round the displayed quantity according to the bid form. Applying a square-yard rate directly to square feet would multiply the result by nine.
Read the specified product’s application instructions. For example, the SealMaster acrylic pavement sealer technical sheet specifies 0.13 to 0.15 gallon of mixed material per square yard per coat and recommends two coats. That is a product-specific rate; the sheet also distinguishes mixed-material coverage from the amount of sealer used to prepare it.
That same sheet prohibits application over pavement previously sealed with coal-tar or asphalt-based sealers. Confirm the existing coating before carrying this product into the estimate. The quantity calculation below assumes a compatible surface, the same two-coat treatment across the included area, and no ordering allowance.
Using 0.14 gallon per square yard per coat for two coats, the material arithmetic is:
125,000 ÷ 9 × 0.14 × 2 = approximately 3,889 gallons of mixed material.
Calculate purchased sealer and additives from the specified mix instructions. Show the allowance separately. When the next estimator opens the material tab, they should be able to see the net area and the coverage calculation before deciding whether the proposed ordering allowance fits this job or was carried forward from a previous estimate.
Crack treatment needs its own measured or field-confirmed quantity. Patching needs defined repair areas. Striping needs the approved layout and its own count or length schedule. I would leave an unanswered repair item open rather than spread an unexplained amount across the sealcoating rate.
During the visit, check the surfaces and preparation items identified in the scope. Return those observations against the section IDs. The estimator can then revise preparation costs while preserving the area calculation already reviewed.
Converting pavement area into asphalt tonnage
For an asphalt overlay, multiply the included area by the specified compacted thickness and mix unit weight, then convert pounds to U.S. short tons.
The Asphalt Institute’s quantity calculation uses volume in cubic feet, in-place weight in pounds per cubic foot, and 2,000 pounds per short ton. Its example uses 148 pounds per cubic foot. Your estimate should use the unit weight appropriate to the specified mixture.
If a separate overlay alternate covers the example’s 125,000 square feet at 2 compacted inches and an assumed 148 pounds per cubic foot, the calculation is:
125,000 × (2 ÷ 12) × 148 ÷ 2,000 = approximately 1,542 short tons before an ordering allowance.
Leave the thickness input visible. The drawing supplies area; the specified pavement section supplies the thickness for this calculation. A decision to mill and replace a deeper section belongs in another line, with its own depth and quantity.
For the estimator, the next questions concern the work around that material. Assign separate cells to milling and disposal. Carry mobilization and approved staging requirements into production planning. Ask the supplier to confirm the mix basis used for the estimate rather than copying an old job’s conversion factor without review.
Existing pavement depth needs its own evidence. The Florida Department of Transportation’s coring guidance describes records of asphalt thickness and base material at sampled locations, and notes that conditions can vary between cores. Use supplied records or an appropriate field investigation where that information controls your repair decision.
Keep the aerial quantity unchanged while those inputs are checked. If the engineer revises the pavement section after you have priced the alternate, change the thickness input and save the revision with the instruction that caused it, so the person ordering mix can follow the difference back to that decision. Area and depth remain separate inputs.
Which questions still need a site visit?
Send the field estimator to settle the specific uncertainties affecting pavement treatment, equipment access or operations, with each question attached to a numbered section.
The visit should have a short worksheet. For the main entrance, ask the superintendent to verify the proposed equipment route. For the rear court, identify the repair decision that needs inspection. At the tenant boundary, obtain the owner’s marked confirmation if the tender leaves responsibility unclear.
Write questions that can be answered. “Check access” invites a photo. Give the field lead the planned equipment dimensions and ask for the usable opening at the proposed entrance, together with confirmation from the site contact that deliveries can use it during the hours you intend to carry in the estimate. Record the contact’s answer and date.
Accessibility can affect the scope too. The U.S. Access Board treats parking resurfacing or resealing as alterations that must include the required accessible spaces. Ordinary maintenance, such as pothole repairs or refreshing existing markings for a few spaces, is excluded unless it affects the facility’s usability. Under Section 502.4, accessible parking spaces and access aisles cannot slope more than 1:48. Assign the field measurement and design review before pricing any required corrections; a traced outline supplies the area, while the level survey supplies the slopes.
For uncertain surface material, ask for a close inspection or available project records. For a question about pavement depth, identify the required investigation with the person responsible for the pavement design. Avoid filling those cells with guesses that look like measured quantities.
I would send the branch a marked view and a one-page question sheet together. Put the answer beside the question, attach dated evidence where it helps, and identify the estimator who accepted the revision. If an answer changes the exclusion boundary, update the quantity and its supporting view in the same revision.
The return from the visit should be a shorter open-item list. Price work with unresolved scope only through an allowance or alternate the buyer accepts. Keep that decision visible to whoever releases the bid.
Paving estimating software versus a reviewed scope
Choose a measurement tool when your team can resolve scope internally; choose reviewed takeoffs when assembling and checking many sites consumes the estimating hours you need.
I would compare asphalt takeoff software on the work left after drawing the polygon. Test an island deduction. Then ask an estimator from another branch to find the original outline and explain how its area reached the current bid row, without help from the person who drew it or a phone call to interpret unnamed files. Watch where they get stuck.
Then test the handoff. Import one of your bid workbooks, use its units, and price a section with an exclusion and an alternate. Time the corrections required before the estimator trusts the file. A good drawing interface has limited value if every quantity must be retyped into your pricing sheet.
| Buying approach | Best fit for the estimating team | Work the contractor retains |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Search reviewed scopes | A portfolio or bid queue needing quantities and documented exceptions | Accept scope decisions, resolve field items and price the work |
| Measurement software operated internally | A manageable queue with an estimator available to review each site | Draw, interpret scope, reconcile deductions and transfer quantities |
| Field measurement supported by project plans | A site whose unanswered conditions control the estimate | Arrange access, measure the required features and document findings |
| Existing owner quantities | A well-documented tender with identifiable sections | Check the basis, revisions and agreement with the requested work |
Those choices can sit in the same process. Keep your pricing system and production rates. Use Asset Search to prepare the scope going into them. Have the field estimator close the questions assigned to the visit.
For a single familiar property with a clear owner drawing, I would usually start with the internal workflow. For a multi-branch rebid with inconsistent site names and different exclusions at each location, I would start with a reviewed pilot. The deciding measure is estimator time per accepted scope, including rework.
If you are looking for paving takeoff help near you because nobody in the office has time to prepare the next batch, ask who will perform the investigation and review its exceptions before spending an afternoon comparing drawing tools. Name the person responsible for corrections too.
Turnaround for a single bid or a portfolio rebid
Set the Asset Search pilot date and delivery batches around your bid deadlines, with an agreed review window before each location reaches final pricing.
Custom paving investigations have a scoped schedule. Tell PorchRocket the number of sites and the deadline for the first bid, then distinguish the locations that can wait. Include your time for reviewing quantities and resolving field questions. A file delivered at the submission cutoff gives the estimator no room to work.
I would organize a national-account rebid by deadline and branch responsibility. Start with a small set that includes an ordinary lot and at least one awkward site with shared pavement or uncertain access. Approving only the easiest location tells you little about the exceptions that will occupy the branch later.
Before the pilot ships, agree on acceptance. The rows should reconcile. If an estimator cannot match a returned site to the tender, identify the drawing behind an exclusion, or locate the next check for an unresolved classification, send that item back with a specific correction request before approving the batch. Agree on who accepts the revision.
For volume work, request batches that an estimator can review between other bids. Return decisions from the first batch before repeating the same interpretation across the remaining book. If one branch calls the loading court an alternate and another includes it in the base scope, settle that rule centrally.
The same property can need different work boundaries for different services. A snow-removal takeoff needs its own operating scope. A landscape takeoff separates the grounds the crew maintains. Preserve shared site IDs across those files, while letting each trade define its own work.
For a repeat portfolio, agree on refresh rules as well as first delivery. Asset Search can recheck sites when new imagery arrives and revisit prior answers when your requirement changes. Record the changed instruction even if no new image is needed. A new maintenance boundary can change a bid without changing the visible pavement.
What is one checked paving scope worth?
In the tender model, removing excluded pavement corrects the quote by $11,000, while reducing internal preparation from 4.25 to 1.5 hours releases 2.75 estimating hours.
The quote arithmetic is 180,000 × $0.20 = $36,000 before the deductions and 125,000 × $0.20 = $25,000 after them. The $11,000 difference is a scope correction. It is not additional profit. The owner is being quoted for a different amount of work.
Now price the estimator’s effort separately. Assume a loaded estimating cost of $88 an hour, including pay and employment overhead. Hold the field visit and final production estimate constant, since both workflows still require them. Compare only the preparation and desk review being considered for outsourcing.
| Preparation task per site | Internal preparation | Reviewing the delivered scope | Hours released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Establish and measure sections | 1.25 hours | 0.25 hours | 1.00 |
| Reconcile exclusions with documents | 1.50 hours | 0.50 hours | 1.00 |
| Enter quantities in the bid workbook | 0.75 hours | 0.25 hours | 0.50 |
| Desk review and revision notes | 0.75 hours | 0.50 hours | 0.25 |
| Total | 4.25 hours | 1.50 hours | 2.75 |
The labor-value calculation is 2.75 × $88 = $242 per site. Across 32 sites, that is 88 hours with an internal value of $7,744. Those figures value the time in this model; the Asset Search fee comes from your custom quote.
Do not treat salaried time as an automatic cash reduction. Decide where those 88 hours go. You could avoid extra evening estimating, handle more qualified invitations, or give field questions more attention before a number leaves the office. Put the chosen use on the schedule.
To value additional work, assume the correctly scoped $25,000 sealcoating job carries $17,500 in direct job costs. That leaves $7,500 gross profit, or 30%. If released capacity lets the team submit six additional qualified bids at a 10% win rate, expected gross profit is 6 × 10% × $7,500 = $4,500 before the added bidding costs and service fee.
For each added bid, budget five retained internal hours: the 1.5-hour review plus 3.5 hours for fieldwork, final estimating and follow-up. That costs 5 × $88 = $440 per bid. Six bids use 30 of the released hours and cost $2,640 in internal effort. Expected contribution is $4,500 minus $2,640 = $1,860 before the service fee. At those assumptions, the break-even win rate before allocating that fee is $440 ÷ $7,500, or about 5.9%.
Choose one capacity valuation. Do not add the entire $7,744 labor value to the growth value when both depend on the same hours. The bid ROI calculator can help test the win probability and preparation cost with your own figures.
Low, base and high returns on estimating time
At 32 sites and $88 per estimating hour, saving 1.25 to 3.25 hours per site creates $3,520 to $9,152 of internal capacity value before the service fee.
Keep the site count, $88 hourly cost and 4.25-hour internal preparation baseline fixed. Assume retained review takes 3 hours per site in the low case, 1.5 in the base case and 1 in the high case. The difference is the time released after review and corrections. Hold fieldwork and final estimating constant, as in the base model.
| Measure | Low case | Base case | High case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites in the batch | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Retained review hours per site | 3.00 | 1.50 | 1.00 |
| Hours saved per site, after review | 1.25 | 2.75 | 3.25 |
| Total hours released | 40 | 88 | 104 |
| Internal capacity value at $88/hour | $3,520 | $7,744 | $9,152 |
| Internal value per site | $110 | $242 | $286 |
My purchase rule would be to compare the agreed fee with the low case first. Include any contractor effort missing from the pilot timing, such as formatting corrections or additional coordination. If the low case does not cover the fee and those costs, identify another measurable benefit before expanding the order.
For a fixed bid book, per completed investigation fits the purchase. You are buying a reviewed answer for known sites, including locations that prove unsuitable. Per accepted result fits a search for qualifying new sites when you can define acceptance clearly. A monitoring subscription fits a recurring portfolio that needs refresh editions. Agree on the buying model before counting records.
Use the pilot to replace the assumed hours with timed work. Have the estimator log review and corrections, not just time opening the file. Track unresolved questions through their answers so a fast first delivery does not hide a long cleanup.
Assign authority to approve production assumptions during the pilot. If every estimate still waits for the owner to reprice it, measure that wait separately from scope preparation. The next batch needs an estimator who can release approved quantities into pricing without another evening in the owner’s inbox.
Keep a small scorecard: accepted scopes, internal minutes per site, corrections requested, and bids priced before the internal cutoff. Review the results by branch. A branch with clearer tender documents may need a lighter investigation than one working from addresses and a paragraph of instructions.
Pairing Ground Control lot lists with paving takeoffs
Ground Control by PorchRocket is the fastest way to build a prospect list of commercial properties with paved parking areas in your chosen service territory. Filter by business type and building size alongside the visible lot feature, then review why each property matched. Commercial lists cost $10 to $20 per building, with orders starting at 10, and arrive within 48 hours after payment. Wrong matches receive credit within 30 days. Owner information and decision-maker research are add-ons. These are target properties for outreach; the owners have not requested quotes.
Use the self-serve parking-lot list when the first task is finding properties to approach. Use Ground Control to select the area and see the exact list price. Once a buyer requests an estimate or you have a tender list, send the locations and scope requirements into Asset Search.
That sequence puts estimating time behind properties that fit your crew. A building-size filter helps select a commercial account; obtain the pavement area through the takeoff. I would also qualify access to the decision maker and the timing of the work before assigning a detailed investigation.
For a small starting campaign, 20 buildings cost $200 to $400 in base property data. Set aside separate time for outreach and inspection. One avoided two-hour prospecting visit has an internal time value of $176 at the model’s $88 hourly cost, before vehicle expense. Record why the visit was avoided so the next list can use the better qualification rule.
An account’s longer value can justify doing that qualification carefully. If the example account approves three separate $25,000 scopes over five years at the same 30% gross margin, those projects contribute 3 × $25,000 × 30% = $22,500 in undiscounted gross profit before account acquisition costs. The estimator should still approve each project’s scope and production assumptions separately.
Use the paving and sealcoating lead-source comparison to decide where the next target accounts should come from. Use the commercial paving contracts guide for the sales work after identifying them. A property list fills the outreach queue; a reviewed takeoff prepares a particular opportunity for pricing.
Public paving bids need the buyer’s quantities and instructions
Use aerial quantities to check a public paving estimate against the solicitation, and send discrepancies through the buyer’s stated question process before submitting your number.
Start with the bid schedule and plans. Match each measured section to the relevant item and unit. Check whether the buyer requests a lump sum, unit prices or alternates. Keep the issued quantity visible beside your measured quantity and explain any difference in your internal worksheet.
Site investigation still matters. For federal construction contracts containing FAR 52.236-3, the clause addresses investigation of conditions that affect performance and cost, including transportation and material handling. It also addresses reasonably ascertainable surface and subsurface information. Check the clauses in the particular solicitation; city and school projects use their own governing documents.
Keep a separate revision log. When an addendum changes the pavement boundary, revise the affected quantity and check its price extension. If the buyer also replaces the bid form, have the reviewer compare the transferred numbers with the approved estimate and the new item descriptions before signing off, rather than assuming that matching row numbers still refer to the same work. Save the superseded form with the revision record.
For finding city, county and school work, Bid Control by PorchRocket brings opportunities, bid papers and addenda together. The public paving bid page is the trade starting point. Bid Team works the estimate with you and handles the forms and deadline tracking; you make the final call on your number, sign and send. Talk to Rafael when the packet and estimate need that support.
How to order aerial paving takeoffs, step by step
Run an eight-step pilot this month, starting with your bid workbook and ending with timed acceptance of the quantities your estimator will price.
- Choose the decision and the sites. Start with a small set from the current bid queue. State whether each location needs sealcoating, an overlay alternate or another defined treatment. Include a site with exclusions so the pilot tests the work that consumes estimating time.
- Send the scope documents. Gather the tender plans and buyer clarifications available for each address. Identify the current revision and the person who can answer scope questions. State which document should resolve a conflict, or ask the buyer when that priority is unclear.
- Order the Asset Search pilot. Use the paving investigation request to provide the locations, required quantities and delivery format. Ask for asphalt and concrete paving quantities, exclusions, visible access observations, and unresolved field questions in your estimating workbook. Agree on the paid pilot credited toward the full order.
- Set the acceptance rules. Define site IDs, units and the treatment of alternates. Require gross-to-net reconciliation and dated evidence. Decide which uncertain items must hold a scope for review and who will accept a corrected file. Set the pilot delivery date and your internal review window.
- Review the first returned scopes. Trace selected rows back to their pavement sections. Check an exclusion against its instruction. Confirm that rejected and unresolved records remain in the file. Record corrections in one shared list so different branches do not send conflicting decisions.
- Close the field questions. Send the marked sections and exact questions to the field estimator. Confirm operating restrictions with the site contact. Route pavement-design questions to the responsible specialist. Attach each answer to its section and update any affected quantity before pricing.
- Price and test the economics. Apply your rates and supplier quotes to the accepted quantities. Log internal review hours and compare them with the previous workflow. Use the low-case time savings to judge whether the next batch deserves approval; track extra bids separately from labor value.
- Release the next batch and preserve revisions. Send the accepted interpretation rules back with the next sites. Schedule delivery ahead of the internal bid cutoff. For recurring work, specify the events that should trigger a refresh and retain earlier quantities so the branch can explain what changed.
I would assign one estimating lead to own the pilot decision. Branch estimators should identify problems, but one person needs to settle the shared workbook rules. Otherwise the second batch inherits several definitions of the same field.
Give the field lead a sample before the first visit too. If the question sheet does not match how that person reports measurements, fix the handoff during the pilot. A scope is ready for the pricing queue when the estimator can locate its evidence and knows which questions remain assigned.
What Asset Search delivers for your paving bids
PorchRocket returns a checked workbook with the evidence behind each pavement section, covering known bid locations or a custom territory search across the contiguous United States.
The search rules are set with your experts. PorchRocket cross-references aerial and satellite imagery with property records and public data, and people review every candidate before delivery. Each find carries dated evidence. For an estimating director, the output is a workbook whose rows explain the work being considered.
For a paving investigation, agree on these six deliverables:
- Location and parcel records matched to your site IDs, with owner information and decision-maker contact where applicable.
- Asphalt and concrete paving quantities in the requested units, with sections identified in dated views.
- Exclusions and alternates linked to the supplied scope instructions, so the gross and net areas reconcile.
- Visible access observations and specific open questions for the field visit or owner clarification.
- Every reviewed disposition: fits, rejects with reasons, and unresolved sites with the check that settles the answer.
- CSV, Excel or GIS-ready delivery, or an agreed import layout, with refresh editions available for recurring portfolios.
Start with the two-minute Asset Search request, then agree on the scope and quote. For a known tender book, I would choose per completed investigation and use the credited pilot to test the workbook handoff. For an ongoing portfolio, discuss monitoring and the rules for re-answering sites when your work requirements change.
Tell us what to find and where, and bring the workbook your estimators use. We will return the reviewed pavement scope in that format.
Quick answers
What is an aerial takeoff for paving?
It is a measured description of the pavement included in a proposed job, prepared from overhead imagery and checked against the bid documents. A finished scope separates surface types, deductions and unresolved questions. Asset Search delivers those reviewed findings with dated evidence in the estimator's requested format.
How do I measure a parking lot for sealcoating?
Trace the asphalt sections included in the contract, subtract islands and excluded pavement, and total the remaining square feet. Divide by nine for square yards when the specified application rate uses that unit. Keep crack treatment, patching and striping on their own lines, then verify obscured edges and surface preparation during the site visit.
Can satellite imagery tell me how much asphalt to order?
Only after you add the specified compacted thickness and the appropriate mix density to the measured area. Area alone cannot supply those inputs. Use the project specifications and supplier information, then calculate volume and weight. Existing pavement thickness and base conditions need records or field investigation.
What is the best paving estimating software for a commercial contractor?
Choose by the work your estimator still has to do after importing a measurement. Test section deductions, units, revisions and transfer into your bid workbook on one of your own jobs. If scope review and portfolio preparation consume the time, pair your estimating software with Asset Search's reviewed scopes.
How much does a paving aerial takeoff service cost?
Asset Search quotes the agreed investigation, including the sites, required quantities, review rules and output format. For a fixed bid list, per completed investigation is a suitable buying model. Start with a small paid pilot credited toward the full order, and compare the quote with your measured internal effort.
Does a finished aerial scope replace a paving site visit?
No. It gives the visit a defined job: settle pavement condition, thickness, drainage or access questions that affect the estimate. Review the supplied drawings and owner instructions before going. Record each answer against its pavement section so the estimator can revise the correct quantity or production assumption.
How quickly can I get takeoffs for multiple parking lots?
Delivery follows the pilot date and batch schedule agreed in the Asset Search scope. Tell PorchRocket which bids close first, how many locations are involved and which workbook fields must be returned. Group the sites by deadline and branch, and leave time for estimator review and field answers before final pricing.
Can I use aerial takeoffs for public paving bids?
Yes, as estimating support checked against the solicitation's quantities, specifications and changes. Follow the buyer's required units and submission instructions. Investigate site conditions and send quantity discrepancies through the stated question process. An aerial scope does not authorize you to change a public buyer's bid schedule.
Sources used in this guide
Sources are linked at the claim they support and collected here for auditability. Vendor features and prices can change; verify them before purchasing.
- How orthorectified imagery supports map measurementsU.S. Geological Survey: Explains uniform scale, geometric correction and ground resolution. Checked November 5, 2026.
- Imagery acquisition dates, resolution and coordinate metadataU.S. Geological Survey: Distinguishes acquisition dates from inventory dates and defines pixel resolution. Checked November 5, 2026.
- Engineering FAQs and asphalt quantity calculationAsphalt Institute: Supports the volume, in-place unit weight and short-ton calculation. Checked November 5, 2026.
- Acrylic pavement sealer technical data sheetSealMaster: Product-specific mixed-sealer application rates, coat count and restriction against application over coal-tar or asphalt-based sealers. Checked November 5, 2026.
- Pavement coring data and its location limitsFlorida Department of Transportation: Cores identify asphalt thickness and base material at sampled locations; conditions can vary between them. Checked November 5, 2026.
- ADA parking spaces and alterationsU.S. Access Board: Supports accessible parking requirements for alterations, the maintenance exception and the Section 502.4 slope limit of 1:48. Checked November 5, 2026.
- FAR 52.236-3 site investigation clauseFederal Acquisition Regulation: Federal clause addresses investigation of site conditions affecting performance and cost. Checked November 5, 2026.
Put a checked paving scope in your workbook.
Send the sites, bid dates and quantities you need in a two-minute form. Asset Search comes back with a scope and quote, then a paid pilot credited toward the full order.