Formwork areas and the props behind them, reduced by the reuse cycles you plan.
Foundation, roof and structure. 5 questions answered below, each with the arithmetic behind it and the limits of what the tool decides. Open the Formwork and Temporary Works tool.
Temporary works are bought by area, not by volume, because formwork and falsework are surfaces and supports rather than substances. A slab soffit needs a contact area of ply, a beam needs its sides and its soffit, and a column needs four faces, and each of those is measured flat while the concrete is measured solid. The takeoff returns contact area, the ply in sheets, the primary and secondary bearers, the props to a stated height, and the reuse cycles you expect. Reuse is the input that decides the real cost, since ply bought for one pour and ply used six times are different propositions on the same area. Where reuse is not stated, the tool asks.
A slab of eighty square metres with two beams of nine metres at three hundred wide and four hundred deep: the soffit is eighty, the beams add nine metres by zero point three of soffit and two faces of four hundred deep, so about nineteen square metres of contact area in total, which is a fifth of the slab area again on two modest beams. At sheets of one point two by two point four that is seven sheets before cutting, eight with the allowance. Props at a grid of one point two metres give fifty six for the slab. With six reuse cycles, the ply cost per pour is one sixth of the purchase, and the props are hired by duration rather than consumed.
Contact area, and then the materials that area implies: ply in sheets, primary and secondary bearers, props and fittings, with a reuse allowance. It measures the surfaces the concrete touches, because that is what formwork is. Where an element has a void, a chamfer or a rebate, those are extra runs you describe, since they add contact area the main dimensions do not capture.
As a divisor on the purchased material. Ply used for one pour is consumed by that pour; ply used six times spreads its cost across six. The takeoff divides the area by the cycles you enter so the cost per pour is visible, and it leaves the cycles to you because they depend on the care taken striking, the surface finish required and how many identical pours there are.
Because formwork is a surface and concrete is a volume. The formwork that a beam needs is its soffit and its sides, which are areas, not its cubic metres. Measuring by volume would give the wrong order in both directions: a deep narrow beam and a shallow wide one of the same volume have very different contact areas.
No. Prop loads, bearer sizes, the grid, the foundation under the props and the striking sequence are design decisions, and falsework failures are among the most serious on site. The takeoff measures the materials for a falsework design that has been made. It does not check whether the design holds, and it does not replace the temporary works coordinator.
No. Scaffolding, edge protection, ladders and access platforms are separate systems with their own hire and their own design. The takeoff covers formwork and falsework materials, which is the part that is consumed or amortised by the concrete. Access is usually hired by duration and priced separately, and mixing the two produces a figure that answers neither question.