Why we built a true-scale pier tool (and why count tools aren't enough)

Generic 'count' tools treat every pier the same. Concrete contractors don't. Here's how Bedrock's pier tool ties diameter, depth, and rebar back to one assembly.

Every takeoff tool ships with a "count" tool. Click, click, click — there's your pier count. The problem is that piers aren't interchangeable. An 18" diameter × 8' deep pier with a (6) #6 vertical cage is not the same scope as a 36" diameter × 18' deep pier with a (12) #8 cage and a #4 spiral.

If your takeoff tool can only count, you're going to drop those into a single line and try to remember the difference at pricing time. You won't.

In Bedrock, the pier tool draws an actual circle on the plan, scaled to the diameter you've set in the assembly. Click once on a pier symbol and the circle snaps to the column gridline at the real diameter — 18" looks like 18", 36" looks like 36".

Visual QA. When you see the pier circle on the plan, you immediately notice if you've grabbed the wrong assembly. A 36" assembly placed on an 18" pier symbol is obvious. Scale-aware rebar. Vertical cage count, tie spacing, and concrete CY all derive from the diameter you set in the assembly. Change the assembly, every pier on the sheet recalculates. Quantity flows automatically. Each pier is 1 EA. The assembly handles the math: CY per pier × count, lb rebar per pier × count, drilling LF per pier × count.

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