Advice on using assemblies to produce material lists

Hi everyone,

I’ve been using zzTakeoff for around six months, but I know I’m only scratching the surface of what it can do. I’m starting to explore assemblies and would appreciate some guidance on setting them up effectively.

I’m a QS for a building company, and our goal is to use zzTakeoff to generate material lists for timber, main fixings and other framing components alongside our pricing.

Most examples I’ve come across seem to focus on estimating using an overall m² rate. I’d be interested to hear from anyone using assemblies to build up detailed material quantities.

I sometimes overthink and overcomplicate things, so it would be helpful to see how someone more experienced would approach a practical example. Would anyone be willing to demonstrate a quick takeoff of the framing works for this canopy, showing how they would structure the assemblies and generate a material list?

Canopy Design Full Set,

Snippets

For reference, here’s an internal wall assembly I’ve put together and the report it produces:

and the report for it

Am I heading in the right direction, or is there a simpler way to structure this? Any examples, tips or feedback would be much appreciated.