Works estimation · Tendering · Agreements · Billing — one platform contact@estimotor.online
Home › Calculators › Converters & utilities

Unit Converters & Estimator Utilities

Every works office lives in two systems at once — old drawings and property records in feet, the schedule of rates in metres. Convert instantly between the units you meet every day, and run the three little arithmetic jobs every estimator repeats: premium/rebate on a tendered amount, cost-index updating and per-m² ⇄ per-ft² rates.

Quick unit converters

Type in either box — the other side updates as you type. Factors follow the standard rounded values used in departmental practice.

📏 Length — metre ⇄ foot

⇄
1 m = 3.2808 ft. Handy when a site plan is dimensioned in feet but the details of measurement must be booked in metres.

🟦 Area — m² ⇄ ft²

⇄
1 m² = 10.764 ft². Plinth areas, flooring and plaster quantities move between the two constantly.

🧊 Volume — m³ ⇄ cft

⇄
1 m³ = 35.315 cft. Sand and aggregate are still quoted per 100 cft in many local markets while the estimate runs in m³.

📐 Small lengths — mm ⇄ inch

⇄
1 in = 25.4 mm exactly. The 9-inch wall is 230 mm (nominal), the 4½-inch partition 115 mm.

⚖️ Weight — kg ⇄ quintal ⇄ MT

1 quintal = 100 kg; 1 MT = 1000 kg. Steel is billed in quintals or MT, but bar-bending schedules total in kg — edit any box and the other two follow.

🔩 Stress — kg/cm² ⇄ N/mm²

⇄
1 kg/cm² = 0.0981 N/mm². Older test reports quote cube strength in kg/cm²; current IS practice uses N/mm² — an M20 cube target of 20 N/mm² is roughly 204 kg/cm².

Conversion factors at a glance

FromToMultiply byReverse — multiply by
metre (m)foot (ft)3.28080.3048
square metre (m²)square foot (ft²)10.7640.0929
cubic metre (m³)cubic foot (cft)35.3150.02832
inch (in)millimetre (mm)25.40.03937
quintal (q)kilogram (kg)1000.01
metric tonne (MT)kilogram (kg)10000.001
kg/cm²N/mm² (MPa)0.098110.194

Estimator utilities

Three small computations that come up on almost every file — worked live as you type.

💰 Premium / rebate — tendered amount

—
Enter the amount put to tender and the quoted percentage.
How this is worked out. In a percentage-rate tender the contractor quotes a single percentage above or below the amount put to tender (the sanctioned estimated cost, or that cost adjusted by the "% put to tender"). The tendered amount that goes into the agreement is the estimate raised or lowered by that percentage — the same factor later governs every item rate in the RA bills.
Tendered amount = Amount put to tender × (1 ± p/100) Premium (above): +p · Rebate (below): −p · At par: p = 0

📈 Cost-index updater

—
Enter the base cost and both index values.
How this is worked out. Plinth-area rates and old sanctioned estimates are tied to a cost index with a stated base. To bring a cost to today's price level, multiply it by the ratio of the current index to the base index. The same ratio method drives escalation compensation — see the indices & escalation page for typical index series.
Updated cost = Base cost × (Current index ÷ Base index)

🔁 Rate converter — per m² ⇄ per ft²

⇄
—
Enter a rate on either side.
How this is worked out. A rate is money per unit area, so it converts the opposite way to area itself: since 1 m² = 10.764 ft², a rate per m² is divided by 10.764 to get the rate per ft². Useful when comparing a schedule-of-rates item (per m²) with a market or builder quotation (per sq ft).
Rate per ft² = Rate per m² ÷ 10.764 Rate per m² = Rate per ft² × 10.764
Please note: these figures are an educational aid for quick checks. Always verify against your organisation's schedule of rates, the governing IS codes and the contract before use in an estimate, DNIT, agreement or bill.

Related pages

← All calculators Concrete quantities Steel weight (d²/162) Indices & escalation Article: escalation claims