Free construction calculators for South African builders
Free calculators for South African builders, in rand and metric. No signup, and every price is an input you can replace with your own quote.
What each calculator does, and what it leaves out
- Roof pitch converts between degrees, ratio and fall, returns rafter length, and checks the pitch against the covering you pick. Tile minimums move with the underlay, thatch is checked to SANS 10407, and sheeting is checked against the profile manufacturer’s stated minimum, because SANS does not set one.
- Building cost takes wall area and roof area and returns bricks, mortar cement and roof sheeting with a rand total. Plan approval, NHBRC enrolment, labour, plumbing, electrical and finishes are all excluded, and the page lists them so you can add your own figures.
- House material list is the full shell take-off for a small house of one to four rooms: footings, slab, bricks, cement, sand, stone and roof sheets, with each quantity worked from the plan dimensions and shown as a quantity until you price it.
Every price is an input
There is no free live building material price feed in South Africa. The defaults on these pages are dated retail listings from 12 September 2026, shown with their source, and they are there so the calculator produces a number on first use. They are not a quote. Merchant prices differ by province and by account, and the cement line alone moves the total on a small house, so replace every default with your own quote before you price a job for a client.
What is not here yet
A stair calculator to SANS 10400-M is the obvious next one. Until it exists, the Australian stair calculator does the same geometry, but its limits are National Construction Code limits, not SANS, so treat the pass or fail as Australian. Concrete volumes, tile counts and the other pure geometry calculators are on the Australian set and need no local figure.
Why a separate set of calculators
Geometry is the same everywhere. A 3-4-5 triangle squares a building in Manchester exactly as it does in Melbourne. What changes is the rule the answer has to meet: the maximum riser on a stair, the minimum pitch a tile can be laid at, the gradient a ramp is allowed to run. These calculators check against the local rule, so the answer you get is one you can build to.
Take the numbers into the job
Built Simple keeps your estimates, schedule and crew in one place, on the phone in your pocket.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these calculators free? Yes, with no account and no usage limit.
Are the material prices current? They are dated retail listings from 12 September 2026, shown as editable defaults. There is no free live price feed in South Africa, so replace them with your own quotes before pricing a job.
Do they follow SANS 10400? The roof pitch minimums follow SANS 10400-L and SANS 10407. We cite the parts rather than reproducing their tables, because SANS is a paid standard.
