This civil engineering article briefly explains the center line method for measuring building.

Several cost estimation methods are available for working out the quantity of different items like earthwork, foundation, concrete & brickwork (plinth and superstructure). Among these methods, long wall – short wall method & the center line method are considered as most precise and fast.

Under this method, initially it is required to measure the centre line length of the wall, and then multiply it with the breadth and depth of the wall to determine the quantity. Center line method is specifically created for rectangular, circular (polygonal, hexagonal, octagonal) buildings without inter or cross walls (the cross wall stands for an interior dividing wall of a building).

Centre line method is fast but it needs special observation and consideration at the intersections or meeting points of partition or cross walls, etc. For each intersection, half breadth of the relevant item should be subtracted from the total centre length for getting exact quantity.

While measuring one room, the length and breadth center to center should be taken for quantity calculation.

The length of the room is 5m and breadth is 4.5; the thickness of the wall on all sides is 0.30 mm.

Initially, you have to find the center to center length of long wall and then center to center span of short wall. After that, calculate the total length of the room.

The length of the long wall is taken as 15.90 meter and as there are 2 long walls, the total length will be = 15.90 x 2 = 31.9m

The length of short wall is taken as 4.80 meter and as there are 4 short walls, the total length will be = 4.80 x 4 = 19.20

Therefore, the entire length of long wall & short wall = 31.9 + 19.2 = 51.1m

The height of damp proof course or DPC = 0.0381m

The length will be same for building estimation process i.e. 51.1m

The earthwork quantity will be calculated as follow:-

The number of earthwork = 1

Length of earthwork = 51.1m

Breadth of earthwork = 1.05

Height of earthwork = 1.2m

The quantity of earthwork = Length x Breadth x Height = 51.1 x 1.05 x 1.2 = 64.38 cubic meter.

By following the same process, it is possible to calculate the quantity of other building works like PCC, Brick Work, DPC, Above DPC etc.