The drawing desk · Free interactive course
Bar Bending
Schedule Course
Read a beam. Explore the steel. Build your first bar bending schedule, one practical idea at a time.
Start with the drawing →6 lessons · No login · Learn at your pace
What you’ll be able to do
- Read cover, bar diameter, spacing and hook details correctly.
- Calculate cutting length, bar count, total length and steel weight.
- Handle column tie arrangements, development length and lap steel.
- Assemble and reason-check a complete beam schedule.
What is a bar bending schedule?
A bar bending schedule (BBS) lists reinforcement by bar mark, diameter, shape, cutting length, quantity and steel weight. It translates a structural drawing into measurable steel quantities.
Who is this course for?
Students, site engineers, quantity surveyors and contractors learning reinforcement quantity take-off. Follow worked examples in millimetres, metres and kilograms, then check your understanding with a short practice question in each lesson.
How should you use the examples?
Each lesson states its inputs and calculation conventions. Read the complete lesson in its notes panel, inspect the drawing, and change one option at a time. Cover, hooks, spacing offsets, tie arrangements and laps must follow the project’s structural detail; these examples teach quantities and do not specify reinforcement for construction.
Your path through the drawing
Explore an example, change a detail, then try it yourself.
- 01 Read the reinforcement detail before you calculateIdentify clear cover, stirrup diameter, hook angle and spacing before using them in a steel calculation.Practice checked
- 02 Calculate a complete stirrup cutting lengthMove from concrete size to covered perimeter, bend deduction, hook allowance and the final rounded cutting length.Practice checked
- 03 Turn spacing into a steel quantityCount stirrups over a clear span, then calculate total length, unit weight and kilograms of steel.Practice checked
- 04 Resolve column ties and leg arrangementsTranslate a leg count into physical closed ties and cross-ties, and recognise when the drawing must be reviewed instead of guessed.Practice checked
- 05 Make bars reach with development length and lapsUse grade-dependent development length, account for stock-length splices and include lap steel in the quantity.Practice checked
- 06 Produce and check a complete beam scheduleAssemble stirrup, bottom-bar and top-bar rows, total the steel and use density as a reasonableness check.Practice checked
This course teaches quantity calculation and checking. It does not design reinforcement or replace a structural engineer’s drawings.
Already have your dimensions? Open the BBS calculator →