The short answer
Handyman Calc is a free construction calculator that adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides feet, inches and fractions the way you read a tape, with sixteen material calculators from concrete to stairs. It's on iPhone, iPad and Android, needs no account, and carries a banner and an occasional full-screen ad. You can try the whole thing in your browser first.
Use it here
Your recent answers and saved numbers stay in this browser. What the browser version keeps and sends is on its own page, and on a wide screen it is better in a full window, where it splits into the keypad and the calculators.
Everything for Handyman Calc
In your browser
- Handyman Calc in your browser: the whole app on its own page, with what it keeps and sends.
- Full window: on a wide screen it splits into the keypad and the calculators.
- Feet and inches calculator: the keypad on its own, for adding and dividing lengths with fractions.
- Concrete calculator: yards and bags for a slab, footing, pier or post hole, with a bags chart for 4 and 6 inch slabs (PDF).
- Stair calculator: risers, treads, stringer length and every stringer mark, with a riser chart for common rises (PDF).
- Board foot calculator: board feet and cost for a whole lumber order, with a chart of common lumber at 8 to 16 ft (PDF).
- Drywall calculator: sheets, tape, compound and screws for a room, with a chart for 4 × 8 and 4 × 12 sheets (PDF).
- Paint calculator: gallons for walls and ceiling, doors and windows taken off, with a chart for two coats (PDF).
- Mulch calculator: cubic yards and bags for a bed, square or round, with a chart for 2 and 3 inch beds (PDF).
- Gravel calculator: yards and tons of gravel, sand or topsoil.
- Roof pitch calculator: pitch, angle and bundles of shingles, with degrees and rafter length for each pitch (PDF).
- Square footage calculator: rooms in feet and inches, added up.
Charts, each with a PDF to print
- Diagonal chart for squaring a frame: the corner to corner measurement to pull (PDF).
- Fraction to decimal chart: every sixteenth of an inch as a decimal and in millimeters (PDF).
Printables and guides
- Material estimator spreadsheet: concrete, paint, drywall and mulch for Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, with the app’s math.
- How to add feet and inches: by hand, with fractions and worked examples.
Compared with other apps
- Apps like Construction Master: seven feet-and-inches calculators, with prices.
- The best construction calculator apps: the subscription ones and the buy-once ones.
- Is magicplan free?: the floor plan app’s two price lists.
The app itself
- Privacy policy: what the phone app collects, and what it never sends.
- Househand: our home maintenance tracker, for the jobs these numbers are for.
Watch it
Plays from YouTube once you press play.
Screenshots
About Handyman Calc
Handyman Calc does the arithmetic in the units you measured in. It adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides feet, inches and fractions directly, so 12′ 4 3/8″ + 7′ 9 1/2″ comes back as 20′ 1 7/8″ without a trip through decimals. Answers are rounded to the nearest 1/16″ unless you pick 1/8, 1/32 or 1/64 in Settings. Each is shown again in decimal inches, decimal feet and metric, because the person cutting and the person ordering rarely work in the same one. Millimeters and decimals go in too. Multiply two lengths for square feet, divide a run into equal parts, or divide by a measurement and it counts instead: 20′ ÷ 16″ answers 15.
Beside the keypad are sixteen calculators. Concrete covers slabs, footings and round piers, in cubic yards and in 60 lb or 80 lb bags. There’s tile and flooring, paint, drywall and decking, and pavers and patio. Gravel, mulch and soil come by the yard, ton or bag. A cut list plans every board and its offcut, allowing for the saw kerf. Then board feet, roofing, fence, stairs, squaring, rafters, baluster and on-center spacing, and circles and arcs. Show the math lays out every step in your own numbers, and a price per bag, box or board turns a count into an estimated cost.
Any set of numbers can be saved under a name — “garage slab”, “6 ft privacy fence” — and refilled with one tap. Every answer goes in a recent list to scroll back through on site. Add to job files an estimate under a named job. A slab, a fence and a set of steps become one quote with a total, which you can share from the phone as text or a PDF. On a tall enough screen the reading is also drawn on a tape blade. On a phone set to Spanish, the whole app is in Spanish, in the words a US job site uses: concreto, not hormigón. It all works with no signal.
Most calculators work in decimals and round at the end. Handyman Calc keeps every measurement as an exact fraction from the moment it is typed and rounds once, when it shows the answer. A staircase is where that shows: round the riser first and stack seven treads, and the top one can sit a sixteenth proud of the floor. Carried exactly, each mark is rounded on its own and the last one lands on the floor. The stair calculator also says when a flight falls outside the IRC limits of a 7 3/4″ maximum riser and a 10″ minimum tread. It won’t quietly work out a step nobody can sign off. Material counts round up, because nobody sells 6.2 boxes of tile.
Being a calculator, it pays nothing. It has no coins, balance or cash-out, so it sits apart from the four reward apps. The app is free and carries advertising: a banner, and an occasional full-screen ad after a calculation. That ad never comes in the first six calculations after you install it, and never twice inside ninety seconds. Under some answers, and under a job’s shopping list, it can suggest a tool or material, and each of those is marked as an affiliate link. No calculator is locked and there is no account to create. On Android a one-time purchase removes the ads and those links; on iPhone and iPad there is nothing to buy. What it collects (anonymous analytics, crash reports and what the ad network gathers) is set out in its own privacy policy, and none of it includes a measurement or a result.
It has been on Google Play since 30 September 2026, and on the App Store for iPhone and iPad since 15 October 2026, the same version on both. The browser version is built from the same code, with all sixteen calculators, and runs at the top of this page. It has no ads, no analytics and no account. Your recent answers and saved numbers stay in that browser’s storage and nowhere else.
Pricing a whole list of jobs on a laptop? The free material estimator spreadsheet works out concrete, paint, drywall, and mulch or gravel with the app's math. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Just need to add up some measurements? The feet and inches calculator on this site is the app's keypad on its own: add, subtract, multiply and divide feet, inches and fractions, with nothing to load. The concrete calculator does slabs, footings and post holes the same way. To do the math by hand, there's a guide to adding feet and inches with worked examples.
Want a quick answer first? We worked out charts with the app's own math, each with a PDF to print. For materials: how many bags of concrete for a slab, how many sheets of drywall for a room, how much paint for a room and how much mulch for a bed. For measuring: fractions of an inch as decimals, roof pitch angles and rafter lengths, how many steps a rise takes, the diagonal that squares a frame and board feet for common lumber.
How to use it in the moment
- Type a measurement the way the tape reads it — 12, ft, 4, in, 3, /, 8 — then an operator and the next one.
- Press = for the answer in feet, inches and sixteenths, with decimal and metric underneath.
- Dividing? 20′ ÷ 2 shares a run into equal parts; 20′ ÷ 16″ counts how many fit.
- For materials, open one of the sixteen calculators, fill in the boxes and press Calculate. Show the math explains the answer.
- Save a form you will use again under a name, and it comes back as a chip above that form. Tap a recent answer to copy it.
Features
- Feet, inches and fractions added, subtracted, multiplied and divided
- Exact fractions throughout, rounded once to 1/16″ or your choice of 1/8, 1/32 or 1/64
- Decimal inches, decimal feet and metric beside every result
- Millimeters and decimals typed straight in, and memory keys
- Concrete for slabs, footings and round piers, in yards and 60 lb or 80 lb bags
- Tile and flooring, paint, drywall, decking, and gravel, mulch and soil
- A cut list that plans every board and offcut, allowing for the kerf
- Board feet, roofing, fence, rafters, spacing, and circles and arcs
- Stairs, with every mark to cut and a note when a flight is outside the IRC limits
- Squaring: the diagonal to pull, and how far out of square you are
- Show the math on any result, and prices for an estimated cost
- Saved numbers on every calculator, refilled with one tap
- Jobs: estimates filed under a name, totaled, and shared as text or a PDF
- The reading drawn on a tape blade, where the screen has room
- In Spanish on a Spanish-language device, and it works offline
- No account and no sign-in
- On an unfolded iPhone Duo or an iPad, Jobs and the material calculators open in two panes, and the one you picked stays picked through a fold
What changed
- 6 November 2026, App Store 1.0.2. On an iPad or an unfolded iPhone Duo, Jobs and the material calculators open in two panes, with the one you picked on the right. A fresh keypad offers Concrete, Stairs and all sixteen calculators in one tap. The banner gets out of the way while you type, and a form no longer warns you before you press Calculate. Some answers, and a job’s shopping list, can suggest a tool or material, each marked as an affiliate link. Frost on the readout from 1 December to 6 January, which Settings turns off.
- 6 November 2026, Google Play 1.0.2. The same changes as the App Store’s 1.0.2, on a tablet or an unfolded phone. Android also gets a one-time purchase that removes the ads and the affiliate links. Every calculator stays free without it.
- 27 October 2026, browser version 1.0.1. Rebuilt from the App Store’s 1.0.1 code, so it has all sixteen calculators, pavers and patio included.
- 23 October 2026, App Store 1.0.1. Spanish now shows on the App Store. The app has spoken Spanish since launch; this update lets your iPhone know it, so the language setting can offer it.
- 23 October 2026, Google Play 1.0.0 (7). New: pavers and patio, the sixteenth calculator, with base gravel, sand and edging. Every job now adds up a shopping list to copy to a supplier. After an answer on the keypad, one tap puts it in any empty measurement. Fixes: the squaring diagonal and stair stringer could read a sixteenth off, a second operator now replaces the first, and a round-pier preset comes back as a pier.
- 15 October 2026, App Store 1.0. First release on the App Store, for iPhone and iPad, with the same sixteen calculators as the Android update that followed.
- 30 September 2026, Google Play 1.0.0 (5). First release. Add, subtract, multiply and divide in feet, inches and fractions, with the reading drawn on a tape. Fifteen calculators: concrete, tile, paint, drywall, decking, gravel and mulch, cut list, board feet, roofing, fence, stairs, squaring, rafters, spacing and circles. Show the math, add prices, and gather estimates into a job to share as text or PDF. In English and Spanish, and it works with no signal.
Frequently asked questions
Is it on iPhone?
Yes, since 15 October 2026, on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, rated 4+. It's the same version as the Android one, with sixteen calculators including pavers and patio.
Does this app pay me anything?
No. It has no coins, no balance and no cash-out; it is a calculator. The four apps we publish that do pay are on our apps page.
Is it free?
Yes. The app is free and supported by ads — a banner, and an occasional full-screen ad after a calculation, never in the first six after you install it. No calculator is locked. On Android a one-time purchase in Settings removes the ads and the affiliate links under some answers; on iPhone and iPad there is nothing to buy. The browser version carries no ads at all, because the ad network has no browser version.
Is the browser version the whole app?
Yes: the same keypad, jobs and sixteen calculators, built from the same code as the App Store’s 1.0.1. It has no advertising, and the vibration setting is there but does nothing in a browser. On a wide window it switches to the two-pane layout a tablet gets.
Where are my calculations kept?
On the device you did them on. The app keeps recent answers, saved numbers and jobs on the phone, with no account and no upload. The browser version keeps them in that browser’s storage, so they do not follow you to another browser and clearing your site data removes them. Neither has an account, so nothing syncs between them.
How exact are the answers?
Every measurement is held as an exact fraction and rounded once, when it is shown. That’s to the nearest 1/16″ unless you choose otherwise. Material counts always round up. Roofing pitch, rafters and squaring diagonals involve square roots, which no fraction holds exactly, so those are worked in decimals — far more finely than a tape can measure.
Does it check building code?
The stair calculator says whether a flight is within the IRC’s 7 3/4″ maximum riser and 10″ minimum tread. It still works out one that is not, because a garage step is legitimately outside residential code. It is a calculator, not an inspector: check what your local code requires.
Why is it called Handyman Calculator in the stores?
The full name in a search result has to say what the app does. So it’s “Handyman Calculator: Ft & In” on Google Play and “Handyman Calculator: Concrete” on the App Store. Under the icon on your phone it is Handyman Calc, the same app.
How does it compare to Construction Master?
Construction Master Pro Calc does more roof work: hip, valley and jack rafters, compound miters and trig, which Handyman Calc doesn't have. It's a subscription after a free trial, $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year on the App Store; Handyman Calc is free with ads. We compared the two, and five other feet-and-inches calculators, in apps like Construction Master, with our interest declared at the top.
Is it affiliated with a tool or materials maker?
No. Handyman Calc is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any tool or building-materials manufacturer, and it names bags by weight rather than by brand.
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