ForConstructionPros.com

Whether you're involved in sealcoating, striping, paving, or patching, your ability to accurately measure is essential to your business. From preparing bids, to tabulating paint applied, to predicting how much more mix you're going to need to finish a job, to measuring items on jobs that pay per square foot or yard, accurate and easy measurement is key to profitability.

Lucky for contractors that there are any number of companies ready to provide measuring devices to you, some with bells and whistles, some of the more basic variety, and even some at the higher-tech level.

Given the nature of the measurements you need - large areas, often with irregular shapes; lines that stop and start over a large area; or small areas of patching throughout a large area - the measuring wheel has become the measuring device of choice for most contractors. These devices are generally lightweight, often with a folding or collapsible handle, and can be relied upon to be quite accurate.

There are two types of measuring wheels: mechanical and electronic. Mechanical wheels are a little simpler to operate (though electronic wheels are not difficult) because they do less. Electronic wheels, which are battery operated, can offer more to the contractor, but of course they are priced higher.

When buying a mechanical wheel you must buy the wheel that measures in the units (feet and inches, for example) you want. If you want to switch units for some reason, you need to switch wheels. Mechanical wheels also will not store any measurements for you, so the operator needs to have pencil and paper handy to write down each measurement.