Stop using inches in your sketch, now.

[alebrewer]

From Claude:

A 0.2' mismeasurement on a 2,000 square foot home would represent a 0.01% error, which is quite small in relative terms.


However, the practical impact depends on what's being mismeasured:


If it's a linear dimension (like length or width):

• A 0.2' error on one wall of a roughly square home (~45' × 45') would be about a 0.4% error in that dimension
• This could affect room layouts, furniture placement, or material calculations

If it's the total square footage:

• You'd be off by about 20 square feet
• At typical construction costs ($100-200/sq ft), this could represent $2,000-4,000 in value
• For property taxes or appraisals, this might have modest financial implications

If it's a critical measurement like:

• Foundation placement: Could cause significant structural issues
• Room dimensions for built-in features: Might require costly adjustments
• Lot line setbacks: Could create legal/permitting problems

For most purposes like general planning, rough cost estimates, or casual reference, a 0.2' error on a 2,000 sq ft home would be negligible. But for precision work like construction, legal surveys, or detailed architectural plans, even small errors can cascade into bigger problems.

 

[Fernando]

From Claude:

A 0.2' mismeasurement on a 2,000 square foot home would represent a 0.01% error, which is quite small in relative terms.


However, the practical impact depends on what's being mismeasured:


If it's a linear dimension (like length or width):

• A 0.2' error on one wall of a roughly square home (~45' × 45') would be about a 0.4% error in that dimension
• This could affect room layouts, furniture placement, or material calculations

If it's the total square footage:

• You'd be off by about 20 square feet
• At typical construction costs ($100-200/sq ft), this could represent $2,000-4,000 in value
• For property taxes or appraisals, this might have modest financial implications

If it's a critical measurement like:

• Foundation placement: Could cause significant structural issues
• Room dimensions for built-in features: Might require costly adjustments
• Lot line setbacks: Could create legal/permitting problems

For most purposes like general planning, rough cost estimates, or casual reference, a 0.2' error on a 2,000 sq ft home would be negligible. But for precision work like construction, legal surveys, or detailed architectural plans, even small errors can cascade into bigger problems.

And for appraisers, it's nothing.

 

[alebrewer]

To Tawfik's point, unless you're using a laser or tape with tenths, you're having to mentally make adjustments anyways. 7" is ~ 0.58'. That one's easy. 10" is ~ 0.833. Some folks will use 0.8 some, 0.9. Not gonna matter.

 

[Dublin ohio]

To Tawfik's point, unless you're using a laser or tape with tenths, you're having to mentally make adjustments anyways. 7" is ~ 0.58'. That one's easy. 10" is ~ 0.833. Some folks will use 0.8 some, 0.9. Not gonna matter.

My 33' and 100' tapes have both inches and 1/10

 

[djd09]

they require adherence to ansi standards...what does ansi say

 

[Tom D]

I use the old chain method. 10 links to the metric maritime foot method. Although, sometimes i forget and say the house measures 5 fathoms deep.

 

[Fernando]

I use the old chain method. 10 links to the metric maritime foot method. Although, sometimes i forget and say the house measures 5 fathoms deep.

That's my last resort and walk. I figure normal stride is about 2.5 feet.
Yesterday my cheap laser pointer couldn't measure that far.
Good thing I had my reliable ole tape measure and manually measured. And when I did the squaring off sketch, I used appraiser discretion to get closer to assessor gross area.