Unit Conversion Guide
Precision in Measurement: Your Essential Unit Conversion Guide
Accurate unit conversions are the backbone of effective quantity surveying, ensuring seamless collaboration, cost estimation, and compliance across global construction projects. Whether you’re reconciling imperial and metric specifications, calculating material quantities, or verifying tender documents, even minor conversion errors can lead to costly delays or discrepancies. To empower your workflow, we’ve compiled a comprehensive Unit Conversion Table tailored for construction professionals. This guide bridges imperial units (e.g., feet, pounds, acres) with their metric equivalents (metres, kilograms, hectares), covering length, area, volume, weight, and more. Bookmark this resource to streamline calculations, eliminate guesswork, and maintain precision in every project—from residential builds to large-scale infrastructure.
| Category | Imperial Unit | Metric Unit | Conversion Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | Inch (in) | Millimetre (mm) | 1 in = 25.4 mm |
| Foot (ft) | Metre (m) | 1 ft = 0.3048 m | |
| Yard (yd) | Metre (m) | 1 yd = 0.9144 m | |
| Mile (mi) | Kilometre (km) | 1 mi = 1.60934 km | |
| Area | Square Foot (ft²) | Square Metre (m²) | 1 ft² = 0.0929 m² |
| Acre (ac) | Hectare (ha) | 1 ac = 0.4047 ha | |
| Square (100 ft²) | Square Metre(m²) | 1 square = 9.2903 m² | |
| — | 1 Hectare (ha) | 1 ha = 10,000 m² | |
| — | 1 Square Metre (m²) | 1 m² = 0.0001 ha | |
| Volume | Cubic Foot (ft³) | Cubic Metre (m³) | 1 ft³ = 0.0283 m³ |
| Cubic Yard (yd³) | Cubic Metre (m³) | 1 yd³ = 0.7646 m³ | |
| Gallon (gal) | Litre (L) | 1 gal = 3.7854 L | |
| Weight/Mass | Pound (lb) | Kilogram (kg) | 1 lb = 0.4536 kg |
| Stone (st) | Kilogram (kg) | 1 st = 6.3503 kg | |
| Ton (short ton, 2000 lb) | Tonne (metric ton, t) | 1 ton = 0.9072 tonnes | |
| — | 1 Tonne (t) | 1 t = 1,000 kg | |
| Pressure | PSI (lb/in²) | Kilopascal (kPa) | 1 psi = 6.8948 kPa |
| Lumber | Board Foot (bf) | Cubic Meter (m³) | 1 bf ≈ 0.00236 m³ |
Key Notes for Weight/Mass:
- Tonnes (t) are the metric unit for large masses (e.g., concrete, steel, aggregates).
- 1 tonne=1,000 kg1tonne=1,000kg.
- Example: 5 t=5,000 kg5t=5,000kg.
- Short Ton (imperial) vs. Tonne (metric):
- 1 short ton=2,000 lb=907.2 kg1short ton=2,000lb=907.2kg.