This is one of the most common questions we get, and it’s completely understandable. Room dimensions will almost never add up to the total square footage of a home, and that is due to a few reasons.
First: we only provide the dimensions of primary spaces like bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, etc. Dimensions of stair landings, bump outs, and other small spaces throughout a home factor into the total calculations but don’t appear as named rooms with dimensions.
Second: interior and exterior wall thickness takes up real space that isn’t reflected in room-to-room dimensions. For example, closets and stairs are included in the total square footage calculation but aren’t shown in the room dimensions.
Third: Dimensions work best in rooms with basic shapes, like squares and rectangles. Irregular shapes are not represented well by our room dimensions, which is another reason they shouldn’t be used for estimated square footage calculations.
Think of dimensions as a tool for planning furniture placement or flooring — not as a way to work backwards to calculate total square footage. For an accurate total, always rely on the square footage figure provided on your plan — not a sum of the room dimensions.