Metres or feet and inches? On a floor plan it is not a style choice - get it wrong and a joiner cuts to the wrong length. The good news is you do not have to pick once and live with it. RoomPlot works in metric or imperial throughout, and switches the whole plan over in a tap. This guide explains when to use each and how RoomPlot keeps your dimensions honest either way.
One plan, both unit systems
RoomPlot stores the true geometry of your plan and simply formats it in whichever measurement system you choose. Set it to metric and lengths read in metres; set it to imperial and the same walls read in feet and inches. Nothing about the drawing changes - only the labels - so you can measure in the field in the units you think in and present in the units your client expects.
When to use metric
Across the UK, Europe and most of the world, building work runs in millimetres and metres. If your plan is going to a UK surveyor, an architect or a building control officer, metric is the expected language. Areas in square metres are what valuations, EPCs and most agency particulars quote, and RoomPlot calculates room and floor area for you from the wall centrelines.
When to use imperial
For US work, and for plenty of UK trades and homeowners who still think in feet and inches, imperial reads more naturally. RoomPlot formats imperial lengths as feet and inches rather than awkward decimal feet, so a wall reads "12 ft 6 in", not "12.5 ft". Switch the whole plan to imperial and every dimension, the scale bar and the area summary follow.
Tip. Add a scale bar to every export. A printed plan can be photocopied or resized, which breaks any fixed ratio - but a scale bar resizes with the drawing, so a measurement taken off the page stays honest. RoomPlot can show on-plan dimensions and a scale bar together.
Switching without redrawing
Because the unit system is just a display setting, you never redraw to change it. Survey a property in metric, then export an imperial copy for an overseas client - same plan, two outputs. The snapping grid, dimensions and area figures all reformat automatically, so there is no manual conversion to get wrong.
- Measure in the units you are fastest in on site.
- Present in the units your reader expects.
- Let RoomPlot handle the conversion so nothing is mistyped.
Accurate either way
Units are a presentation choice; accuracy comes from the measurement underneath. Get that right and the metric or imperial label takes care of itself. For the fundamentals, see how to measure a room and how to scale a floor plan, or browse the full set of RoomPlot guides to take a plan from site visit to client-ready export.
