Cladding cut optimiser

Stop paying for cladding that ends up in the skip. And stop planning cuts by hand.

Cladra works out the most efficient way to cut your panels from standard sheets, so you buy fewer sheets and waste less material. The optimiser is free, with unlimited panels — most free tools stop at around 30. Upgrade to measure straight off the architect's PDF, import from Excel, and export a clean cut plan for the saw.

Try the optimiser See how it works

Free optimiser · no card required · unlimited panels

Best layout found

Efficiency

94.2%

Sheets

Waste

5.8%

3000 mm 1200 mm

One-click optimisation ✦ Measure from PDF drawings ✦ Projects & panel sets ✦ Import from Excel ✦ Printable cut plan PDF ✦ CSV export ✦ Auto-saves your work ✦ Runs in your browser ✦ One-click optimisation ✦ Measure from PDF drawings ✦ Projects & panel sets ✦ Import from Excel ✦ Printable cut plan PDF ✦ CSV export ✦ Auto-saves your work ✦ Runs in your browser ✦

The problem

Cladding is expensive. Waste is money in the skip.

Every offcut you can't use is a sheet you paid for and threw away. And working out the layout by hand — panel by panel, sheet by sheet — burns time you'd rather spend on site.

$$$

Material you bought, binned

Cladding sheets aren't cheap. Lay them out poorly and you're buying extra sheets to cover panels that would have fit — the difference goes straight in the waste pile.

⏱

Hours lost to manual planning

Sketching cut layouts on paper or in a spreadsheet is slow, easy to get wrong, and has to be redone every time a dimension or a sheet size changes.

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Guesswork on the quote

Without a real layout you're estimating sheet counts. Over-order and you eat the cost; under-order and the job stalls waiting on more material.

How it works

From panels to a cut plan, in four steps.

No CAD skills, no setup, no choosing between optimisation methods. Cladra handles the hard part out of sight.

Set up the panel set

Start a project and add a panel set for each material or wall — each with its own sheet size and blade-gap (kerf).

Get your panels in

Type them in, import from Excel, or measure them straight off a PDF drawing — set the scale and let Cladra detect the panels.

Click Run

Cladra searches hard behind the scenes and shows you the single best cutting layout. There's nothing to tune — just the result.

Export and cut

Check efficiency, sheet count and waste per set, then export a CSV cut list and a printable Cut Plan PDF for the saw.

Features

Built for the way cladding jobs actually run.

Everything you need to go from a drawing or a schedule to material that's bought right and cut right.

One-click optimisation

Click Run and see the single best layout. Multiple strategies and a deep search run hidden behind the scenes — you never have to understand or choose between them.

No methods to pick

Measure from PDF

Import an architectural drawing, set the scale, and auto-detect or manually measure panels straight off the page. Panels are tagged with their drawing name and page, with bookmark navigation for multi-sheet sets.

Drawing-aware

Projects & panel sets

Organise work as projects, each holding multiple panel sets. Every set is a different material or wall with its own sheet size and kerf, and is optimised separately — materials never share a sheet.

Per-set results

Import from Excel

Bring panels in from your existing spreadsheets, with zone support so you can keep areas of a job organised the way you already work.

Zone support

Cut plan PDF + CSV

Export a printable Cut Plan PDF to hand to whoever's cutting, plus a CSV cut list. Every panel has a unique ID and quantity; results show efficiency, sheet count and waste.

Ready for the saw

Never lose your work

Cladra auto-saves in your browser as you go, warns you before discarding unsaved changes, and can restore your previous project if you come back later.

Auto-save & restore

Who it's for

Whoever owns the material cost.

If your job runs on sheets of cladding, Cladra earns its place — on the quote, in the office, and on site.

Installers & tradespeople

Turn up with a cut plan instead of a pile of sheets and a tape measure. Less material left over, fewer return trips for more stock, less time planning cuts on the job.

Architects & estimators

Measure panels straight off the drawing and get a real sheet count to quote from — so the material line on the estimate is grounded in an actual layout, not a guess.

Manufacturers & fabricators

Run multiple panel sets per project, each with its own sheet size and kerf, and push consistent cut plans to the floor for every material in the job.

Why it pays

A few percent better on material is real money on every job.

Cladding is one of the bigger line items on a job. Tightening up how panels are packed onto sheets means fewer sheets bought — and on expensive material, that adds up fast across a year of work.

Planning by hand

Slower · more leftover offcuts

With Cladra

Best layout in one click · fewer sheets

✓

Illustrative — your savings depend on your panels, sheet sizes and material.

Pricing

Start free. Pay when it pays for itself.

The free plan runs the full optimiser on a real job — no part limits, no card. Paid plans unlock the things that save you the most time: measuring off PDF drawings, Excel import, multiple panel sets, and the clean Cut Plan PDF you hand to the saw.

Monthly Annual 2 months free

Free

For trying Cladra on a real job, or the occasional one-off.

NZ$0

no card required

Start free

Full optimiser, unlimited panels

On-screen cut layout

One sheet size, one panel set

Browser auto-save

No PDF measure, import or PDF export

Good to know.

A panel set is a single material or wall within a project — for example one cladding type, or one elevation. Each set has its own sheet size and blade-gap (kerf) and is optimised on its own, because different materials can't share a sheet. A project can hold as many panel sets as the job needs, and results are shown per set so you can switch between them.

Yes. Import an architectural drawing, set the scale, and either auto-detect panels or measure them manually straight off the page. Each panel is tagged with the drawing name and page it came from, and Cladra supports PDF bookmarks so you can navigate multi-sheet drawing sets quickly. Accuracy depends on the scale you set and how the PDF was drawn, so auto-detection won't be perfect on every drawing — always review the detected panels and confirm dimensions before cutting.

Yes — Cladra imports panels from Excel, with zone support so you can keep different areas of a job organised the way you already do. Each panel carries a unique ID and a quantity.

Two things: a CSV cut list, and a printable Cut Plan PDF showing the layout for each sheet. The results also report efficiency percentage, the number of sheets needed, and how much waste there is — per panel set.

No. Cladra auto-saves as you work, warns you before you discard unsaved changes, and can restore your previous project when you come back.

No. Cladra runs entirely in your browser — there's nothing to download or install.

Cladra has a free plan that runs the full optimiser on a real job — unlimited panels, no card required. Paid plans start at NZ$19/month and add the time-savers: measuring off PDF drawings, Excel import, multiple panel sets, the clean Cut Plan PDF, cost/quote, and cloud save. You can switch to annual billing for two months free, and cancel anytime.