How to Read a Levelling Staff: A Beginner's Guide

A levelling staff is one of the simplest tools on site — and one of the most misread. Paired with a rotary laser and receiver, it lets you transfer and check heights to the millimetre. Once you understand the E-pattern graduations, reading one becomes second nature. Here's the beginner's version.

What the markings mean

A standard metric staff is marked in metres, with each metre divided into 10-centimetre and 1-centimetre bands. The distinctive E-shape (and its mirror image) each cover 5 cm — the three bars and two gaps of the E are 1 cm each. That's the key: one full E = 50 mm, and each individual bar or gap = 10 mm.

Reading a figure step by step

1. Metres are shown by the large numbers, often in a different colour.
2. Decimetres (100 mm) are the smaller numbers between them — so “1.2” means 1.200 m.
3. Centimetres you count off the E-pattern bars from the nearest decimetre mark.
4. Millimetres you estimate within the 10 mm bar, or read exactly when your laser receiver beeps on-grade.

So a receiver sitting two-and-a-bit bars above the 1.2 mark reads roughly 1.225 m.

Keeping the staff plumb

A staff leaning even slightly reads high, throwing your level out. Most quality staffs — including the Grettz 4m Telescopic Levelling Staff — have a small circular bubble vial; keep it centred so the staff is truly vertical before you take the reading.

Using the staff with a laser

Clamp your receiver to the staff, stand it on the point, and slide the receiver until it signals on-grade — then read the figure. Compare it to your datum to see whether the point is high or low. This is the core of every levelling task, from checking a floor to setting a datum. It pairs with any of our rotary laser kits, most of which include a staff and receiver in the box.

Staff or tape?

A staff transfers heights; for horizontal distances you'll still want a surveyors tape measure. Together they cover almost all site setting-out.