A set of construction material elements including gypsum board, plywood, studs, tracks and cement boards each contain markings on a front and rear face. The markings comprise a plurality of series of symbols including a first and second series of symbols that appear on the face at regular repeating intervals, such as every 12 or 16 inches aligned along a horizontal line, the first and second series being substantially parallel spaced a few inches away from one another. The symbols may be combinations of dots and bars wherein each dot represents an interval of one unit, and each bar represents an interval of five units. Each construction material element may also have a first series of numerals in ascending order at regular repeating intervals around a perimeter of the face and a second series of numerals in descending order at regular repeating intervals around the perimeter.