Estimating Programs & Pricing Updates

[tkb]

I have just upgraded to Tra-Ser Premier for my pricing updates.
I find this program full of bugs and very slow since the upgrade.
Updates for Accubid are very slow and fail often.
You still have to do weekly updates in order or you cannot update the Accubid database.
Tra-Ser will not update the whole database, only the items for that week.
If you have an out of date database it takes hours to update it.

Does anyone use Epic and how is the pricing from them?
Can you update an old database without running an update for every week it is behind like you have to with Tra-Ser?

I am considering switching from Tra-Ser to Epic if you can update the whole database and if the pricing is accurate.

[tshea]

I use EPIC. I update once a month. I receive a CD with a new database. When I install I can update the whole database. It takes about 15 minutes then I'm done for the month.

[Jerseydaze]

I'm new at this where what exactly is epic and where can I get it?

[tshea]

I get mine through Vision Infosoft

http://www.visioninfosoft.com/

[Minuteman]

Tim, I looked at vision and thought it was kinda pricey. Is it really worth it?

[cdslotz]

Tim, I looked at vision and thought it was kinda pricey. Is it really worth it?

Pricey? Have you priced Accubid, Estimation, McCormick? Vision Bid Manager is very reasonable. I've used it for years. It's a "good" program, not great. Very "buggy" still, and Vision has made no attempt to fix the problems I have discovered.
As far as Epic goes, it works well with Vision Bid Mgr, however, updating doesn't seem to be releative to the multiplier we use. In other words, if I apply a multiplier to wire or conduit, the update should increase/decrease to target price, and my multiplier should stay constant, leaving a relative adjusted price, close to my buy price. No so. I am constantly having to adjust my multipliers. So I cannot trust the updates. I would not even load the updates, except the program recognizes when you havn't updated, and pop-ups won't let you continue until you do.
You get what you pay for.

[speedystevie]

Does anyone have any old version of estimating software they wanted to sell?

[tshea]

Mike,
I think Vision was the one of the lowest priced estimating programs I found. I tried the others (demos), and didn't care for them as much as Vision. The EPIC program is also a stand alone program you can use for pricing. Years ago I used Tracer (now I2 something). I would get the mailings of updated pages once a week and update the book. We then went to the quarterly updates. Some of the prices are total unrealistic. Take HID ballasts--You can buy some on the net for $50+, the book is around $250+. You can buy a fixture for that, or gut it out and the customer will have a brand new fixture and lamp for <$250.00
Like everything else, it's all relative.

A cheap lowend estimating program is made by Craftsman. It is simple and very low cost.

[macmikeman]

Does anybody remember one called Estmat?. I used to have it and it was pretty good. I blinked and the company who made it was gone. Only worked for DOS as I recall.

[bdarnell]

Does anybody remember one called Estmat?

I used to use Estmat 2000 also. I think they got picked up by GEAC. We switched to AccuBid.