Estimating Software

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mikedsr

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Hi,
I am looking to purchase estimating software for mid size commercial projects. After some research I know I want on screen take off & some type of auto count feature. Any suggestions or pro's and con's from ones you are using? I have looked at demo's for Electrical Bid Manager & ConEst. Also what is the best way to import material pricing? How is there product support?

Thanks!
 
mikedsr said:
Hi,
I am looking to purchase estimating software for mid size commercial projects. After some research I know I want on screen take off & some type of auto count feature. Any suggestions or pro's and con's from ones you are using? I have looked at demo's for Electrical Bid Manager & ConEst. Also what is the best way to import material pricing? How is there product support?

Thanks!
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Both that you mentioned are excellent programs. I used EBM before I went to ConEst.
I found EBM (at that time) had issues with it's audit trails.....they would become corrupted if you did a lot of cutting/pasting/copying. I'm sure they have cleaned that up by now.
That's what I loved about ConEst...the ability to use the audit trail to quickly cut/paste/copy anything duplicate or repetitive, which is very powerful.
I retired right when on-screen takeoff was taking off (pun intended)...but I have demonstrated both programs and their on-screen enough to know they are moving fast to perfect it.
There are several ways to import material in both programs. We used to do it through EBM's updates (I'm drawing a blank on the name of their import program). It was always a pain
and we would wind up changing our multipliers to fit pricing discounts based on our region and vendors. They were never even close to our costs, so we just quit using them.
I set my multipliers for commodity items (conduit, ftgs, boxes, straps, pvc, etc...) manually based on commodity quotes from our vendors, just using an average.
When I summarized jobs, I could quickly look at the big $ items (copper, aluminum, large conduit quantities, etc) and adjust right there in the summary.
 
also...there's quite a price difference between those two programs.
If you are a smaller company with a smaller budget, EBM is perfect.
But if you are taking on larger projects, and planning to grow, you might want to invest in ConEst
 
mikedsr

mikedsr

Thanks for your input. though cost matters it is not he most important part here. How well the auto count works seems to be a big part for me. If you can highlight a symbol and populate the count with in seconds is a great feature. Also how easy or difficult is the program to learn? How do the prebuilt assemblies look?

Mike
 
A fellow estimator had used ConEst a his previous job, and he had me up and going really fast.

There's a ton of assemblies to choose from that can be tweaked on the fly to fit any job condition. Branch, feeder, device, fixture, transformer, gear assemblies......
 
The auto count feature isn't all that accurate at times. It all depends on the quality of the PDF and how cluttered the drawing is. If symbols overlap they will be missed.

I use Accubid and find it easier to navigate the database and create items and assemblies on the fly.
 
We have been using Conest Intellibid for the past 4 years. I love it. It has cut my estimating time by at least half. We are a 10 man shop and though it is pricey it is worth the $.

We also have the Sure Count feature which has gotten better with the latest update but as said previously accuracy will depend on quality of the PDF.

If purchased i would recommend taking the classroom training (I will be in Manchester, NH next week for additional training) as well as your online training that comes with the purchase.

Overall taking into account product ease of use, vast database, huge assembly list, training and the tech service help line I would give this product/company an A+.

Good luck with your choice.


Kelley
 
Ee use ConEst. It has worked well enough for me but creating custom assemblies can be a real nightmare, especially when having to select a count formula. And that's probably my number one feature request at this point is being able to easily create my own assemblies.

A friend of mine is an estimator/PM at a giant EC, and they use Accubid. I've been talking to him about some of the differences and I think I'm going to demo it soon. And that's what I would recommend you to do; call these companies mentioned here and have them do a live demo with you to see what fits your needs.


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I have used both Conest and Accubid. They are both good estimating programs that have extensive data bases of items and assemblies. They both do basically the same thing.

I prefer Accubid. Creating assemblies are very easy and there are only two factors to set instead of complicated formulas like in Conest.

I find Accubid easier to navigate and work with.
 
We use Planswift. The license is expensive, I think it's $1200 per user. I work for a national company and they set most of the estimators up with the software. It's AMAZING. I've only been using it for a few months and I've only begun to scratch the surface on the potential of this powerful tool. Excellent interface, auto-scaling, a myriad of counting options, linear/segmented take offs, an overlay feature which is so clutch, that is just to name a few. Estimating tabs that are always tallying your takeoff in a spreadsheet, links to tutorials for every function, works directly with Excel for exporting and importing spreadsheets. It's just awesome. I highly recommend checking it out-for any type of estimating.
 
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