Estimating with efile or paper blueprint

[Ravenvalor]

Greetings Fellow Estimators:

I was wondering if doing takeoffs from plans in an online plan room was a common practice and if so how does one do it? I have been trying from my laptop and am having a bear of a time. Should I use a better computer system with a bigger monitor (how big?) or should I bite the bullet and order some prints?

Estimating seems like a necessary evil which can be a good if you are good at it and charge the customer for it. I am trying to estimate using Accubid T&M Billing, boy talk about complex.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Rewire]

If it is a job I want I will go the expense for hard copy prints.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

If it is a job I want I will go the expense for hard copy prints.

I'm with Rewire. It's a pain to do it in the plan room, and if you are really going after it, you will probably want to refer back to the plans a few times before turning in your bid.

 

[okeefe]

I have a hard time doing a taking offs on the computer. Spend the money on a printed copy, so you can see the big picture.

 

[gra electric]

get an estimating program that will accept cad drawings, then locate the architect/engineer who drew them. They should send you a cad drawing, and use the programs auto functions to do your takeoffs.

check out: http://www.accubid.com/products/cadlive_elec.htm

gerry

 

[blingbling4r]

Paperless Estimating

Paperless Estimating

Depending on what online plan room you use their software to view the prints are usually crap. If you can get the CAD files for the drawings and you got some money to spend CADLive would be the way to go since you can peel off the drawings directly from CAD. This imports to Accubid quite nicely.

A slightly cheaper option is to use LiveCount which doesn't read the .DWG files but can read .TIFF files so you might have to know how to convert files to .TIFF. Both can scale distances pretty darn accurately. I was able to come within 2 feet when I was taking off the feeders for a job and my senior estimator checked me on paper. Once you get past the learning curve depending on your computer literacy it goes really quick. I'm fairly proficient at the computer and it took me about a week to get up to speed.

You need 2 monitors minimum to do this with out getting a headache. We ended up buying a 26" LCD TV on top of my existing 22" monitor so one side can have Accubid and the other LiveCount/CAD Live. Hopefully this helps.

 

[wamegojim]

get an estimating program that will accept cad drawings, then locate the architect/engineer who drew them. They should send you a cad drawing, and use the programs auto functions to do your takeoffs.

check out: http://www.accubid.com/products/cadlive_elec.htm

gerry

Good luck getting CAD drawings from them. In over 10 years of estimating the only people that will give you CAD files are the government. You are better off ordering the prints or use a program that will recognise .pdf files.

AccuBid's program requires you purchase AutoCad to make it work. What happens if it is in a Microstation format.....out of luck?

 

[cadpoint]

Good luck getting CAD drawings from them. In over 10 years of estimating the only people that will give you CAD files are the government. You are better off ordering the prints or use a program that will recognise .pdf files.

AccuBid's program requires you purchase AutoCad to make it work. What happens if it is in a Microstation format.....out of luck?

Sir, you most do alot of Big work!

I'll agree and disagree with the Give side of it.
I've been on jobs where it was 125.00 per sheet (electronic) to a free downloadable sitting out on a web site.

The professionals around here will e-mail any type of drawing format that you need depending on there policies pretaining to this matter. It can be as easy as, File Save As... , in Both MStation and ACAD, if communicated in a timely manner.

I've been away from MicroStation for quite a few years, but they were, when I left the board/CPU work the prime follower of translation protocal. I doult they dropped that ball.

It is the future owner's responiblity of the electronic files, that they need to understand all the aspects of their software and the requirements of what will be sent to the them. Not always easy and not always a calm time for an operator!

If I was the OP, I'd buy a copy of Adobe they will need it.

 

[Ravenvalor]

Software

Software

Thanks for the advice Cadpoint. Why would you buy Adobe Acrobat?

I have been in the business for 23 years and have decided to Start from scratch with estimating. I like the 2 - big monitors suggestion, but what would you do if you were in my shoes for software. I would like to bid using Accubid T&M Billing (because I already have it) and Planswift because it looks efficient.

I do alot of small design build jobs (Sketch something on graphpaper). I would like to reduce my estimating time drastically so that I can enjoy some free time with family.

Thanks all for the advice!

 

[Besoeker]

Greetings Fellow Estimators:

I was wondering if doing takeoffs from plans in an online plan room was a common practice and if so how does one do it? I have been trying from my laptop and am having a bear of a time. Should I use a better computer system with a bigger monitor (how big?) or should I bite the bullet and order some prints?

Estimating seems like a necessary evil which can be a good if you are good at it and charge the customer for it. I am trying to estimate using Accubid T&M Billing, boy talk about complex.

Thanks,
Jim

I don't know that I will be of much, or any, help.
I quote for projects and I have set up some spreadsheets to work out costs.
It picks up materials, engineering, build, test and, where applicable, installation.
Major hardware is usually easy. I add a percentage for the minor stuff like nots, bolts, screws etc.
The most difficult part is the estimation of man hours.

 

[Ravenvalor]

The most difficult part is the estimation of man hours.

Can you find labor hours already calculated and published somewhere?

 

[cadpoint]

Thanks for the advice Cadpoint. Why would you buy Adobe Acrobat?
....

For all correct and up to date info. go to Adobe.com

MO:

Because its now a main part of doing business with Arch / Engineers and even clients, use it to. Until recently, I beleive one could not creat a file with a working copy of Adobe Reader (see opening line)

We can see the end product is a PDF, its just a viewable file, it can be text,a design, diagram, or even pictures. It's what the Operator, File, Save As... and depending on how its saved, it will still only be viewable because the Adobe PDF reader ls only a viewer.

With a working copy of Adobe you can work inside any of these files.

The orginator of a PDF can Lock the File or not, release it to another and the next ADOBE user can draw / draft on top or use the picture or use it as a baseline to do other things with.

ACAD and most other large (strong) CAD packages can transfer their formats to be a PDF file and back and forth as well.

 

[Besoeker]

Can you find labor hours already calculated and published somewhere?

Not in the public domain.
Most of what we do is custom build and every project is different.
Sometimes, I'll get a print out of the job costing from a similar previous project and use that as a starting point.