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04-10-2010, 03:54 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 5
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Estimating software?
I am looking for a estimating software and have never used one before. I would like to know what you guys are using and what you find works well for medium size projects.
Thanks
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04-10-2010, 04:13 PM
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#2
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Wire Ninja
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Beautiful Cumberland Valley, in PA
Posts: 16,794
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What's generally the dollar value of the projects you intend to use the estimating software for?
__________________
One reason not to give DIY advice:
Catch a man a fish and you can sell it to him.
Teach a man to fish and you’ve ruined a good business opportunity.
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04-10-2010, 07:02 PM
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#3
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 5
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I beleive that it will be between $25,000 - 500,000. We are a service contractor but we have been doing several construction projects lately and would like to improve our bidding abilty.
Thanks
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04-13-2010, 02:33 PM
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#4
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Enlightened Rat
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 1,052
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I used to be the Conest Administrator at my former job, now I have a spreadsheet that I built. I haven't used any other software for estimating. Conest is a good program but it isn't very intuitive to learn, you'll need to hit the instruction manual frequently to get the most out it. It will also take some customization to really get it to work well for you.
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04-13-2010, 03:44 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Texas
Posts: 766
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grimlock
Conest isn't very intuitive to learn, you'll need to hit the instruction manual frequently
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A freaken men!!!!! 
__________________
Proud Father of a newly honorably discharged US Army Soldier
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04-13-2010, 03:52 PM
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#6
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Enlightened Rat
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 1,052
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BDB
A freaken men!!!!! |
I printed the whole manual and bound the separate sections into their own booklet with my print stapler. When I stacked them on top of each other the stack was almost 1' high. 
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04-13-2010, 04:33 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Texas
Posts: 766
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grimlock
I printed the whole manual and bound the separate sections into their own booklet with my print stapler. When I stacked them on top of each other the stack was almost 1' high.
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I know what you mean. I printed the whole #$&%*^&% out too 
__________________
Proud Father of a newly honorably discharged US Army Soldier
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04-13-2010, 06:56 PM
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#8
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Wire Ninja
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Beautiful Cumberland Valley, in PA
Posts: 16,794
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There's a lot of freelance estimators out there, and their rates are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time. I'd scared as hell to use one, though.
__________________
One reason not to give DIY advice:
Catch a man a fish and you can sell it to him.
Teach a man to fish and you’ve ruined a good business opportunity.
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04-14-2010, 09:39 AM
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#9
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Enlightened Rat
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 1,052
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MDShunk
There's a lot of freelance estimators out there, and their rates are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time. I'd scared as hell to use one, though.
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I'll do it for $20 and a cup of coffee.  If you toss in a bag of beans and a sack of rice I'll even read the specs!
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04-14-2010, 02:52 PM
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#10
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"Boozer"
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 696
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MDShunk
There's a lot of freelance estimators out there, and their rates are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time. I'd scared as hell to use one, though.
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Yep... they have been pounding me with emails for the last 6 to 9 months... but, no way can I trust someone else to do my estimating... They dont know my moral values, policys and other information that I have stored in my head as I do an estimate... my numbers change on the fly depending on how I feel about certain job conditions, contractor impressions and other personal feelings about things....... For me estimating a job is part science, part psycology, and part mathametician. For my base I use an excel spreadsheet that I am constantly tweaking. No estimating software program has been able to do all the things that I wanted, without spending tons of time reading and fooling around with it.
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04-24-2010, 01:41 PM
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#11
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 5
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We are currently looking at Con-Est,
Vision Soft, Accu-bid and a few others does anyone have any preferences towards these choices, thanks.
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