Your commercial construction company has just lost another project bid. When you look through the details of the estimate, you learn that there were errors in the estimation process. Your estimators may have been inputting data into multiple spreadsheets to keep track of the data.
However, spreadsheets are susceptible to human errors like accidental data deletion and broken formulas. They’re also decentralized, so locating data across multiple spreadsheets, users, devices, and locations, making it difficult to see the true information. As a result, these estimate errors negatively impact bid wins, company visibility, and profit increases.
When you have these problems, it’s time to look for construction cost estimating software.
Table of Contents
When it comes to cost estimating, spreadsheets are too problematic due to the risks of human error. While this has happened across multiple large corporations, the construction industry is not immune.
For example, the construction company Emerson experienced an estimation error in a spreadsheet that resulted in them being $3.7 million short in their estimation of the total cost of a contract bid. This happened because a cell in a spreadsheet for electrical costs wasn’t included in the spreadsheet formula that calculated the total cost.
When a commercial construction company has issues with their estimating processes, these pose serious challenges. Estimators are unable to work wherever and whenever they need to because they’re limited to a single computer. Data is also decentralized because of multiple spreadsheets. To make matters worse, the estimating team is scattered across various locations using different devices, spreadsheets, and platforms, making it difficult for senior estimators to communicate with their teams. It may be worth considering construction cost estimating software to remove your pain points associated with your spreadsheet use and increase your company’s overall visibility into your projects.
Takeoffs
For the commercial construction company, takeoffs are a highly critical part of the estimating process. After all, having incorrect spreadsheets won’t lay the groundwork for a successful project bid and inaccurate takeoffs can throw off your entire estimate.
Takeoffs are often very slow due to paper-based blueprints. And because of their complexity, it’s possible to miscalculate exact materials and costs of other components. This can lead to the need to improve takeoff times as well as remove job materials waste. In addition, your estimates have to track material and cost changes. You shouldn’t leave your takeoffs to chance. Here’s where new construction cost estimating software can help.
Data integration
When it comes to estimating, you need to combine data from those disparate sources into meaningful and valuable information. When you fail to aggregate data, it’s a challenge when multiple users, spreadsheets, devices, and platforms are all involved. This situation affects your estimates that lose bids and keeps you from gaining valuable insights to drive your commercial construction company.
For data integration, your commercial construction company needs to extract, filter, and sync your data faster and more efficiently. When properly integrated, time is reduced in order to prepare and analyze your data. When the idea of automated data is considered, construction cost estimating software can help.
When you’re faced with the challenges of correct cost estimating, you have to ask yourself what your commercial construction company needs. If you can answer “No” to the following questions, then you’re in need of a new way of working, using new construction cost estimating software.
ProEst is robust, cloud-based estimating software that helps you create accurate estimates and digital takeoffs, replacing the old ways of operating with manual spreadsheets and slow paper blueprints. It allows you to perform quick, on-screen estimate analysis and automatically add markups to ensure you have a profitable bid.
ProEst also provides an easy-to-use and intuitive user interface that lowers the learning curve and makes it quick and easy to create detailed estimates. Your at-a-glance summary shows you if you’re on track and on budget.
When it comes to your takeoff, ProEst’s digital functionality lets you perform takeoffs right from your electronic blueprints. Where manual takeoffs are time-consuming and potentially prone to errors in calculating materials and other aspects of your projects, digital takeoff times are now reduced by up to 50%.
ProEst supplies a database that stores all of your valuable data so you won’t worry about searching for a missing estimate or drawing file. Your estimates are centralized so you can search by estimate description, code, estimator, and the type of work involved. Since ProEst is completely automated, you can retrieve the exact estimate you need in seconds, and markups like overhead and profit are automatically calculated so you have no surprises at any time during your projects.
The seamless data integration is beneficial for increasing team productivity, helping everyone stay on task and having information available immediately. There’s no longer a concern about how you gather and analyze data to gain proper insights.
ProEst also integrates with other software, including the project management software Procore which can manage every aspect of your projects.
As a construction estimator, you can’t take the risks provided by your current spreadsheet use, poor takeoffs, and the inability to access and integrate your project data. There’s no reason for using faulty spreadsheets, questionable takeoffs, and inaccessible data that does nothing but lose your commercial construction company money. You shouldn’t have to worry about losing bids when you look to construction cost estimating software like ProEst. ProEst provides you with all the tools you need to greatly improve your estimating processes to increase those bid wins and greater profits.
ProEst is a cloud-based pre-construction estimating platform that helps you create accurate estimates and digital takeoffs directly from blueprints quickly, allowing you to determine the most favorable rates for your company within the estimation process. There’s no guesswork involved. ProEst makes quality assurance in commercial construction projects estimation effortless. You won’t have to engage your entire team to be sure your numbers are accurate.
If you would like to learn more about how your commercial construction company can increase its profits and reduce miscalculations during the estimation process, reach out today and schedule a 1-on-1 walkthrough with one of our specialists!
