Bidding and estimating on today’s residential jobs calls for builders to hunker down. Cutting costs out of the bid can be make-or-break for builders, but that means finding the right technology tools that can help trim the fat, so to speak.
Estimating technology remains among the most viable investments in the construction industry today. Results of the most recent Constructech survey are indicative of this trend, showing 63% of construction professionals consider this technology to be of high priority.
Still, the market for estimating technology can be frustrating to navigate. While some builders refuse to abandon their ways with Microsoft Excel, others are looking to make the investment in solutions that are customized to fit the way construction does business.
One company that continues to make a big impact in estimating realm, for both commercial and residential construction, is PlanSwift, www.planswift.com, Henderson, Nev. The company recently announced its latest version, PlanSwift Professional 9.3, which focuses on the user experience in order to help navigate and control some otherwise cumbersome functions.
New features include Job Locking, which locks projects to prevent users from overwriting another user’s work; double click to stop recording and start a new section; the ability to select pages from Takeoff Summary without switching to the page list; and a Duplicate Item feature that creates a duplicate of the selected item in the Takeoff Summary and Template sidebars for rapid duplication of items; among others.
In the new release the company has emphasized the user experience. While some things like a light grey background to the screen or the fact the page scale is located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen might not seem like significant enhancements, such updates help improve that experience when it comes to interacting with the software. The aesthetically pleasing updates are meant to provide the end user with a more comfortable environment from which to work with the software.
As for functionality, the latest version emphasizes digitizing, allowing users to quickly digitize various sections of a plan with the click of a mouse, helping to speed the overall digitizing process. There are now two methods for digitizing for linear—there is the click and point, which most users are accustomed to using, as well as clicking and dragging your mouse. The latter helps digitize individual segments while you are on a linear object
The market for construction technology continues to heat up, with software providers continually adding new functionality to enhance various different processes. For builders looking to upgrade the estimating process away from more cumbersome and spreadsheet-based methods, the market has a few options in store.
Want to know more about PlanSwift or the people behind the #1 construction takeoff and estimating software? Then send us a note or give us a call (please visit our contact us page