Estimating at Timberline Forum

We’ve got great news for Estimating Standard and Extended customers! The Sage Construction and Real Estate group has entered into an agreement with Tech Unlimited, Inc., to distribute PlanSwift and PlanSwift for Sage 2D construction takeoff solutions. Tech Unlimited, Inc. is a leading provider of electronic plan takeoff for construction industry professionals.

PlanSwift allows builders to calculate and takeoff dimensions electronically using digital plans. PlanSwift for Sage, offered only through Sage, integrates exclusively with Sage’s Estimating Standard and Extended products to provide you with enhanced productivity and cost-savings.

Learn more about PlanSwift by clicking here.

I am posting the press release issued by Sage Corporate. If you would like to know more please contact Ed Ledgerwood or Daren Baldwin.

Sage Timberline Office Estimating and PlanSwift, Help Builders Swiftly Streamline Processes
Integrated solution helps builders improve efficiency, enhance collaboration and control construction costsAtlanta, Ga., June 8, 2010 – Sage North America announced today its Construction and Real Estate group has entered into an agreement with Tech Unlimited, Inc., to distribute PlanSwift and PlanSwift for Sage 2D construction takeoff solutions. PlanSwift allows builders to calculate and takeoff dimensions electronically using digital plans. PlanSwift for Sage, offered only through Sage, integrates exclusively with Sage’s Estimating Standard and Extended products giving Sage customers enhanced productivity and cost-savings. Tech Unlimited, Inc. is a leading provider of electronic plan takeoff for construction industry professionals. Sage Construction and Real Estate product lines have been recognized as the most widely used applications for construction estimating, job costing, accounting, payroll, and project management, according to the Construction Financial Management Association’s (CFMA) 2010 Information Technology Survey for the Construction Industry.

“As the construction industry fights to regain its lost footing from the economic downturn, builders need every opportunity to drive efficiency into the business. The combination of PlanSwift and Sage’s Estimating Standard and Extended products creates a powerful offering that provides builders with an easy to use, cost effective and streamlined process from plans to estimate”, said Jim Walter, vice president of development, Sage Construction and Real Estate. “Today’s announcement further communicates our commitment to the construction industry by offering a wide range of estimating tools designed to help increase accuracy and productivity.”

PlanSwift and PlanSwift for Sage help construction industry professionals:

Save time and increase productivity using electronic plans and digital takeoff tools
Reduce costs by eliminating the cost of duplicating and shipping paper plans
Improve collaboration using comparative overlays and the ability to share and email plans and supporting job details

“Our customers continue to look for ways to leverage technology to cost-effectively and efficiently address industry challenges,” said Jon Newsom of Contractor Business Solutions NW, a Sage CRE Business Partner. “The integration of PlanSwift and Sage’s suite of construction-specific solutions allows us to present a unique offering to our customers that will empower them to bid projects faster, more accurately and take their estimating processes to the next level.”

By offering PlanSwift and PlanSwift for Sage, Sage Construction and Real Estate continues its commitment to provide construction industry professionals cost-effective solutions that support mission-critical operations such as estimating. These powerful tools help estimators bid and win more work without adding overhead.

“At PlanSwift, our number one objective is to streamline the estimating process and we feel that our ultra tight integration with Sage Timberline Office Estimating provides contractors with the complete solution,” said James Purpura, PlanSwift’s President/COO.

Sage Timberline recently made some upgrades to Estimaing. The question is, are you using them to help you get the maximum juice out of your Estimating system? If, after reading the following enhancements you find you are not using them please feel free to contact Daren. He’s the guy in the know. Without further adieu, here are the upgrades we want you to take advantag of!

1. Upgrade individual estimating files on the fly. Why spend hours upgrading all your estimates at once each time a new release comes out? That can take hours. So, now when you need to restore archived estimates from an earlier version of your software, you won’t need to upgrade all estimates and/or database files all at the same time. The system automatically identifies the files that need to be upgraded on a file-by-file basis so your estimating files get updated as you work. Now, that’s a time-saver.

2. Create new version of existing assemblies with ease. Ready to save even more time? We’ve enhanced the “copy assembly” feature. In previous versions when copying an assembly from one location to another, the items would copy, but you would lose the assembly detail. Meaning, you wouldn’t have the variables (i.e. length, width, depth, etc). Now when you copy the assembly from one location to another, it shows up as an assembly and allows you to see the variables that were used to calculate the assembly.

3. Streamline your RFQ and Buyout process. In the past, you’ve always had a place to enter the subcontractor amount and name as well as material, but no place to record the material vendor name. With Version 9.6, you’ll be able to log and display both as well as pass this information to the Buyout module, so your entire RFQ, vendor assignment, and Buyout process runs more efficiently than ever.

4. Select values from numeric columns that automatically display totals in the status bar. The auto sum has been enhanced so you can view display totals at a glance.

More and more of our clients are bidding on government jobs. For many of them it’s brand new territory. Do you have all the information you need? Do you know your chance of being audited if you do take on Stimulus work is nearly 100 percent according to the wording of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009?

Stimulus Jobs demand:

1. Accurate and timely action by contractors, subcontractors and public entities
2. Full compliance. Contractors are being monitored by government agents.
3. Tight reporting, complete accuracy as well as transparency.

The Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering is offering an online training and review program. You can learn how to master the art of bidding Stimulus Projects from industry experts. You can learn more about the Buy American Act, Civil Rights Compliance, Davis Bacon Act and ARRA/Stimulus Act Reporting, Accountability and Transparency by going here.

Sage Timberline Estimating Update 5 provides solutions to the following issues:

1. The inconsistent spreadsheet display when using Edit > Options > Open estimate in last used sequence with a custom sort tab has been fixed. The program will now display the data on the spreadsheet correctly.
2. A Material price of “0″ will now transfer correctly from Estimating to Buyout workfiles.
3. Estimates that had trailing spaces for any of the unit fields for items will now extend the amounts out properly.

Note:
1. Estimating updates are cumulative. Update 5 includes the fixes listed above plus all enhancements and fixes from previous updates.
2. You must have installed Estimating 9.6 in order to install 9.6.0 Update 5.
3. If you install new or additional Estimating applications after installing an update, you must reapply the update.

DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS

1. At the computer where Estimating is installed, click here to download the self-extracting file that contains the update.
2. In the File Download – Security Warning window, click [Save]. If you see the Save As window, select a temporary location on the computer to save the file and click [Save].

Note:
This location must be available to all workstations where Estimating is installed. For example, create a folder named “Update” if it does not yet exist, under X:\Timberline Office\Estimating, and then save the file to that location. If you installed to a different location, select the appropriate path.

~ In the Download Complete window, click [Close]

To Update each workstation where you installed Estimating:
1. Close the Estimating application and all Microsoft Office applications on the workstation.
2. Browse to the location where you saved the file in step 2 of the “Download the update” section above.
3. Double-click the update file.
4. If a security warning appears, click [Run] or [Allow].
5. On the Ready to install 9.6.0 Est Update5 window, click [OK].
6. When the message This update has been installed successfully appears, click [OK].

Repeat steps 1 through 6 at each workstation where you installed Sage Timberline Office Estimating Products.

Update 4 Note:
Update 4 was not available for general release, but is included in Update 5.
9.6 Estimating Update 4 addresses compatibility issues with 9.6 Accounting Update 7 (2009 Year-End Update) and Estimating Update 3.

1. If you have applied 9.6 Accounting Update 7 to a workstation or server and subsequently apply or reapply Estimating 9.6 Update 3, you will receive an error stating that “A newer version of Sage Timberline Office exists on this machine. You cannot apply this update.”
2. Apply Estimating Update 4 to workstations or servers under the following conditions:
3. Accounting Update 7 is installed. AND You need to apply an Estimating update.

Update 3 Fixes:

1. Printing Totals
2. When selecting various report options and then a summary level other than Detail on Estimating reports, printing or previewing may have resulted in an incorrect total. This issue has been fixed.

Barry Cassell

I’ve been asked by one of my industry software provider friends to write a piece on the current state of Building Information Modeling (BIM), as it relates to estimating in the here and now.

The topic has become increasingly relevant as the software driving the standard is evolving quickly. (Or is it the demand that’s drving the software, fueling the growth? No matter.) BIM is fully useful now.

In fact, the oil and gas industry has been modeling its projects for thirty years,
not starting construction until the model is complete, and all potential design conflicts resolved. In the building sector, BIM is largely confined to the design-build arena. Why Design- Build? Because you need to own the drawings to have sufficient access to the CAD objects, or be on a truly team-oriented project that shares its resources openly among all project players. Not found on the conventional (read archaic) low-bid project!

To the uninitiated, the BIM standard (also known as Virtual Design & Construction or VDC)
requires “intelligent” design objects, rather than mere lines on the digital plan page. These
objects contain rich data including material dimensions, quantities, and types, to name just a
few attributes that sets modeled objects apart from conventional 2-D CAD lines. The 3-D
model can be rotated and viewed from any angle, including virtual walk-through capability.

Additionally, built-in clash-detection attributes prohibit drawing ducts through windows, or
electrical lines through ducts. It has evolved to the point of “5-D” technology: following the
more familiar 3-D design standards, “4-D” designates Time (project scheduling) data within the
model, and “5-D” the material takeoff quantity information, all built in to the drawings!

So why doesn’t everybody do it? Several reasons: High initial Cost is followed by a steep
Learning Curve, and topped off with multiple competing and Incompatible Software Standards.
Real world project experiences include glowing tales of months and millions shaved off
projects.

But likewise we hear some horror stories of high investment with puny returns. Unless
the entire project team is on board utilizing the same tools, those without are at a considerable
disadvantage. All major subs need to have fully compatible software, which doesn’t happen on
many projects under $50mm. And even with the resources and willingness to do all of the
above, the top three competing software tools are incompatible with each other. AutoDesk
doesn’t talk to Bentley, and neither works with Vico. The Army Corps of Engineers mandated a
year ago that Bentley and Autodesk must adhere to a common comapatible standard, but
nobody I know has seen it yet.

So how does this relate to estimating? Tools which interface between the model and estimate
applications are becoming increasingly available, in both proprietary and software-neutral
platforms. US Cost, Win Estimator, Bentley, and Vico have authored their own dedicated tools to
map and import the quantity takeoff information into their estimating applcations. Sage
Timberline requires a third-party interface, such as Innovaya’s Visual Estimating to import the
data. The speed of this software is truly amazing. I’ve watched Innovaya read complex models,
and execute literally days of quantity takeoff in minutes into a Timberline estimate. It’s truly
amazing.

And if the model changes, simply run the takeoff again for virtually instant update of
only the changed components. Which brings to light the obvious question, are we estimators
dinosaurs? The answer is no, for two reasons.

First, the model doesn’t contain “invisible” apects of the project such as mobilization, supervision,
temporary facilities, or necessary omponents such as formwork and scaffolding.

Second, and perhaps even more reassuring is hat it still takes a human mind to evaluate productivity,
and account for weather conditions, as wll as the unique project constraints and advantages that
differentiate one project from aother. Where we’re saving estimating hours, (and ultimately potentially
reducing estimate staff requirements), is on what I call the “donkey work” of quantity takeoff. For that,
I for one say good riddance!

Have questions? Want to know more? Then ask Barry! He’d love to hear from you. Contact Gary
by going here.