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.

When it comes to Estimating, you can never have enough tricks and inside tips. With the current economic situation, Estimators are worth their weight in gold. We thought we would offer a few tips you might want to use with your Timberline Estimating Software.

These are some tips given to us by top-notch Timberline Estimating Consultant Barry Cassell. If you need more than a few tips – feel free to get in touch with Barry. He’s been known to build huge databases in a single day, help estimators do more with less and bring in double the business with the same amount of people. He’s also a really nice guy and pretty easy to talk to. You can find him here. You might even want to ask him about Timberline’s new Estimating Databases!

Barry Cassell/Ledgerwood Associates, Inc. Estimating Tips…
On the estimate spreadsheet: to review & modify pricing, labor & equipment productivity & hours, as well as unit costs, wbs assignments, item notes, crew & rate table assignments. It provides excellent “one-stop shopping” for any changes to an item, (except its Takeoff quantity & Takeoff unit)

Use the Detail Window…

Risk Management…
Labor is the biggest risk in any estimate. Design a Spreadsheet Layout that inccludes :

• “Labor Productivity”, “Labor Productivity Unit/Unit” , “Labor Quantity”, “Labor Quantity Unit”, in 4 successive columns, side by side.
• With this Layout, changing Productivity changes Labor Quantity, and vice versa. It’s an extremely intuitive “what-if” exercise to fine-tune Labor in the estimate.

It’s no secret that the construction unemployment rate is high, 20 % compared to the national rate of 8.5%.  Over the last year, 1.3 million construction workers have lost their jobs.  However, some experts are saying we should soon see a substantial drop in that all-too-high number.  The reason — the unprecedented  economic stimulus package unveiled in February.

On Friday, National Public Radio reported how the current economic conditions are affecting the Construction Industry.  With some of the bidding for stimulus projects set to start this month and Arizona slated to receive hundreds of million of dollars – there certainly will be some serious bidding wars going on.

CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America, Steve Sandherr told NPR, “We’re looking at April as kind of being a bellwether month. The weather’s improving in the northern states, the funding for the stimulus projects should be going out in April at a quicker pace and we’re optimistic that we’re going to see an uptick in construction employment this month.”

Another trend – many contractors who would normally stick to the private sector are now bidding on the public jobs being generated by the stimulus.  It turns out, bids are coming in lower than expected which could mean there will be more money available for added projects.

One way to ensure your bids are air tight is to use a power house tool like Timberline Estimating.  Timberline understands construction estimating has never been more important.  With newly updated databases it gives you the edge you need to outbid the next guy.  Every bid is vital so why take a chance?  It’s a minor investment compared to what there is to lose.

Don’t get me wrong.  No one has a Pollyanna view of the construction industry’s immediate future.  Certainly no one is getting carried away.  At best construction will see a moderate year but many believe that without the economic stimulus  it certainly would have been much worse. 

If you’d like to hear the NPR report click here. 

Forget the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue…Sage Timberline’s Brand-Spanking-New Estimating Databases are the stimulus package you’ve really been wanting!

Many times, our new Estimating customers decide to spend money on the software but decide to take on the task of building their own databases. More often than not, that decision means Estimating isn’t fully used. It’s like having a Porsche that’s  just sitting in the garage and when you do take it out, it’s to the grocery store and back. *YAWN*

We want to encourage you to take Estimating on a full-throttle, pedal-to-the-medal, high-speed thrill ride! Here’s how we can make that happen for you!   Sage Timberline just unveiled a series of new databases that run the gamut,  from Columns&Chases to Commercial Room Finishes. 

Did we get your attention? Wanna know more? Of course you do!  Click here for complete details or as always feel free to give us a call!

You know the old adage “Measure twice, cut once”?   It’s a precaution many are taking with today’s stressful economic
climate.  Precise estimating is mission critical.  So what can a carpenter do for you?  A whole LOT if it’s Estimating Consultant Barry Cassell.

Despite today’s economy, Barry finds himself  working harder than ever.  More and more Construction Companies are fighting for the same jobs and what good does it do to win a bid only to lose money on the job?  That’s the reason Barry is working long hours these days.  Companies have to estimate much more accurately and analytically in order to get the jobs they need.   Barry can make your estimating system more efficient AND more productive.  In some cases, Barry’s knowledge has been able to double the amount of bids in the same amount of time!

Now Barry isn’t able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, it takes him two!  Seriously Barry knows good estimating is a first and vital step to a profitable job.  He’s a people-loving number cruncher who wants to help you succeed.  He’s provided some tips and welcomes your questions.  You can find him at www.cassellconsulting.com, or as always feel free to contact either me, Myrna,  or Daren.  We’re always just a phone call away!

Here are a few tips from Barry…
These are some Basic Settings every Estimator should know, and control. These are stored with your Windows User Profile, so they should follow you on different workstations on your domain.

1.  Display Overline Totals: This option displays the Subtotals and Totals for every column which accumulate a total. I can’t think of any reason why an estimator wouldn’t want to keep an eye on the big picture while estimating, yet the default program settings set overlines OFF.

a.  Definition: “Overline” is Timberline‐speak for Subtotals which appear above the lines, accumulating Totals and Subtotals above the rows of  detail.

b. To turn Overlines on: Select Edit / Options. The first screen display Spreadsheet Options.
  
c.  Check the second line, “Display overline totals when expanded”
  
d.  I prefer the additional settings displayed. Set as above, in addition to Cost Overline Totals, Marked‐up Overline Totals and Add on amounts  can be displayed directly on the spreadsheet to see both internal cost and contract valued on the same line as the item.

2.  Additional settings worth mentioning are whether to open the last estimate on startup, ( I choose to turn this one off ), as well as changing the fonts & background colors for the various elements in the lower third of the Spreadsheet Options screen.