Has anybody purchased estimating sofware for site plan take off's. Cuts and fills? I would like to buy software to make my estimating job faster. I would need something that can do the math for me on volumn of material for cuts and fills and trenching. I don't need auto cad or software that cost $1000. Thank you.
we use paydirt what does what your talking about...but it was more than 1k.....not sure of much that will be what your looking for , and be less then 1k....surf the web...maybe there's some deals
My brother, who is a math teacher, made a computer program using excel. If you can give the area (even odd shapes) depth / rate of slope or other facotrs, it will give volumes. You can change the percentage to allow for overages, settling, compaction whatever. I have found it to be fairly accurate on small to medium jobs. Most I have ever used it for was 120 yards and I was off by about 4-5, pretty good IMO. I never really asked him, but I am pretty sure I could pass it along somehow.
The ULTIMATE in estimating Software I havent had time to show my face here lately, but Digger242j kicked my butt and I am here for a quick look around once again. Of all the posts, I find this one most compelling for me to respond to. I don't want anyone to think that I have any thing to do with the company, but I do want you to realize that I am absolutely sold on the following software. It is called InSite. The web site is Insitesoftware.com This is the most user friendly earthwork estimating software that I have found in my way too many years in this field. Its easy to use, thorough, and gives great color report pages that can be used for an awsome presentation to a potential customer (to make them think that you really do know what you are doing). Their tech support is second to NONE! They advertise 24-7, and it is real. I have called at 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday night, and got outstanding, friendly, happy to help at whatever time tech support. With a little patience and practice, you will be able to show ANY engineer's estimate wrong on your project. It allows you to calculate cuts and fills, allows you to ballance the site, and also allows you to calculate other things such as slots for roadways, building pads, topsoil strip and replace, and a miriad of other things that the engineer usually doesnt take into consideration. You can print cross sections anywhere on the project in multiple directions. You can print before and after 3D views. You can print cut and fill areas in color. This software is really amazing. I attended an advanced class in New York a coulple of months ago. Not surprised, the education was worth every cent that was spent. The down side is that it is sorta costly. If you work in the dirt daily, and need to continue to do so, you owe it to yourself to give this software a look. It really isn't for everyone as it is pricey, but it's wonderful stuff. If you have time to look at the website, request the video. Tell them that I sent you to their site. It won't get me anything more than an e-mail saying hello, but I appreciate that too. Don:usa
The Ultimate in Estimating Software 43,560 S.F. = 1 Acre 1 Inch cut over 1 Acre = 134.44 Yds.
Figure any swell in your material for that number? Ive seen the fluff factor get many a contractor. Heard that a company in the area has an extra 10,000 yards and counting to export off site. Looks like it will be costly for them.
Fluff and Stuff That's the joy of small jobs, it hurts less when you screw up.:Banghead
I also have paydirt which works great. A little pricey though, we spent about $1200 for it.
I purshased software from Pizer Inc. It does cut and fills, trenchs you imput your data existing gro, prosposed template. Was 300.00 dollars download to your computor.Just go to machinery trader.com, Main page, Industry software, scroll down to Pizer.
Have you used it yet and what is it like???
I owned it for two years.Basicly just as good as your imput. Go to Machinerytrader.com scroll down main page industry software. It has list a to z scroll down to pizer earthworks sofware.Bring that up you will have opportunity for short demo online.It is a great checker even if have more expensive programs.I think it was designed to check state road jobs. Only bad thing is you have imput all existing and proposed grades but is very flexible in there placement. I also looked at Vertigraph.com I think that sells for 1400.00 was going to buy but they raised price from 999 to 1400 last year
not an excavator but money spent on estimating properly and quickly is well spent. If you don't have the right bid you will either not get the job or not make what you expected. The best crew & equipment in the world can't pull out a bad bid. What do guys figure for expansion 5% I have read?
It all depends upon the material, rock for example sometimes a 20% fluff factor, generally soils are about 7% then you have a compaction factor..... it can get pretty interesting
Jmac just wanted to see if you had bought anything. I am in the same boat the one I looked at was ground rules and about $5000. And don't you need digitizers for ones like pay dirt?
I'd be happy to discuss and recommend some softwares I have used with you if you would like. what is your email?
I use carlson take-off, but is about 9k. I use it for take-off quantities and 3d modeling. I don't know if you would find it easy, but it is quite awesome. With the extensive reports I have sold many change orders based on the information I can provide.
You can use a 5 dollar scale ruler and a 5 dollar calculator to the same extent as the computer. It is known as averaging and most computer programs work the same exact way. Using plan scale, grid it off in 100 foot intervals or smaller sometimes. Total the quantity of all stations of cut times 100 X 100 divided by 27 equals your total cut volume. Do the same thing with your fills times (in my area) 1.25 to 1.4 for your shrink volume depending on degree of compaction and type of soil and you have a job. I have done this for years and consistently match the engineers and computer boys in accuracy. It is not alot of fun and you have no 3d models to look at, but it does work. With alot of grade changes and feature's you can go down to a 50 foot or 25 foot grid. Then it is 25 x 25 x total cuts divided by 27. Smaller jobs are sometimes more accurate with smaller grid. Remember to figure to subgrade on plans with paving or buildings. You are actually supposed to take the average of the four corners by the book, but after many years, I figured out the shortcut is the same end result. I have never used this for roadways, believe cross sections are more accurate and the state figures those anyway. Works good for me on anysize building site, subdivision or just a cornfield some farmer wants leveled for irrigation. Hope this helps some of you not ready to spend the money on a computer program. Aot of those programs after you trace the contours into the memory, just do the same thing, slap a grid on them and figure the cuts and fills. This is called averaging, just like figuring concrete quantities only harder because of differing thicknesses. Cross sections are maybe more accurate, but hard to do if you are not an engineer. I have read with cad files the computers get real accurate and something about triangulation that some programs use. Anyway it is pretty accurate and can work for about anyone willing to try it. Takes not much more time than letting the computer do it for you with a digitizer or trace board. Cad files might be pretty quick, I would not know as I have never used a computer. Had a demo once and decided for six thousand I was doing okay manualy.
Does anyone know of take off software that can do "digital" take offs (from PDF, TIF, DXF, etc.), is under a $1,000 budget, integrates with existing excel spreadsheets and also includes built-in estimating and assemblies?
I have OnSreen SiteWox by vertigraph.com .I paid beginng of year 1000.00 regular 1450.00. Download e-plans ,plan rooms take a picture of plans save as image file.Plus in todays market you need to download plans from email. Many businesses and contractors save expense of paper plans.
check this out from tally.... Code: http://www.tallysystem.com/
we do those...we bring them into a program called Terramodel and trace the topos then export them to a program called AgTek to do cuts/fills and 3D modeling they are pricy though but do a great job
I worked with a guy that used that agtek software. His quantities seemed to be closer than what I and the engineer had matched on. The engineer uses a program called 3-D civil, they told me only engineers use it. Anyway we were all within just a few thousand yards. Not a giant job, around 60,000 cubic yards give or take a few. Had that been a few million, it could have hurt, more than likely. There are some guys out there that do these takeoff's for contractors. That is an option too. Like a hundred or two for most jobs. For occasional bids, might be best way to go if in doubt. Some people do alot of hourly work and occasionally bid. Not much room for mistakes anymore.
Take a look on E-bay for the last couple months there has been a guy selling paydirt and terramodel(Full Versions 20 module terramodel and 9 module paydirt)for 150-300 dollars i purchased the terramodel from him and with some tweaks it works with out a hitch.I'm pretty sure it was a hacked copy but like i said it worked without a hitch.
we also use paydirt & teramodel. it was 7000.00 to start and @ 1100 a year for the upgrades. makes great presentations to builders who are not used to seeing this for smaller projects.
Well, I just had to chime in on this one.... I've used them all, Quest, Paydirt, Insight, etc..... but my money is on Paydirt. It's very accurate. Now that I'm parking my tractors for better days.... if they ever come, I've got a LOT of stuff including Paydirt and Terramodel that I can let go. I've got a PC with Carlson Takeoff, Paydirt, Terramodel, AutoCAD 2006, etc... that i I'll put on somebody cheap. Drop me a line if there are any takers! Tim [email protected]
Have you had a look at the Terramodel capabilities?? Have a look at http://www.geocomp.com.au/terramodel/
I'll chime in for PlanSwift . We've been using them for a bit and like it. Easy to use, great support, does everything we want. Price was right too. I think they still have a couple week free trial so you can give it a try. See what you think.
We use Agtek for computer takeoffs as well as grade control on many of our machines. Agtek is able to use PDF's as well as importing cad-files. It will run you well over a grand though.
Ya..about 15 to 20 times.
AGTEK is pretty much the industry standard for Qty takeoffs on earthwork paving and trenching. It has proven to be very valuable for us at Knife River.
Knife River in Chico? I thought you guys were in WA, OR, and ID.
Yes We have offices in Long Beach, Stockton Area, We are all over. TX, MN, WY, ND, SD
I Currently have Earthworks Plus. I'm selling it with the computer, monitor, cables and key, and a GTCO 30"x36" Calcomp Super LIV Digitizer, for $3,500.00. As you know the software itself is $3,500.00, and the digitizer new price is $2,400.00. We are using Insight now so this digitizer is taking up needed space. Its in great condition and everything is set up and ready to go. Its a slam of a deal. If interested give me a call at 614-301-8544 ask for Omar.
What do you guy's think would work best for smaller civil jobs and large foundation digs? The quantites are usually 2-15k c/yds. What I really need help on, are the complecated grading plans to calculate my cut and fill. Thanks,CD
Yeah me too. I need a program that can do take-offs from PDF's, since that is the format I get 90% of my plans from. I am tired of manually calculating the cut and fill on the grid method, it's time consuming and prone to errors.
I can't stand bidding off of PDF's. I almost always get a fullsize set of the civils. The last job I bid cost $75.00 for the plans. I would love to hear some input on this subject. If no one responds we can start another thread on the matter.
I don't bid off PDF's either, hence the search for a program to digitally perform take-offs from PDF's. I get my paper plans printed at Staples for $2 bucks or so a sheet. There are a few programs out there that perform quantity take-offs from PDF's or CAD files but I don't know which one is worth the money.:beatsme My plans cost run $40-80 per job. When you are bidding several jobs this can get expensive when you come in second...
I find it very difficult to work of off PDFs because they are usually too small, and too cumbersome when you need to skip over to the details for a quick glance. IMO full size prints are the best. I have spent a lot of money on plans that I ended up not needing. The big job plan sets can often be dozens of sheets. I would like to try PDFs on a big moniter though. It would be great if you had two or three so that you could look at the primary sheet (say structurals) on the main screen, and then the details/architecturals on the other screens. This should work well for civil plans too. I wonder how much it would cost to buy a moniter that would fit a 34 x 17 at 100%.
As far as estimating software goes, I use the grid method and I am sick of it. I have found it to be pretty accurate but you must make a lot of squares to get accuracy. I have experienced an web sales session from Agtek. This was a couple of years ago. It was a one-on-one presentation where you are talking on the phone while on the computer. The salesman takes your PDF (you can use one that you are biding) and shows you the basics of how it works. It's quite impressive. It is 3-dimmensional and I could see how it could be a very effective sales tool as well as an estimating tool. I would have liked to buy it until he told me it was a bargain at $22k. It does not do underground either. At least not at that time. They are pestering me again (inviting me to do another presentation) for the new version. I believe it's called Agtek 4-D now and they claim it now does underground too. I could see this being a great tool but IMO you'd have to be bidding $100 million a year (and getting about 20% of the jobs) to justify the costs. Yes, I know this is an exxageration but it is a lot for a small outfit. BTW there were also maintenance costs on top of the inital purchase. On edit: I forgot to mention that the presenter uses your computer for the presentation. You must agrant him access to your computer but once you do, he runs your computer from his location. You can still run it too, which you do when he lets you try things, but mostly you watch hime run th eprogram on your computer. It was pretty cool and I was able to use his take-offs for a bid (no I didn't get that job).
Hey JDecker, I'm assuming you've purchased something by now but to TBC has got a great heads up digitizing interface. It also has the ability to import vector pdf's which can be handy and faster than digitizing in most circumstances. Cheers,
My friend had used it and he is also very much satisfied with it. Yes I also know hat it is bit high price but I think that paying such price is rather useful and worth it then one can think.
$1,200 dollars sounds like it may be a bargain if does what I would hope it does. Does it do underground too? As I said before Agtek was $22,000 plus maintenance fees. I think I'll look into Paydirt.
We do a lot of blasted daylight basements and I've never seen blasted rock be as little as 20%. Master blaster has been around blasting in the area of 30 years he tells me it can be up to 50. % expantion.
Paydirt is/was a great program, however it is no longer being developed. All the new development and functionality at the end of the development of the software will be put into TBC and the takeoff module. To compare a software to Agtek I'd probably look at the surface tools and full takeoff modules (includes heads up digitizing) in TBC. $1,200 is definately light as a price for Paydirt. Cheers