Job takeoffs are you doing them yourselves or hiring a company? I have reached the point were I want to compete with some of the bigger guys on some bigger jobs. Right now the average job is in that 150k range but would like to take on bigger jobs and be more accurate with my bids. so am wondering what software you guys are using or is there a good company that provides takeoff services.
Do you really want to have a third party do something as critical as a take off on jobs you are bidding? Never happen in a million years here. It is also difficult when it is done in house. I know of a couple of contrctors gone belly up because the estimator missed the boat bad on a job, then tried to cover it up in next two. Next thing you know "kerpoof" the auctioneer sold all their stuff for them. On larger things here I use Siteworks. On small or simple estimates just do it manually. If you are biding things in the 150K range which is where I am at here, I would highly recommend you keep on doing it yourself. As far as being more accuracte, I start out with a detailed list of tasks for the job, then do a takeoff according to that. While job in progress keep running tab of how things are going. Also refer back to 20 years of estimates and results for jobs completed for reference. Good Luc there Matt