Bridging the gap between electronic takeoff and estimating

Contractors who integrate their estimating software with tools like On-Screen Takeoff, PlanSwift, and eTakeoff talk about the significant time savings and distinct competitive advantage they have. Seacon Construction is one of those contractors.

A concrete and masonry contractor serving the Santa Barbara and Ventura county region in California, Seacon is known for its high-end residential and commercial brick, stone, paving, and veneer work. A progressive company, Seacon relies on technology tools of the trade to keep it on top of the competition. “I believe in investing in technology that allows our people to be better and more efficient at their jobs,” says company president Michael Seay.

A long-time user of Sage Estimating, Seacon recently connected Sage Estimating and eTakeoff Dimension with eTakeoff Bridge so they no longer have to manually enter takeoff quantities into their estimates. Here are just a few of the benefits Seay says his company is seeing now that they are using the three products:

• Assemblies of estimate items are now available for estimators to use during takeoff and the data can be transferred either automatically or manually (drag and drop) to Sage Estimating, with no rekeying.
• From within Sage Estimating, the staff can drill down, locate, and highlight drawing measurements in eTakeoff Dimension.
• Estimators can automatically update the estimate with drawing changes while still retaining original estimate details such as pricing and productivity factors. Previously they had to redo the takeoff and the estimates whenever design changes occurred – a time-consuming process.
• The use of eTakeoff Bridge with Sage Estimating and eTakeoff Dimension reduces the time it takes to produce an estimate by an additional 50 percent. The resulting time savings allows the company to take on additional bids without increasing staffing levels.

“I’ve had colleagues from other, much larger contractors visit our offices to see how we do what they do and they are always impressed,” says Seay. “Many of them are still using Excel spreadsheets for estimating.”

Want to learn more about how Seacon Construction has increased the efficiency of its estimating? Read the full story.