Hey estimators, how many different programs do you have to use to get your work done?
For Balfour Beatty, it was over ten. This led to inconsistencies in the way teams presented deliverables and it was confusing to owners.
Acting as a consultant as the cost expert on a project, the last thing you want is for your clients to be confused. Using a bunch of different disjointed software takes up a lot of time, too. For today’s demanding market, you really need that time back to add value to a project by providing the best solutions to owners in how to build the best building.
The best way for preconstruction teams to do this and be more efficient is by implementing the best construction estimating software that integrates. Meaning your takeoff, estimating, and financial software work seamlessly together to create a standardized workflow.
Let’s start with the numbers. DESTINI Estimator is a construction estimating software backed by a powerful construction cost database. You can easily upload your current Excel bid forms into Estimator’s dashboard and create easy-to-read visual reports to defend where your numbers come from. Utilizing templates and assemblies means you never have to start an estimate from scratch and comparison dashboards allow you to quickly make project decisions based on historical data. Estimate View Excel reports also make it easy to dump data for import into another system or deliver a one-off branded report to an owner.
Integration with Excel helps ease the transition between your current system and Estimator because it provides a platform that you’re used to using and allows data to be transferred to other systems easily.
You Can’t Complete a Job Without Takeoff
Takeoff is one of the top, if not the top, task estimators hate the most. Fortunately, takeoff software Togal.AI has reduced the time it takes to complete takeoff by 80%. That’s a considerable time savings. 90 minutes per sheet to be exact.
Imagine all the things you can do if given all that time back.
Mitigating Risk
Whether it’s in your RFP or an owner that specifies innovation (and more of them are), model-based estimating and BIM has proven to improve safety, collaboration, productivity, and schedules. Autodesk writes, “75% of companies that have adopted BIM reported positive returns and on their investments.”
Completing the Project Lifecycle
Project management helps complete the preconstruction data lifecycle. Monitoring change orders and tracking project financials helps you capture all construction data at every major milestone through the life of a project.
Export Procore financials from DESTINI Estimator and use your Procore documents within Estimator for takeoff.
Presenting Deliverables
Make your data more meaningful with defendable deliverables.
DESTINI Estimator has a variety of deliverable options including crystal-like reports, Excel branded reports straight from the Estimate View, and Dashboards that summarize data, think bid forms, tied directly to the estimate. Each type of deliverable has its benefits and having so many options allows your team to be nimble while still having a database backed system.
Integrated building methods, transparency, and true collaboration between all stakeholders are not just trends. They are becoming expected ways to work together on a project. Being able to show data in real-time helps owners understand why certain decisions are being made.
Cost History
See your cost history with minimal effort through Microsoft Power BI. Power BI provides easy-to-digest dashboards and reporting that clearly show where project costs come from.
One of the primary benefits of using a visualization tool like Power BI is to use your cost history to model potential future projects and to benchmark against your own data.
The construction industry is slow to evolve. Yet, we’re an industry that directly impacts everyone’s way of life. If you have the best tools to build better buildings, you are truly leaving a legacy. Stewart Carroll, Chief Customer Officer at Beck Technology and preconstruction technology leader says, “Precon as we know it today really needs to change, and the way that we believe that change can occur is to look at integrated preconstruction solutions; let’s minimize the number of tools we use, reduce the amount of manual data entry that needs to happen throughout the design phase, let’s automate the handoff from GMP to the field, let’s not copy and paste and reformate data and let’s spend less time on low value activities, and spend more time on high value activities, more analysis and more conversation on how to improve projects.”
To begin building your precon powerhouse of technology, read our guide to building your tech stack in this informative article: Does Your Tech Stack Stack Up? (beck-technology.com)
