What's the difference between DESTINI Estimator and Excel?

Half of the general contractors in the United States, just like you, are using Excel to calculate construction costs. However, with how rapidly construction technology is advancing and owners taking notice your workflows in Excel can’t keep up with the increasing demands on preconstruction teams.

We recognize that Excel is a great tool, but we also understand its limitations. The flexibility of Excel is a selling point, yes, but that flexibility leads to significant issues in consistency in your preconstruction teams with having to start every project from scratch and manipulating different formats and data.  

Cost estimating in Excel is cumbersome and comes up with a lot of risk. Since everyone is using their own spreadsheets and workbooks, formatting all the different files, interfaces, and tabs is “laborious,” “full of risk, with a “huge potential for mistakes,” as Robbie Gronbach, Director of Preconstruction at Willis A. Smith Construction, describes it.

You have multiple owners wanting bids finished at the same time with very little leeway and you're under a lot of pressure. What happens if an Excel workbook breaks? 

Maintaining consistency in Excel is difficult. It does not automatically support multiple users. Lauren Senska, Implementation Specialist at Beck Technology, says, “If there’s inconsistency in terms of format or content, then that can create problems on the back end for accounting and project management teams or for when you try and import that information for use again later.” 
It's challenging enough to get the right data from Excel spreadsheets into other programs and when you are dealing with thousands of numbers, even with the best intentions, you’re going to make mistakes'

One mistake in Excel can cost you millions of dollars. And it is easy to screw up when you’re trying to transfer data from one place to the other. Discovering that screw up is a whole other story! As Chad Ricks, an estimator at Macallan Construction says, “It can be a nightmare.”

When you standardize your processes, you churn out estimates in record time and can present reports in a way that is easily understood and easily defendable, owners are very impressed. In fact, we know your competitors that are embracing the latest technology are winning work over those that don’t.

DESTINI Estimator vs. Excel

DESTINI Estimator:

• Has templates. Build estimate templates so you never have to begin an estimate from scratch.
• Is powered by a cost history database, so all the information you need is right at your fingertips.
• Allows an unlimited number of estimators to work in the same estimate at the same time.
• Utilizes assemblies, so all your line items are already grouped together.
• Alerts team members of what needs reviewed and what’s changed in the estimate.
• Automatically updates the software seamlessly.
• Houses your workflows in one program, including takeoff.
• Comes with a team of real people with multiple avenues to receive software support and training.

DESTINI Estimator automates gathering and storing all your data in one standardized and central location which your team has access to and can work together on one estimate in real time—connected to the internet or not.  

DESTINI Estimator, not Excel, eliminates the errors that occur when you must copy and paste information from one platform to the next. With Estimator, there is no toggling between multiple platforms due to its built-in 2D and 3D takeoff and BIM 360 and Procore integrations.  

When owner demands are historically high, you cannot afford to lose the time it takes to rebuild or restructure an estimate in Excel when thrown changes in the middle of a project. We hear horror stories from estimators who work in Excel about taking over a week to respond to owners’ requests and worse. 

DESTINI Estimator eliminates these significant mistakes and risks.  

Where in lies Estimator’s biggest strength is your ability to analyze cost history to make better project decisions. Excel makes it challenging, if even possible, to grasp a baseline for conceptual estimating and benchmarking. DESTINI Estimator automatically captures all changes, project metrics, takeoff, and versions, making comparisons between estimates easy.  

Further, with DESTINI Estimator’s integration with Microsoft PowerBI, you can create customizable dashboards for owners to quickly see and understand where the numbers are coming from, establishing trust and collaboration between preconstruction teams, contractors, and owners on projects.  

We understand legacy software and the challenges presented when switching platforms, so DESTINI Estimator includes an Excel simulator for a more seamless switch.  

The bottom line, estimators using Excel are not able to capture and leverage data. So, stop estimating with Excel and switch to software made to specifically meet the needs of precon teams and solve your pain points for better project outcomes.  

DETINI Estimator is the single solution that gives you more time to do high-level tasks like working with subs, value engineering, pursuing new projects, attracting new owners, meeting owners' demands, and most importantly winning more projects.

For the ultimate Excel vs. Estimator showdown, click here.