Technology in Construction: Estimating the Advantage

Certainly, there’s good news about construction employment across the US. According to a recent analysis of federal employment data by the Associated General Contractors of America, 139 out of 337 metropolitan areas added jobs between December 2011 and December 2012. Association officials noted that growing private sector demand for new construction projects boosted employment in a slight plurality of metro areas. Though there are declining numbers in almost as many metro areas, the positive side of the ledger gave association officials enough confidence to note that employment is benefiting from the growing demand for construction, driven primarily by the private sector. They added that the rebounding housing market and relatively strong demand for health care, energy, and higher education facilities boosted construction-spending levels by over 7% for the year through November. But they cautioned that construction spending was still more than $300 billion below peak levels amid declining public sector activity and weaker demand for office, retail and lodging.

So there’s growth in the marketplace, but we have a $300 billion gap, and that means there’s little room for errors in bidding and managing those still elusive opportunities. Construction management software certainly has proved to be the ideal method for maximizing bidding and managerial efforts. But there are so many products and options. Let’s take a look at a cross-section of what’s available and what features offer the greatest benefits.

Contractor management products were a major source of interest for attendees of the February 2013 World of Concrete Exhibition, according to Mike Gillum, director of Product Development and Estimating at Maxwell Systems, King of Prussia, PA.

Connecting the office and field through collaboration with construction software and mobility was an important theme at the show, says Gillum. “Contractors need to collaborate with all the different members that may be involved in a particular project,” says Gillum. “You have the owner of the project and the general contractor, and then there could be dozens of subcontractors that are working on a particular project, and when that happens there are bits and pieces that are flying back and forth between all those different partners and you need tools for collaboration. Our ProContractorMX web-based construction project management software solution helps contractors effectively manage their projects.”

Maxwell’s ProContractorMX includes anytime-anywhere access to online scheduling, reporting, alerts, and collaboration. Its document control feature enables contractors to complete projects efficiently and effectively. “As an owner you can use our tool to give everybody on the team access to the data they need, and we offer tight security procedures to ensure they only have access to data they are authorized to see,” explains Gillum. “But it’s really about collaborating with all the different partners in a construction project.”

Maxwell’s Mobile Connect tool had created a buzz among attendees, adds Gillum. “By using a tablet computer you can be out in the field and connect with your office computer or server and track payroll, equipment, change orders, and all the documentation that goes on in a project when it is under construction.”

For many contractors, the workings of mobile access software is something of a mystery, according to Dennis Stejskal, vice president of product management at Sage, Irvine, CA, a supplier of Sage Construction Software and Property Management Software. “I believe the mystery is not about an app running on a phone or tablet,” says Stejskal. “But a lot of companies don’t quite understand if these devices communicate directly to the back office or a Web portal. So how it works is where there’s confusion. Another area that isn’t well understood is the cloud and how it fits into mobile apps and the difference between any app running off a datacenter somewhere versus a hosted app.”

The National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST defines cloud computing as “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” Whew! For those of us without a Ph.D. in computing, a simpler definition might just be that cloud turbocharges websites so they can function as if they were running right from your device (e.g., tablets, smartphones, laptops, desktops).

This new age of cloud technology allows Sage to offer its Construction Anywhere product, a cloud-based collaborative solution designed to manage construction projects by connecting people, documents, and data securely together in one online project hub. Access is ensured for the entire project team anywhere from smartphones, tablets, or PCs. Moreover, it provides integration with Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (formerly Sage Timberline Office) for strong communication and project reporting between the office and the field.

Project reporting from the field is a great boost to efficiency back at the home office, according to Stejskal. “Customers are saying things like It can take the misery out of Mondays, because when companies finish their work week on a Saturday, then Monday is when they turn in time cards, forms and data. But if you’re capturing that data on a daily basis then they can do the editing and reviews all during the week. So it makes for a much easier workflow and less double keying and double entering. And there’s the benefits of the efficiencies, transparency, and accuracy.”

Keeping track of all that data was a burdensome chore before the advent of construction management software, notes Wayne Newitts, marketing director at Dexter+Chaney in Seattle, WA. “Project managers need to know basic information, such as are we making money or are we behind on a job, but the day-in, day-out work is all about documents,” says Newitts, “and it it’s an incredible amount of documents, often tens of thousands. Every time a change is made by one person, such as a concrete subcontractor, it has a ripple effect through the entire project. So the workflow is tied to the documents and project managers need systems that incorporate these documents and help them to locate all the details within e-mails, notations, logs, and schedules.”

Dexter+Chaney’s solution starts with Spectrum, a suite that features a full range of business management features, including job cost, project management, equipment management, payroll, purchasing, and inventory. Spectrum relies upon a user-friendly experience, beginning with the dashboard that allows contractors to customize their experience by choosing from a wide variety of applications ranging from job-cost graphs to industry newsfeeds. The applications are available with a simple drag-and-drop method. Moreover, Spectrum is designed for lower cost of ownership because it delivers a true cloud solution that requires no software to maintain, no special hardware, and no updates or upgrades to install.

The same holds true for Dexter+Chaney’s Venture Project Collaboration Software. A product that helps contractors manage documents, people, and communications throughout the entire life of a project. Venture manages project workflow from invitation to bid, subcontractor pre-qualification, submittals, RFIs, issues, change orders, and more.

So let’s take a look at some of the many other products to make management efficient, and of course, profitable. By the way, that’s not just our opinion. The Construction Financial Management Association (CMFA) has partnered with Viewpoint Construction Software of Portland, OR, to provide CFMA members with objective insight and direction on technology solutions, “regardless of the provider.”

According to Rob Humphreys, vice president of product management, “Viewpoint Construction Software provides construction specific solutions that integrate, from enterprise resource planning to point solutions including project and BIM collaboration, mobile field-to-office and enterprise content management. Mobile Field Manager by Viewpoint Construction Software provides an application suite to track and record time, equipment, and production hours from remote locations and offers integration with Viewpoint V6 and other construction specific ERP systems for maximum efficiencies. Viewpoint solutions are delivered via the cloud. Viewpoint’s products are tailored specifically for mid- to large-size construction companies and provide anywhere, anytime, real-time data to help contractors make the best decisions throughout their day.”

Multiple Platform Choices
Freedom of choice is the mantra at Procore Technologies, located in Santa Barbara, CA. Procore’s cloud-based construction project management software avoids the “specific machine” trap by making access to any web-connected machine in the world a simple matter of having a user ID and a password to log in. Procore works on multiple platforms, as well as on all standard web browsers. The company provides free apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. A project’s team members can create, manage, and view project data while out in the field or away from their computers.

As with most designs, Procore has a project dashboard page that provides an overview of the current status of the project. It instantly shows the status of key items on a project. Requests-for-information (RFIs), change orders, construction project management tasks, and punch list items are all monitored using a red/yellow/green chart. The dashboard highlights overdue items with a red bar and notes exactly how many items are overdue according to the construction project schedule. It also shows in real time what new items have been entered into the system,

On Center Puts It on the Screen
Woodlands, TX-based On Center Software offers a variety of products to manage all phases of a job. For estimators, takeoffs can be done directly on computer screens with On-Screen Takeoff. The software makes those once-pesky irregular-shaped areas a cinch, and it’s easy to count plants and bushes, so everything is accounted for. Determining volumes and excavations is simple and helps in figuring such jobs as mulch beds or sand traps. How about taking off concrete slabs? On-Screen Takeoff can create slab conditions incorporating volume, area, and even a grid linear footage (to account for rebar) all in one step.

A simple mouse click instantly imports all that takeoff data into Quick Bid, where plant and material pricing can be added, along with labor rates, waste, and taxes. Need to shop multiple vendors? The eQuote feature logs several vendors at once to find the best price quotes. Then track your project’s status and budget with Digital Production Control.

Bridging the Infrastructure Gap
Do you specialize in infrastructure projects? Infrastructure software by the Hard Dollar Corp., of Scottsdale, AZ, takes you from concept to detailed productivity-based estimating, bidding, and tender processing. The result is integrated cost- and resource-loaded schedules, plus automated timesheet collection, equipment, and material tracking-all with handy web-based analytical dashboards and reporting for anywhere access. With support for DOT and governmental websites there’s less data entry and faster bids.

Does the trend in A+B bidding complicate your public works projects? Submitting both a price (the “A” portion) and a duration (the “B” portion) as part of the bid package makes it critical to get everything accounted for, because these projects typically include penalties for lateness and bonuses for early completion. It helps if contractors can analyze the relationship between the project’s cost and its schedule. Hard Dollar integrates with Microsoft Project and Primavera to optimizing a project’s cost and schedule using different resource and productivity scenarios, crew sizes, shift arrangements, and more. Adding the schedule element gives sophisticated contractors additional criteria on which to compete for business, so it’s not just the low bid gets the job.

Even more important, contractors that can easily perform “what if?” analyses across the estimate and the schedule have a unique advantage when it comes to A+B bids. A+B bids are driving contractors to re-evaluate the importance of scheduling during the estimating process.

It’s said that hindsight is 20/20 vision, and in this case the Infrastructure Project Results feature provides an intellectual property database of detailed historical quantities, costs, crew, and machine productivity data unique to your company, providing a foundation for expansion and growth.

Going to Full Featured
Located in Milton, FL, the Roctek International Corp. makes eSOFTakeoff, an economical, entry-level takeoff program to get estimators started with basic measurements, such as length, area, count, and line segments. Advanced features include layers, elevations in 3D, sloped lengths, curved areas, Excel export, print-to-scale, symbols, and more. For file flexibility in excavation projects, Roctek’s WinEx Master offers an advanced excavation takeoff program that works with hardcopy plans as well as digital files such as PDF, TIF, JPG, PLN and BMP, DXF, and more. Advanced functions include strata layer breakdowns, grid staking reports for field activities, trenching from plan or profile view plans, import/export capabilities to/from GPS, CAD importing, and multiple job phases. Ultimately, it’s possible to enter data combining On Screen, Digitizer, and DXF Import all on the same job.

Contractors can also opt for WinEx-de, Roctek’s economical dual-input (digitizer and onscreen) program. It’s compatible with such hardcopy plans and digital file types as PDF, TIF, JPG, and BMP. WinEx-de offers a suite of tools including cut, fill, material volumes, 3D Views, site balancing and site adjustments like stripping, over-excavation and strip respread; and also has simple lengths, areas and counts.

Clicking point to point on contours with a mouse becomes just a memory with LineTracker. The program automatically tracks and traces them for you. This technology can reduce tracing time up to 50%, and it works with any type of vector or raster image including PDF, TIF, JPG, or BMP. No CAD is needed.

InSite Keeps You Grounded
At InSite Software Inc., Rochester, NY, the company offers SiteWork Earthwork and Utility Estimating Software to combine powerful sitework takeoff features with easy operations. Are you encountering the need to calculate cut and fill, stripping, strata quantities, paving and concrete materials, topsoil respread, areas, lengths, trench excavation and backfill? InSite can take the data from image files (PDF, TIF, JPG, etc.), CAD (.DWG) files, or from paper plans using an optional digitizer.

Keep track of those changes with 3D anytime to see updates as you add data to the existing, proposed, or subgrade surfaces. The 3D Live graphics are built from the triangulation and are stunning. You can even use the Drive/Fly command to navigate the site from an operators vantage point.

Moreover, the EarthWorks Excavation Software makes it simple for you to check your work in 3D views, cross-section views or plan views colored by elevation or cut-fill depth. Now you can quickly and easily double check your take offs for input and design errors.

Trakware Gets It on the Screen
EarthWorks Excavation Software from Trakware, Albuquerque, NM, allows you to do takeoffs faster than the traditional “by-hand” methods. Using paper plans, PDFs, or TIFF files, you can trace in your existing and proposed elevation information from your grading plan or you can simply import it from your Vector PDF or CAD drawing. Once the drawing information is entered, you can calculate your excavation quantities in seconds.

EarthWorks calculates cut-fill, topsoil, overexcavation, engineered fill, and building materials quantities for the site.

Once EarthWorks has calculated your takeoff, you can access many different views of the site, such as a cut-and-fill view, and check your work to make sure that the quantities that are generated are accurate and complete.

Keep It Civil With Agtek
In Livermore, CA, Agtek specializes in advanced software for civil construction. Sitework 4D provides the core for Agtek’s shareable, modular solution for quantity takeoff, GPS modeling, implementation planning, and production control for earthwork, paving, and pipe. Users can do the data entry from PDFs, TIFs, CAD files or plans, and then validate it with instant, solid-model visualizations and dynamic simulations. Output to 3D models and optimized grading plans can be delivered with confidence, because Sitework 4D analyzes rock, over-ex, and pipe trenching, and realistically models hauls to schedule production.

With Sitework 4D’s integrated onscreen takeoff process and “anywhere, anytime” Internet key, customers can work from home or from the pickup truck as well as from the office. Sharing is no problem with the Easy Internet checkout. Information is shareable throughout the enterprise as a collaborative tool for estimating, value engineering, project management and business development.

For moving dirt or equipment, Highway 4D computes station volumes and displays them as an interactive mass-haul diagram for help in identifying balance intervals, optimizing locations for borrow and spoil, calculating haul slopes, and differentiating dozer, scraper, and truck dirt. The customer can follow up with planning hauls, monitoring production, and documenting for payment. Highway 4D output can be used with GPS systems to verify topos, set grade, and control machines.

A graphical takeoff system for contractors, Materials 4D combines intuitive data entry with flexible reporting to speed estimates of construction materials. Plan data can be imported from Sitework 4D or entered from PDF, TIF, or CAD. Materials 4D measures areas, lengths, and counts, and extends them into yards of concrete and tons of asphalt.

Hit the Road With SharpeSoft
The name of the game at SharpeSoft, based in Yuba City, CA, is contractor estimating, field logs, and job costing software for city, county, public works, and state department of transportation projects.

Start with Estimating Link, a complete estimating and bidding package designed for unit price and lump-sum bidding of such projects as heavy highway, environmental, bridges, site work, and civil, for both state and private work. Its design is based on more than 25 years of real-world construction estimating and bidding experience.

The SharpeSoft philosophy is that large jobs should be as easy as small jobs. The company’s products can reuse task data from previous jobs to get the basic tasks of the setup, then fine-tune. Built-in support for multiple users allows several estimators to simultaneously work on the same job from different locations. Handy features include robust markup spreading capabilities, last-minute fuel price updating, unlimited rate and task libraries, lump-sum and unit price bidding, and vendor price comparisons.

Seeking Excellent Results
Estimators with experience using Microsoft Excel will appreciate Dallas, TX-based Vertigraph and its quantity takeoff software and automation of time consuming takeoffs directly in Excel. Takeoff and estimating templates are included, and the detailed audit trail makes it easy to retrieve important data.