Automation Leads to Steady Growth for Software Company

Despite a lagging economy, Anderson Commercial Concrete, based in Davenport, Iowa, has been experiencing steady growth with significant success in recent years. Bret Chumbley, vice president at Anderson, has been with the concrete and small site preparation contractor for more than 25 years and has seen major changes in both concrete practices and in the technology available to streamline the company’s operations.

For its first 20 to 25 years in business, the company served both Iowa and Illinois by performing takeoffs and creating estimates manually. “The manual method was very difficult as odd shapes were tough to takeoff and it was challenging to get precise values,” explains Chumbley. “We needed to increase the number of takeoffs we were doing and it was tough because of the time-consuming manual process we used.”

At the time, Chumbley thought there must be a better way. Wearing many hats, he was not only handling estimating, but also doing some project management and at times worked on the crew. His time was valuable and the firm needed to find a way to streamline its processes.

Anderson Commercial Concrete evaluated a number of products in the late 1990s and decided to automate its processes using a seamless takeoff and estimating software solution.

The Power Of Digital Takeoff

“At first we primarily used the automated solution for takeoff and it made a big difference in both speed and accuracy,” says Chumbley. “Since then it has really sped up our process and enabled us to develop very accurate estimates and more of them.”

The contractor now gets electronic drawings for potential projects and performs digital takeoffs using the takeoff and estimating software. This saves them time and money because they never have to touch a set of expensive, bulky blueprints. Once the digital plans are imported, the Anderson team can easily takeoff all aspects of the project including footings, foundation, curbs, and more right on their computer screen.

On sitework jobs, Chumbley and his team use the earthwork digital takeoff capabilities of the software solution to generate accurate cut and fill quantities straight from digital plans. They can efficiently takeoff existing contours, proposed contours, spot elevations, and any other sitework elements. Chumbley comments, “We simply load the necessary information directly from CAD files and can easily calculate how much cut/fill we will have to import and export and determine our machine requirements.”

Automating Estimating For Speed And Accuracy

Once the plan takeoff is complete, Anderson Commercial uses the software solution to develop its estimates, figuring out what the materials, equipment, and labor will cost. The estimators can conveniently keep track of all of their quantities and cost item specifications on an electronic notepad and use valuable cost databases tailored for concrete and sitework jobs to find historical pricing on cost items.

When evaluating takeoff and estimating solutions, it was the ability to view Visual Assemblies that really stood out to Chumbley. Their software’s 3D images provide verification capabilities by allowing the estimators to view the takeoff at a glance and ensure items are not missing or incorrect. “It helps us quickly provide numbers to contractors who request budget quotes,” explains Chumbley. “I’m not very technically savvy and thought this would be difficult, but the visual assemblies are easy and I’m even able to do them at home.”

“It makes our job of figuring out earthwork so much easier,” says Chumbley. Once the job’s cut and fill quantities are determined, the estimating program efficiently calculates what all the equipment and labor for the job is going to cost and the earthwork program’s 3D View provides a realistic aerial perspective of existing and proposed elevations to ensure accuracy and prevent mistakes.

Once all the data is collected and verified, Anderson Commercial’s estimators can use the software solution to see all the quantities, measurements, and calculations from the takeoff in the estimate, which eliminates the need to reenter any data. This automation enables the concrete firm to develop bids more quickly and more often, averaging about 20 bids a week.

Having an automated takeoff and estimating solution also enables project managers to easily identify change requests and track and manage change orders. If there are plan revisions, the software allows an instant comparison between the new and old plans to help contractors capitalize on every change order and capture additional gains in profit margin. With these capabilities, the approval process is streamlined and potentially costly mistakes are prevented.

Striving For Increased Profitability

“Our four estimators wear many hats and have extremely busy schedules,” explains Chumbley. “Automating our processes makes takeoff and estimating quicker, better, and easier, which is important when time is limited and preciseness is required.”

“When we used to do our takeoffs and estimates manually, we had the philosophy that ‘close enough’ was fine,” adds Chumbley. “However, now, in a tight market where bids must be low, we are continually trying to tighten up our bids and if we can dial in our quantities within 1 to 2 percent, our costs will be tighter, we will win more jobs, and ultimately, be more profitable.”

Maxwell Systems™ ProContractorMX™

Anderson Commercial Concrete uses Maxwell Systems™ ProContractorMX™ as their takeoff and estimating software solution. ProContractorMX is a complete solution that includes takeoff, estimating, and proposal management features to help construction companies of any industry and size to quickly and accurately quantify, price, and bid projects. It’s ideal for residential, commercial, subcontracting, specialty, heavy/highway, underground utilities, and sitework contractors. The robust and user-friendly features of ProContractorMX enable contractors to work more efficiently, bid more jobs, win more work, and be more profitable.

Whether using digitized or digital plans, ProContractorMX provides versatile takeoff options that help contractors eliminate costly errors and improve accuracy for better profit margins. The solution also automates estimating to help streamline productivity and cut costs.

Beyond takeoff, estimating, and bid day, ProContractorMX offers functionality to help contractors save time, simplify workflow, and improve communications between estimators, accounting, and project managers on active jobs. Providing end-to-end control of critical business operations, ProContractorMX handles the complexities of the entire project lifecycle. Offering wide and deep visibility for every project, executives can hone business strategy, improve control of cash flow, and keep financials in the black with accurate return on investment.

About the Author
Dan Lehman is vice president, product management for Maxwell Systems, a leading provider of complete construction software solutions for estimating, job cost accounting, and project management. For more information, visit www.maxwellsystems.com or e-mail dlehman@maxwellsystems.com.