Articles
Using Software to Win More Work; Make More Profit
As a result of the tough economic market, builders in Illinois were moving away from using union subcontractors on their jobs due to the high costs and lack of flexibility. Realizing this trend, Steve Martin established West Suburban Concrete in January 2010 to meet the ever-changing demands of the construction industry.
When forming West Suburban Concrete, Martin applied what he learned from his previous experience with other construction companies. He knew he must leverage important management tools to run the business efficiently and profitably, and believed automating estimating processes was a necessity. Martin had used a takeoff and estimating software solution extensively at his previous contracting firm and knew he needed to implement it for his new company.
Confidently Creating Estimates
“With the cost of materials and labor changing so quickly it is impossible to keep up with it,” explains Martin. “With an automated solution, the parts and pieces are in there and we just put in our prices and can easily develop an accurate estimate.”
Using the solution’s digitized takeoff and digital takeoff capabilities, West Suburban is able to electronically takeoff projects with traditional blueprints and also by downloading digital plan files. With either method, the concrete contractor can quickly measure lengths, areas, and quantities to accurately and easily takeoff any size job.
West Suburban has created standard templates for many of the builders it works with frequently. “If we are off on one project, we can simply go in and adjust that template for the next project,” explains Martin. “The software enables us to continually fine tune our estimates to ensure accuracy.”
“Our takeoff and estimating solution is 10 times better and more accurate than the manual process. It does all the math for you,” says Martin. “Some human error happens, like if we enter in the wrong materials, but for the calculations, it is perfect and we are much more confident with our bids.”
Tracking Historical Pricing
The solution’s database provides West Suburban with one central location to find all of its historical pricing on cost items including materials, equipment, and labor.
“The most important feature is the database,” said Martin. “Without it, I couldn’t function. The database of historical pricing and the estimating capabilities allow me to build assemblies for the way I need to work. It is so flexible.”
“Once you get the database going, you’ll realize how powerful it is. It is amazing. It doesn’t lie,” adds Martin. Contractors can use the standard database, or any number of trade-specific databases, as well as customize their own databases.
A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words
To verify the accuracy of the information in the estimate, the business management solution also offers interactive 3D Visual Assemblies (VAs) that provide a comprehensive graphical checklist of individual cost items that are stored in the databases. Martin explains, “With an automated solution, it is easy to create assemblies that show exactly what you’re building and it does the calculations for you. That’s so much easier than other methods where you’d have to enter in all the amounts and ratios and then sit with a calculator to figure it all out.”
Extracting Real-Time Information
In addition to the databases and VAs available to contractors, Martin emphasizes the value of the flexibility of his seamless takeoff and estimating solution. “It can break projects into phases and tasks any way I want it to,” explains Martin. “I can extract information for the crew—letting them know exactly how much and what type of concrete they will need.”
“We can tell the team in the field that they only have 15 hours for a certain phase of the project,” explains Martin. “We send everything to the jobsite upfront, making sure the exact supplies needed are delivered and the team is provided instructions on how to do the project and how much time they have been given to perform the task. Like a football team, all the players need a play book. The solution helps us get and stay organized.”
Projects are active with many moving parts and require continuous management and timely response. Martin explains: “I’d say 99 percent of contractors do their bid, throw it in a file, and then go back to it when the project is completed to determine if they were over or under on the job. With our solution, we can extract data on a real-time basis and catch problems right away. It provides lots of checks and balances. Every bid is alive and we are always checking it.”
Also, if an estimator makes a mistake on labor hours for a particular task, the error will be realized earlier, the estimate can be adjusted and they can try to make it up somewhere else. Martin adds that it also helps him analyze why one crew got the same task done as another, but in much less time.
A seamless takeoff and estimating solution provides contractors, like West Suburban, the capabilities to quickly and accurately quantify, price, and bid projects; resulting in the ability to bid more jobs, win more work, and increase profitability.
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, please visit www.maxwellsystems.com or e-mail dlehman@maxwellsystems.com.
