Established in 1981, Maddux Electric Company, based in Nashville, Tenn., performs electrical projects for educational, institutional, industrial, and commercial areas of the building industry, as well as state, local, and federally-funded projects.
After more than a decade suffering the challenges of using manual takeoff and estimating methods, the contractor decided to automate those processes. After choosing Maxwell Systems™ Estimation®, a seamless takeoff and estimating software solution tailored to the needs of electrical contractors, Maddux Electric has increased speed of takeoffs, improved accuracy of calculations, and bids more quickly and easily.
Challenges
Tired of the cost and hassle of doing takeoff and estimating with manual methods, Maddux Electric wanted to automate with software to increase accuracy and measure and calculate jobs more quickly.
Solution
Maddux chose Maxwell Systems Estimation software tailored for electrical contractors. It’s their seamless solution for digital takeoff and estimating that improves speed and accuracy across the bidding process.
Results
The company’s two estimators are now twice as productive using Estimation software instead of the roller method to takeoff projects. Plus they are within 1% of complete accuracy, which gives greater confidence in bid numbers. For future bids, Maddux Electric can look back at actual knowledge of how they performed similar work, know the labor rates, and how long it took to finish the project, and simply adjust the previous bid with current material costs. This saves significant time and effort, and helps optimize profit margin on every bid.
Eddie Rigsby, one of two estimators at Maddux, explained their average job is around $500,000, so when they started using the digital takeoff functionality in Estimation, it was an instant boost to productivity. “I love it,” said Rigsby. “We are twice as productive compared to way back when we used the wand and the roller method to takeoff projects.”
In addition to being able to measure and calculate jobs more quickly, Rigsby also raves about the accuracy achieved using Estimation: “We are within 1% of complete accuracy and this gives us more confidence in our numbers when developing our bids.”
To further increase accuracy and speed, Estimation provides quick assembly tools designed specifically for lighting fixtures, receptacles, switches, etc. This helps estimators perform more detailed takeoffs, such as branch wiring, feeder runs, panels, raceways, and much more. “The assembly tools in Estimation are wonderful,” said Rigsby. “We can set up assemblies based on what we do and in one click, put in multipliers, and our numbers are right there.” The estimators are then able to copy and save job-specific assemblies and then access and reuse for other areas of the job or even for similar jobs in the future.
Maddux also takes advantage of Estimation’s Toolbox feature, which helps contractors manage, analyze, and store bids, jobs, submittals, RFIs, change orders, and more. “It is nice to be able to keep track of similar jobs and go back and look at them later,” said Rigsby. “This helps us quickly prepare new estimates and bid based on actual knowledge of how we perform that kind of work. Looking back, we know our labor rates and how long it took to complete the project and just need to make adjustments for today’s material costs. This saves us significant time and effort in estimating similar projects.”
“Estimation has quadrupled the time saved to takeoff jobs. It is amazing how many we can do now. We can bid more work but we didn’t need to hire two more estimators,” added Rigsby.
In conclusion, Rigsby shared his appreciation for the support and attention he’s received. “Maxwell Systems has done a great job and been very responsive. When we call in or use online chat, our rep takes care of our issue right away; and the training sessions have been very helpful in learning new features and helping us to expand the use of the product. Maxwell Systems has a great system in Estimation.”
