Success Stories
Koberstein Contracting, Inc.
Performing a wide range of civil construction services, Koberstein Contracting, Inc. strives to ensure that all jobs are performed with the highest level of excellence, on schedule, efficiently, accurately, and most importantly, safely. Their reputation for quality work has been proven over 55 years serving commercial and industrial clients in southwest Indiana with services that include excavation, site preparation, building demolition, street and railroad construction, and underground utilities (water/sewer).
The team at Koberstein feels that every project needs to start off on the right foot to keep their roster of happy customers growing. This demands that every project is estimated accurately to minimize risk and possible costly problems, which ultimately impacts the contractor’s profits as well. That’s why Koberstein Contracting uses Maxwell Systems ProContractorMX™ seamless takeoff and estimating software to help them prepare highly accurate bids while improving operational efficiencies.
Challenges
To maintain and grow their roster of happy customers, Koberstein wanted to estimate more accurately, which would help them minimize risk and possibility of costly problems, as well as improve profitability.
Solution
Koberstein Contracting uses Maxwell Systems ProContractorMX seamless takeoff and estimating software to help them prepare highly accurate bids while improving operational efficiencies.
Results
The heavy/civil construction company saves significant time using the software for digital takeoff, which also increases accuracy of their calculations of grades and areas. The contractor also uses the historical pricing database and templates to quickly create estimates. ProContractorMX allows Koberstein Contracting to streamline its takeoff and estimating process to bid more jobs in less time.
The Move to Digital Takeoff
Greg Koberstein, president of Koberstein Contracting, explained that the firm has been using Maxwell Systems takeoff and estimating solution since 2005. He and his team really value the capability for performing digital takeoff, working directly from electronic site plans, versus using paper blueprints and a digitizer board.
“It is a night and day difference,” said Koberstein. With owners and architects providing more electronic versions of plans today, digital takeoff is a significant time-saver. “Thinking of jobs in the $100,000-$200,000 range … What used to take us a couple of hours to takeoff before, we can takeoff in about 45 minutes. And, it is more accurate with the calculations of the grades and the areas.”
Estimating More Quickly and Accurately
According to Koberstein, “Because using ProContractorMX allows us to save days of time during our takeoff and estimating process, we are able to bid more jobs in less time.”
For example, for a recent earthwork job for a gas station service center, Koberstein was able to easily perform the digital takeoff to generate accurate cut and fill quantities. Then, using the historical pricing database in ProContractorMX and the templates customized to his preferences, he was able to input the quantities, plug them into the catalog, and automatically create the estimate.
“The process is streamlined and quick,” said Koberstein. “From start to finish, it only took us about four hours to prepare our bid, compared to our previous method that would take up to a day and a half. An estimate can be as detailed as I want it, whether it’s for a $5,000 project or a $6 million project. ProContractorMX provides the structure and makes my job 100 percent easier.”

