National Building Cost Estimator

AJAX

What do ya think, yeah or nay?

Magic Hammer

It's been years since I've tried to use National.
I use and trust Home Tech's cost on most of the line items, but I use superbuild.com most of the time because it's easy to use. I check all the cost in the line items with Home Tech.

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Skye Builders, inc.
Decks,Sunrooms,Windows and Siding
www.skyebuilders.com

AtlRemodeling

Magic,

I was just looking over the superbuild website and it looks pretty useful. I am currently using a massive spreadsheet for estimating. Are there any hidden items to be wary of with superbuild? How much of a learning curve did you have? Is it as useful as it portrays for change orders and the like?

Thanks for the info!

SLSTech

As long as you get the CD's & update monthly - it may work for you

I used it for a while as a double check on my pricing - some where less than what I would normally charge while a few were higher

I switched over to Xactware - Xactimate for me due to the insurance work I do, but XactRemodel might be worth a look

But whichever solution works for me, Magic Hammer, or anyone else might not be your best solution - do you receive plans to price off of? You might want a completely different program where you can trace the drawing directly into the program & get SF, LF, etc... items automatically

Search is your friend on this one as many have chimed in on diffrent tools

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Alabama Full Service Remodeling, Renovation, and Preservation by SLS Construction
Certified Energy Efficiency Audits, Ratings, Modeling, Verifications, & Consulting
Residential, Commercial, & Industrial Infrared Thermography Scans

AtlRemodeling

Thanks SLS.

I have read a lot about estimating on here but this one caught my eye as similar to one developed by a local software guy that I used years ago (it was DOS based if that explains how long ago it was).

The guy is no longer in business but I really liked his software and had used it for years. The spreadsheet I have is pretty comprehensive but there is obviously always room for improvement. I just don't care for having to create estimates in excel and then transferring over to quickbooks. Then having no real mechanism in QB for change orders and the like.

I will certainly keep looking...

SLSTech

Alt - you might want to also check out ELMS software - you can even update the pricing they have with what is on your spreadsheets, imports into QB & is a lot more integrated solution

They are offering a software based solution & a web based one - If I hadn't gone with XactWare I probably would have gone with them

__________________
Alabama Full Service Remodeling, Renovation, and Preservation by SLS Construction
Certified Energy Efficiency Audits, Ratings, Modeling, Verifications, & Consulting
Residential, Commercial, & Industrial Infrared Thermography Scans