With Halloween just behind us, it started me thinking that it might be a good time to admit that estimating can occasionally be a bit of a scary task.

This combined with the new process of blogging coming to Powercor (at present a somewhat alien procedure which I’m hoping to grow accustomed to) means that I might not sleep soundly for a while!

Why estimating can be problematic

The success for each and every project initially lies with how accurately we assess the information we are given and then it’s down to our own interpretation of where we think we should be with the costings. With less details to go on and quite frankly more and more confused information being received, it’s fair to say that it’s always a possibility that we may leave ourselves open to being a bit off the mark, as to where we should be on the price.

Then, once the job is under way, it’s down to our operations team to carry out the challenging task of bringing the job home with an acceptable level of profit.

Moving forwards with estimating software

With the ever evolving challenges, we have recently introduced something to hopefully fight off the demons and are now using Amtech’s Extreme Estimating Software which we hope will ease the quoting process and provide our customers with a clear indication of what is allowed for along with accurate breakdowns where required for each element of the works.

It’s early days but we are now starting to produce quality quotations using the software and are hoping to be as competitive as ever, thus securing some major projects moving forward.

Amtech are a market leader manufacturer of software for the building industry.

Some of the benefits of using a software package are;

• Consistent format of quotations in an easy to understand format
• Consolidated reporting at the click of a button
• Material price checking using Luckins updates
• The ability to send lists of materials to engineers and breakdowns by room

We strongly believe that our detailed quotation approach provides complete transparency on the project and therefore clarity on any adds and omits ensuring smooth running during the course of the works. Good news for both our own Contracts Managers and our valued clients.

What are your views and experiences with Amtech or with Estimating in general?   It remains to be seen whether Amtech’s software does everything that we hope for and I would be interested to hear the views of others as to what their experiences have been with Amtech or in fact what their approaches to quoting are in general along with any other software packages they are currently using. Please let us know in the comments of this post or drop me an email.