iTWO costX vs PlanSwift

• Allows multiple users to work on the same estimate at once. This is huge!! Not only can we team up on a project that has a quick deadline but we can also simultaneously collaborate on database updates.
• Performs your takeoff on CAD drawings or vector PDFs. Your typical takeoff software does takeoff on an unintelligent PDF. I say unintelligent because the process you go through is simply to trace the boundaries of your shape. This is time-consuming and can lead to mistakes. With CostX your cursor will stick to the line lines and takeoff the exact measurement. This has cut our takeoff time by 75%. The best part is that this is done in the same software as your estimating software. There are a few software's that have takeoff and estimating in one but CostX is the only one the provides CAD smart takeoff.
• CostX is a lot like Excel. You have the flexibility to set up your workbooks the way your project team thinks. For example, ours is set up to evaluate labor in two ways; productivity (man-hours per widget) or crew hours (3 guys for two days for a given activity).
• Reports are very flexible and the report writers is much easier than Crystal reports.
• If you subscribe to the full version of CostX this provides the most powerful feature of them all......Auto-Revisioning. This function will compare two sets of drawings, identify the changes on a color coded drawing, ask for you to approve the changes and then update your estimate and takeoff. You can even use this to produce custom print outs for RFI's show your design team what changed.
• Your estimating workbooks are live-linked to your takeoff. As you make adjustments to your takeoff your estimate updates accordingly. The workbook has color coded text to hep your team understand whats behind your estimate; Black = manually input, Blue = rates linked to database, and Green = quantity linked to take-off.
• Full integrated subcontractor comparison. We use to do this in excel to compare multiple bidders across every division.
• This is also color coded for a streamlined review process; green = quote, blue = estimate, purple = plug, and orange = other.
• Built in error checking notifies you if you forgot to normalize an item on your subcontractor comparison.
• In the near future the software will be available online allowing you to use remotely.

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• PlanSwift drawing uploads are fast and easy. It recognizes the pages and titles with very little error.
• Drawing can be viewed offline including older versions for comparison. You can select which drawings you want to download to save room on your device.

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• Display your cost element summary(labor, material, sub, equipment, other) before you get to reporting.

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• If you go beyond the basic functions (linear foot & square foot takeoffs) it becomes very antiquated and not user-friendly. It's not intuitive whatsoever for users lacking backing computer knowledge.
• The technical support is lacking in my opinion. The software feels dead, and the support team is hard to schedule. Also, if you do not pay for support per hour, it is impossible to get help.
• Their training videos are limited and hard to follow. This software is unnecessarily hard to be proficient at. There should be more simplistic ways to utilize this software.

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• The software is a better value compared to Timberline & On-Screen Take-off combined. We are calculating a 6 year ROI.

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• The estimators' productivity is greatly increased, I do takeoffs in less than half the time with more accuracy and detail captured.
• Easy sharing of what was taken off, I'm able to ensure everything is captured.

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