FastPIPE estimating tool: time saver for bidding!!
Pros
- FastPIPE was very fast to learn, very straight forward and user-friendly. It's easy to use and teach new interns and project engineers how to quickly takeoff sections to backup change orders or assist in heavy bid load.
- It's fantastic at keeping up to date on price changes. I'd get updates often, and they were usually within 2-3% of our discount prices with local vendors. In the few instances it wasn't, FastPIPE was very easy to adjust or factor for project costs.
- Is great at being able to pull up reports and graphs and track different materials and labor costs for factoring. We bid on a lot of high rise residential buildings, so we do takeoff by floor. It would give detailed reports per page as opposed to just a lump sum. Very detailed so it was easy to adjust per our project approach.
Cons
- It was a trick or two learning how to upload prints correctly, I think that interface could be a bit easier, but it's already better than most of the competition.
- Might be nice to have easier labor factoring, in case we want to pre-load our own instead of MCA time factors for piping labor
- It would auto update upon opening occasionally. It's fairly fast, but I prefer to OK that in case I just need to come up with something quickly and don't want to wait.
Return on Investment
- Best impact is time saved. It's so much faster to do bid takeoff and hit the ground running
- Being able to 'draw in' on design-build and being able to print my takeoff has been helpful when turning the job over so the field install understands the approach taken to get the job.
- Ease of use and learning has made it much more cost effective to bring new people up to speed.
Other Software Used
NoteVault, QuoteSoft, ViewPoint ProContractor