Apply cost index and market rate in estimate

BuildSystem web has a database of materials, manufacturers and their vendors for construction and maintenance of projects. Trusted name in construction cost data.

BuildSystem offers construction cost data products and services, cost estimating books, CDs and online services.

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Construction take-off sheets

In any construction work, it is very important to get the estimation of the construction in one place at orderly manner. That’s why a properly arranged construction takeoff sheet is required to do the whole work without any hassle. In a construction take off sheet, you find the details of all the requirements for the construction. The types of materials, the quantity of materials, the number of labors, the number of days and the sequence of work all things are enlisted in the construction take off sheet.

 

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Visual Building - Editing roof wood construction

This tutorial video demonstrates how in Visual Building you can examine and edit the wood construction components within the roof.

This video is applicable to: Visual Building Lite, Visual Building Basic, Visual Building Professional, Visual Building Premium and Visual Building Solar Designer.

Visual Building is a building / house design software application, that will enable you to design your own home producing quality floorplans and 3D Visualisations.

Visual Building is a building / house design software application, that will enable you to design your own home producune qualty floorplans and 3D Visualisations.

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Senior Estimator in Bellevue

S.D. Deacon is looking for a senior level Estimator with experience in conceptual estimates, negotiated work, competitive bidding, etc. Experience should be on projects valued from $5 to $50 million in commercial new construction and renovations.

This position requires thorough knowledge of all construction divisions and the ability to generate accurate scope and pricing based on limited information. The ability to manage a workload of multiple estimates and participation in GC/subcontractor project walks is required.

highly motivated, with the ability operate efficiently in a fast-paced environment. Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook and scheduling software knowledge optimal. The best candidates will be detailed and organized team players with demonstrated delivery in high pressure situations. Excellent growth potential & benefits.

• 5+ yrs experience Estimating within Commercial Construction.

• Bachelor’s Degree (Architectural, Engineering, Construction Management and/or business preferred).

• Strong Conceptual Estimating and Pre-Construction background would be a huge plus.

• Experience bidding projects in the $5-$100Mil range.

• Proficient in Excel, On-Screen Takeoff, Bluebeam, SmartBid or similar bid management software.

Apply for the Position

 

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Publsihed By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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World's Longest Sea Bridge Construction

An engineering marvel the Jiaozhou bay bridge has finally opened up after four years of construction. The 26.3 miles long bridge links the port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

The road bridge, which is 110ft wide and is the longest of its kind, cost nearly £1billion to build.

A bridge over misty waters: The immense £1billion structure which is supported by more than 5,000 pillars stretches for 24 miles along China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the offshore island Huangdao.

It took four years to build the bridge, which is supported by more than 5,000 pillars across the bay, and it is almost three miles longer than the previous record-holder - the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana.

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Quantity Takeoff Sheet for Plumbing

A precise construction estimate details of every particular involved in construction including plumbing estimate. A plumbing takeoff is designed to acquire the necessary information about the plumbing materials required.

A proper plumbing estimate is very significant part of the construction estimate as it helps in preventing extra expenses and besides, it also helps in timely completion of the construction in the most cost efficient manner.

Takeoff sheet for plumbing includes size, schedule, material, connection, quantity, total length of the sewer pipes. The cost estimator requires following and adopting the listing in order to create an organized and accurate cost estimate.

  

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Cost Estimating Software - Full Demonstration

CostX is the leading 2D and 3D on-screen takeoff and estimating software. This Full Demonstration video goes over a variety of features in CostX.

For more video demonstrations, please visit www.exactal.com 

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Published By
Arka Roy
www.quantity-takeoff.com
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Excel Spreadsheet design with Civil Engineering

Civil engineers are professionals who have broad technical knowledge, possess strong problem solving skills and enjoy working with people. Their work is directly related to the public wellbeing and safety, and has a significant impact on decision making processes. This was part of a multi-sheet project for the complete design of an A-frame wood structure.

Originally, a civil engineer worked on public works projects and was contrasted with the military engineer, who worked on armaments and defenses. Over time, various branches of engineering have become recognized as distinct from civil engineering, including chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering, while much of military engineering has been absorbed by civil engineering.

Civil engineers usually practice in a particular specialty, such as construction engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, land development, transportation engineering, hydraulic engineering, and environmental engineering. Some civil engineers, particularly those working for government agencies, may practice across multiple specializations, particularly when involved in critical infrastructure development or maintenance.

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Published By
Arka Roy
www.quantity-takeoff.com
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Importance of Concrete Estimating

The most used material in the architectural industry is concrete. No modern day construction can be completed without it. It can be customized to get compressive strength or color application, placed in almost any shape or form and finished to resemble masonry, stone and other surfaces. It is durable and virtually maintenance-free. This component is quite easy to work with and installs relatively quickly.

The segment concrete estimating specially deals the basic areas like: concrete materials and placement, formwork, reinforcing, finishing and pre-cast industry. The quantities of concrete usually estimate in measure of cubic yards, as this is how supply companies charge for it. Formwork is taken off in square feet (generally in square feet of area in contact with the concrete as opposed to the actual area of the forms used). Reinforcing is normally taken off in tons of steel. Finishing is taken off in square feet of finished surface. Pre-cast concrete quantities are taken off in either square feet or by the piece, depending on usage and the type of unit being considered.

Concrete estimating is quite an important issue to the estimators as the large amount of total cost is based on the cost of the concrete. That’s why it will be a great help to the estimator to know the probable cost of the total construction.


Posted By:
Debarati Nath
content Writer

Steps of a proper Estimation

A proper estimation is integrity of some sequential processes or steps. An accurate estimation gives you the chance to complete the project in schedule time and under budget. The basic understanding of the project estimation gives you some advantage which will be surely beneficial for you. That’s why it is very important to follow the steps of the project estimation properly. Here we will discuss the steps of a proper estimation.

The Design: First of all you have to study the design accurately. Only a clear understanding will give you a better idea about how the project is going to be after completion. The drawing and supporting electronic files are included to illustrate the general scope of improvements. You will take care of the essential factor of the construction like safety, traffic operations, durability, desired appearance, maintainability, environmental protection, drainage and other permitted constraints. The design review process is much more important because the success of the project is on the design.

The Required Software: Selecting the proper software required for the estimating a project is another important step for the project estimation. To find out the perfect software for the type of estimation is very important.

Taking out quantities: In the next step of taking out quantities, the measurements are taken off from the drawings and entered on measurement sheet or dimension paper. The measurements to be taken out would depend upon the unit of measurement. For example, in the case of stone masonry in superstructure, length, thickness and height of the walls above plinth level would be taken out from the drawings and entered on the measurement sheet, whereas, in the case of plastering only the lengths and heights of the walls would be entered. Obviously, the unit of measurement in the first case is cubic meter and that in the second case is square meter.

Squaring out: The fourth step consists of working out volumes, areas, etc. and casting up their total in recognized units.

Abstracting: In the last step all the items along with the net results obtained in the second step are transferred from measurement sheets to specially ruled sheets having rate column ready for pricing.

The last two steps above are known as working up. All calculations in these stages and every entry transferred should be checked by another person to ensure that no mathematical or copying error occurs

Steps to Estimate a construction Project

Estimating a construction project budget can be a tedious task that is accentuated by the fact that there are three types of costs that need to be considered. Project budgets generally contain variable, fixed and per-use costs. Depending on the size of the project, it is beneficial to use a spreadsheet to calculate and set the project budget.

Instructions:

Set the variable pay rates. For costs that fluctuate based on the number of hours consumed, set a standard pay rate. Estimate the number of hours that the resource will be assigned to a task and multiply those hours by the standard pay rate. For example, if you need to hire a contractor and mason, you can set the market standard pay rates per hour, respectively. If you believe the project will take 160 hours for each employee, your total can be calculated easily. Create a pay rate and time estimate for each variable expense in the project. After multiplying the rate by the time estimate, add up these figures so you will have the total variable cost.

Calculate per-use costs of the materials. If a particular resource costs a certain amount each time it is used, take note of the cost per use and then estimate the total amount of times you will be using it for the project. This is generally one project task that has both variable and fixed costs. For instance, the project requires a piece of machinery that has large setup costs and then hourly employee wages to run it. Combining both of these costs of the task is more efficient than tracking them separately, so you can easily manage efficiencies. As with the variable costs, calculate the estimated per-use costs for each per-use expense you perceive in the project to determine the total per-use costs.

Compute fixed costs. List all the costs that are one-time expenses that will not vary throughout the project or that you don't expect to pay more than once. For instance, fixed costs could be purchasing software, machinery, equipment or licenses. Add up all of the fixed costs to get the project's total fixed costs.

List the variable, per-use and fixed costs and then total the amount. This is considered the total estimate for the construction project's budget.

Create an addendum to include estimates. Underneath the total estimate for the project's budget, include all of the estimates used for devising this figure. For instance, say you believe it will take 160 hours each for the programmer and website designer to complete this project.

If you find all these things too much complex then just hire a professional estimator. He will do the estimates of your construction project efficiently. Quantity-TakeOff is one of the websites who provides services in different kinds of estimating.

Estimating – Make the First Step of Your Construction Perfect

Whenever you start for preparing a construction project, the first step is the most important always. The success of all projects depends on it. And the major part of the first step of any construction is involved estimating. Estimating is the tool, with which the contractor can win the bid of a project, earn maximum profit and finish the project within time frame and budget.

First of all you have to know what is estimating. Estimating is the calculation of the possible amount of required material, man power, time and cost of a construction project. The professional estimators find out with various up to date software the amount of materials from a depth research of the blue print of the floor plan. Then they calculate the present market price of the materials. The exact number of labor and various other sub contractors finds out by them. Then the daily wages of the labor and sub contractors would be calculate. The proper sequence of work also find out by the estimators not only with the help of the software but also their vast experience in this field.

An accurate estimation helps the architects to win the bid because the proper budget for the project attracts the building owners. But winning the bid is not the only help you get from estimating. You can finish the whole project within the budget. There are many instances of running out of money in the middle phase of the project. This instance is almost rare for a proper estimated project. You can also have the right sequence of work which help you most to appoint the accurate number of labor for any given phase of the project. Due to lack of error, the misuse of fund is also not found in this case. You can draw the higher profit from an estimated project than any other non estimated project. That’s why it is very important to take the first step of your construction projct by applying estimating services of various estimating service providers like Quantity-TakeOff.

Posted BY
Debarati Nath
Content Writer
Construction Estimating Service

PlanSwift - An unique software for accurate construction estimating

PlanSwift is an user friendly construction takeoff software. It makes the estimating as easy as just point and click. PlanSwift can load scanned plans as well as import directly from .TIF, .PDF - Adobe, .DXF, .DWF, .DWG - AutoCAD, .PLN - Dodge Plan files, .JPG, and more. PlanSwift can also download plans directly from many online plan rooms.

According to the software company it is like Swiss knife which has many utilities in one hand. This multi-tasking software has many features:
• Print or Email Plans Effortlessly
• Just Point & Clock To Calculate Areas, Linears & Counts
• New Apple iPhone Integration
• Track Changes with Comparative Plan Overlays
• Identify Takeoffs Easily By Labels And Color
• Planswift Can Also Calculate Curves (Arcs) And Cut-Outs!
• Maintain Accuracy With The Magnification Tool
• Easily Navigate Through Plans Using The Overview Window
• Fully Customizable Hot Keys And Bookmarks
• Load All Major CAD And Image File Types

Top 10 Reasons to Buy PlanSwift:

1. PlanSwift is very easy to learn. Just point and click!
2. Most estimators can estimate 10X as fast using PlanSwift vs. traditional methods (ruler & highlighter).
3. Astounding accuracy. Precisely trace/digitize items on the plan using your mouse or a digitizer.
4. Create an audit trail...if it's colored, its counted!
5. Save $ on gas, printing, and shipping costs. No more driving to pick up plans...just email them.
6. Top rated customer support...we have REAL ESTIMATORS on staff who can speak your lingo!
7. Go Green! Go Paperless! It's cheaper, faster, and more environmentally friendly.
8. Best value for your $. As shown in our testimonials, you get the most features for the best price.
9. Extremely customizable & powerful. The software can be customized to suit your exact needs. You can do your takeoff + estimate in the same software.
10. PlanSwift is becoming the platform. Because of it's integration capabilities and our SDK (Software Developers Kit), Many online planrooms and estimating software partners are creating integrations which will allow you as a customer to have a positive, integrated experience.

Posted by Debarati Nath
for www.quantity-takeoff.com

Global Associates has launched USA Construction / Cost Estimators Directory

Global Associates proudly introduces USA Construction Cost Estimators Directory in their cost estimation website http://www.quantity-takeoff.com/construction-and-cost-estimators-of-america.html. It is valuable opportunity for all the estimators of America to expose themselves to the customers of their region.

This directory is very useful for the customers who want the accurate estimation service as well for the estimators who get a chance to display their name in the directory. Here one gets the list of fifty states of USA. Under every state there are sub sections of the cities. There are lists of name of the respected cities with the name of their companies and contact details. This will surely help all the customers of United State of America to get the contact of all the estimators. There is a map of USA on which clicking on a certain state will take you to the list of cities of the state.

The estimator directory is a free service of quantity-takeoff.com where anyone can find many estimators of any selected region of America. In this website the estimators can also enlist their name and contact details for free of cost to get maximum exposure via online. But this service is exclusive for the American estimators only. Everyday many estimators try to find out high ranking directory but don’t find many. This estimator directory will minimize this problem. By filling up a simple form, they can easily submit their details. Only Construction estimators, Construction cost estimators, Construction project estimators and Building Cost estimators get the chance to enlist their name in this directory. In this way both estimators and customers will be benefited by the estimator directory of quantity-takeoff.com.

For more details please visit: http://www.quantity-takeoff.com/construction-and-cost-estimators-of-america.html