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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8
J
Junior Member
Has anyone used the electrical bid manager estimating software by infosoft? If so how do you rate this product?


jimmy w. brown
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 615
J
Member
I sat through a one day seminar on how to use it and purchased it. I thought it looked like a decent piece of software. I haven't used (and should have returned when I could have) because I realized my company was losing money with the way I was running it and decided to change my focus from trying to land larger commercial work to scaling down and becoming more efficient.

I can't say if the learning curve was too large compared to other software. It would be great if I was a full time estimator. I bought the little scale roller that plugs into the USB. The only thing is, you'd have to take a couple of jobs you've already tracked and job-costed, and plug them in to see how it compared to the software as far as percentage mark-ups and profit. Once some of the variables got dialed in to where you are used to, it could be useful, but I would only recommend if you are going to be doing ALOT of bidding.

The other thing, I was not used to bidding so methodically like the software demands. (counting every pipe run, every conductor, every strap, every fitting). I guess it's not a bad way to go, I just hadn't done it that way in the past. But if I had mastered the software, it does make it easy to split the job into gear, fixtures (or luminares), etc.. You don't have to use it the way it wants to be used.

Also, it allows you to break the job out and look at different ways once you've done all the input.

Hope this helps. good luck

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 642
N
Member
I have and use this software for my bidding. It took a while to get the pricing to reflect my actual costs. You will need to check every material cost item in your first few bids to get all the conduit, fittings, and hardware to reflect your actual costs. In my area the costs in the origional package were almost double what I was actually paying. This created estimate that were way too high. You also need to update your costs regularly. If used carefully you can get quite useful estimates. The break outs can show you where you need to improve the estimate vs actual costs during a project.
This program does take some time to set up properly for your company and it does take some time for periodic updates to material and labor costs. It has given me accurate estimates and fair docemuntation of the estimate when needed.
I'll keep it


ed

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