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Construction Takeoffs from PDF Drawings

Today’s construction estimator does the majority of their estimates by measuring directly from PDF drawings.  Blueprint measuring used to be primarily from paper plans and was measured typically by hand or by using a GTCO digitizer.   When plans switched to a digital or PDF format, company’s like Tally Systems, Inc. transitioned to PDF plan takeoff using the mouse on the estimator’s computer.  Construction estimating software comes in a shapes and sizes but the simplicity seems to be the growing trend in the construction software industry.  Dominated by Microsoft Excel, products like QuickMeasure OnScreen help construction estimators measure directly from PDF plans and eliminate the need to print PDF blueprints to paper.   The advantage of doing take off software from PDF plans with software like QuickMeasure OnScreen is the ability to zoom in on the drawing to see small detail and improve the accuracy of the measurement.  With the majority of construction estimators relying on Excel as the primary piece of software to build estimating templates, a program that feeds takeoffs into an estimators existing spreadsheet has become key.

With the emergence of online plan rooms and emergence of general contractors who distribute their plan by linking subcontractors to plans stored on their servers, the ability to download and begin measuring from a PDF image instantly becomes more important.  Since the estimator no longer is working from paper blueprints, the ability of software to calibrate using a known dimension from the PDF drawing is crucial to generating an accurate takeoff.  Companies like Tally Systems have integrated high accuracy takeoffs with simplicity to give the estimator full PDF plan takeoff capabilities while working within Excel the estimator has designed in-house rather than purchase a construction estimating software package that was designed the way someone else estimates.

The other advantage of using PDF plans for blueprint takeoff is that it eliminates the expense of printing plans to paper.  This saves not only on wasting paper but the wasted time of driving all over town picking up blueprints.  The ability to measure on the screen of the computer is really an exciting technology and will be the standard for construction blueprint takeoff for some time.  Those who think that paper blueprints will make a comeback are hoping for something that will not happen.  PDF blueprints and other digital plan formats will continue to dominate and those who don’t migrate to digital plan take off software like QuickMeasure OnScreen will find themselves wasting time and money doing takeoffs manually.

Where is construction estimating software and blueprint takeoff going from here?  BIM takeoff is on the horizon where the architect will design a building that contains a list of the material quantities but until that technology becomes more commonplace, PDF plan take off software will be a staple for every estimator.

 

 

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Construction Estimating Software – PDF Plan Takeoff

Construction estimating Software is broken into price estimating and blueprint takeoff. For most contractors, blueprint takeoff is the more tedious process.  By hand, the estimator must use geometry and manual calculations to calculate areas, lengths and volumes.  With software, the estimator can use intelligence built into the software to do calculate irregular shapes in seconds.

The first software that was used for blueprint takeoff was developed using digitizer technology to measure from paper plans.  The software ran in the DOS environment and was very cutting edge for its time.

In 1993 Tally Systems introduced one of the first Windows based takeoff applications called QuickMeasure that allowed the estimator to measure plans with a digitizer and send the quantities back into Microsoft Excel.  Tally Systems found that most estimators who were working within the Windows environment were using Microsoft Excel to extend pricing and compile their estimates.

In 2006, Tally Systems released a new product called QuickMeasure OnScreen that addressed the change in the construction industry from paper blueprint to plans that were distributed as PDF drawings.  Rather than print the PDF plans to paper, contractors were now able to do takeoffs directly from the PDF displayed on the screen of their computer.

Digital plan takeoff is now the most common format for blueprint takeoff.  Most applications require that you build your estimate from within the takeoff software while others send the PDF plan takeoff data into an Excel spreadsheet.  Others interface with construction estimating software.

Whatever your style, whether it’s doing takeoffs by hand, using a digitizer or measuring directly from a PDF image using the mouse of your computer, the one thing we can all agree on is the blueprint takeoff requires focus and knowledge of how to read the blueprint.  With advances in technology, one day the quantities from the blueprint will be provided by the architect and the construction estimator will have to adapt.

Who knows what the next big thing in construction software will be for the time being, PDF plan take off software and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets seem to be the top choice for the construction estimator.  Company’s like Tally Systems will certainly adapt just like the estimators had to adapt and will take on the next challenge of making blueprint takeoff faster and more efficient.

 

More information:
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