Issue link: https://www.viewpoint.com/resource-library/i/1074972
VIEWPOINT.com | +1 800.333.3197 Thanks to Viewpoint Klenck now has a comprehensive database of historical pricing and cost items for materials, equipment, and labor. With quick access to accurate data, the estimators can be up and running on a project quickly because the features are easy to use. "My favorite feature for estimating is the simple activity selection in ProContractor" explained Elfreich. "Once your catalog is set up, it is truly plug and play. We simply do the takeoff, plug in the numbers, do some manipulations based on the specific job, and it calculates the numbers for us. It is by far the nicest part of the estimating software." With ProContractor, Klenck has reduced the time on the manual demolition takeoffs from approximately four hours to just one. "It has made a huge difference for Tim going from the handwritten method; and, I would say it has cut my time in half moving away from the spreadsheets." Klenck Company leverages ProContractor for performing takeoff, completing estimates, as well as using the Bid Day & Proposals module to send out bids and then track wins and losses and other valuable data. With access to historical data, Klenck is able to save significant time bidding on similar jobs in the future and can determine what changes need to be made on future bids based on the true numbers from completed jobs. Efficiently Managing Projects Prior to using ProContractor, the contractor didn't have any mechanism or system to help manage its projects. Elfreich said that once a month he would meet with Amy Lillich, the firm's accounting coordinator, and they would go through the active jobs and see what needed to be billed. If Elfreich wanted to do any cost reporting, he would have to ask Lillich to print the information from QuickBooks. It was a reactive and time- consuming chore that could be laden with oversights and unbillable mistakes. On that point, Elfreich related an anecdote about how ProContractor helped him identify an error to save the company $30,000. He explained how once a week he picks a random project and runs through the cost report to see what's being costed to the job and to make sure there are no red flags. "This very morning, I picked a random job, and it happened to be one where we didn't bill out. We were showing a profit of only $6,000 on the job and it should have been $36,000. The ability to run through those It has made a huge difference for Tim going from the handwritten method; and, I would say it has cut my time in half moving away from the spreadsheets. — Matt Elfreich, Estimator & Project Mgr.