Many contractors, builders, plumbers and the like are now taking advantage of dedicated estimating software; taking the difficulty out of estimating and drastically reducing the margin for error. But in financial terms, is such software worth the money?
Many estimating software packages can be expensive (there are free options available, but these should generally be avoided as their level of functionality is usually woefully inadequate), with many of the premium packages resulting in a monthly fee, on top of an initial investment for the software.
With that said however, increasing numbers of contractors and businesses are investing in the software, so how do the benefits of the software impact on such businesses?
In businesses that rely on winning contracts, the process of supplying quotes to potential clients is key – you need to be able to judge the cost of the potential job to you, so that you can supply an accurate quote to the client (one that is competitive whilst still retaining your bottom line). Manual estimating carries a large margin of error, even for experienced contractors – the estimating software packages take remove this margin of error, meaning you can supply much more accurate quotes and improve your chances of winning contracts. As you can imagine, this can prove extremely lucrative for contracting businesses.
On top of the improved chance of winning contracts, estimating software also offers numerous other benefits to a business – not least when it comes to project and contract management. The contract management software (which is usually integrated into estimating software suites) allows businesses to easily track their contracts, so they know how much money they’re spending, if a job goes over budget, etc. This improved organisation can save a huge amount of time, which will all know usually end up in saving a considerable amount of money.
So the answer is yes, estimating software is certainly worth the money, particularly for businesses that deal with contract costing and client quoting.