FastDUCT overall is an excellent choice to make if you want speed and detail. The price is also very reasonable

This product has all the bells and whistles you need, fast and easy to learn, on screen takeoff, and the ability to customize to suit your style of working. The people there are always ready to answer questions when the need arises. This product along with Fastpipe is used daily by me and I highly recommend you give it a try.

I can't think of any at the time of this review. This product has it all covered.

The ability to make a multitude of different takeoffs/sections for a project

The Quick Pick Menu could be better customizable

The one biggest benefit of this program is the time it saves.

This product is really easy to use. It save a lot of time and you can teek it to match most of your needs.

You are unable to create your own catalogs and pricing. Some of fast Duct prices are way out of line. An example would be to insert a metalbetsos catalog ,or a norfab. Also the workbook they provide is full of errors that take time to fix.

I'm our HVAC Estimator, I commonly put together estimates in the mid six figure range and I can't imagine trying to do this without FastDUCT. We had looked at other software solutions but this is the best one we found hands down.

The software is very easy to use and understand. Product support is excellent.

Wish there were keyboard shortcuts for common functions and the ability to click two end points to fill in duct.

Outstanding when you add up all the benefits. I'll never stop using it.

I have used Fastduct and Pipe for several years . I not only am able to produce extremely accurate bids and take offs, But I use the recap sheet for quick change out bids for service and construction. Once I set my parameters, its remarkably fun and easy to produce bid after bid and be in the middle with all my competitors and be awarded 80% of my bids. Plus they keep updating with new features which I usually find some of the new features helpful depending what area I am focusing on at that time.

When setting up your export file to send to a vendor for pricing , it can get a bit overwhelming as the vendor doesn't want all the details as they have to input it into their computer and their computer adds all the little details. So you have to edit it then send it. But for that extra step I can accept it Fastduct and Pipe is awesome !

I am in the plan & spec business. Pre-Bid changes are becoming more frequent. I used to dread this especially when the addendum plans are not clouded. With FastDuct this problem has been solved. Bring in the new plan with your previous take off and the changes are obvious and easy to make. I have never dealt with better customer service. I was working on a Sunday Night and had recently updated my home PC to Windows 10. I tried to open FastDuct and got an error message. 10pm on a Sunday night and not only did I get a phone call from the president but he had me up and running in a few minutes.

The speed accuracy and customization has allowed us to not only bid more projects but also to handle change orders more efficiently.

Honestly I cannot think of any negatives.

We noticed with our old system that many of our estimators were spending time running reports for operations instead of estimating cost for new work. FASTDUCT immediately removed that waste because it creates all reports natively in Excel. We also noticed that the way to setup specs for duct were MUCH more streamlined in FASTDUCT than other products... you could tell the developers had sheetmetal experience.

FASTDUCT is easy to start, easy to use, provides all reports in native Excel format, and an excellent value for the money. Though it is rare that we need assistance, the customer support is second to none. We have always received immediate responses to our questions, and that matters in today's fast-paced world. I highly recommend this product whether you are doing $100k or $100M bids. The ability to carry multiple tables for labor (shop or field) is also a nice feature if you do different kinds of work or have your own time-studies for certain products.

I would like some more options when estimating double-walled duct, but they are minor.

I use fest est software every day it is my go-to software and very dependable, and the service team is excellent. the people from owner to developers and service technicians are very good people and willing to help

I like how easy it is to change the take-offs and to fix any errors.

format it gives on the excel sheet, and how it sorts the ducts

I've been using it for 7 years here with very good results. I've been doing mechanical estimating over 40 years and I wish I found out about FastDuct earlier on in my career.

It's very easy to understand & use. Customer support is just a phone call away. Catalog/pricing updates come automatically and keep you running smooth.

Hmm, not so much on software but material systems such as different pressure class aluminums, FRP ductwork, PVA coated ductwork

My background is HVAC duct fabrication/installation and learning the fastDUCT takeoff software was easy and fast.

I really like the simplicity of learning the software and the how simple it is to customize my take-offs.

A feature I would like to see is when taking off rectangular duct system and I choose a square to round fitting, to automatically go into the round duct take off mode.

reliable and I trust it's accuracy

reliable and I trust it's accuracy when comparing hard dollar bids

not all items on within the system that sometimes I normally use (fittings)

i am able to bid a lot more jobs in a shorter amount of time. pulling up records, making modifications and performing change orders are much easier using the program

not as costly as other programs on the market but it still has tons of features that provide accurate and detailed estimates for jobs. staff is very quick to respond to any requests for help or troubleshooting.

because it is set up using national averages it does not reflect local data for the market i work in so we need to constantly make adjustments to multipliers within the program to compensate for the differences. once the multipliers are set up in the program it works fine though.

Over FastDuct is a very effective tool at performing estimates on projects. It saves time and allows us to be more thorough then previously.

FastDuct allows me to quickly and accurately perform take offs of most any project we have come across. On top of this when we are completed we can quickly look at projects floor by floor and generate detailed excel spreadsheets of the project. Within this spreadsheet we can also keep track of all additional costs allowing for a very details project breakdown.

There is no shortcut keys within this software. That means all repetitive tasks need to be clicked through step after step.

Cut my estimating time in Half and I can easily go back and review jobs.

not being able to quickly scroll through drawings or find drawing that I had previously taken off with going through each and every one

Awesome easy to use program, always recommend.

The ease of use is fantastic. Ability to import new drawings and revised drawings is great. Customization is easy.

The way duct is totaled in the summary is not intuitive.

Very good customer service and good price

It is simple to use with images of the parts, our junior staff can easily become operational with a short training. The reports are clean and simple to use. We purchase our ductwork and we enjoy the flexibility.

The settings are flexible but it can be difficult to navigate in the options. Also some softwares have an option of a auto select the elbows etc... And the fact we have to create new sections for acoustic liner can be time consuming.

Customer service is excellent. The staff is very helpful and knowledgeable whenever I call. I feel they go up and above to help you.

Easy to use. Support staff is excellent to work with. No matter what the problem maybe they can fix it. They worked with me on several occasions to develop the perfect excel sheet for my business.

Would like to see HVAC piping and insulation added to accomplish a complete system.

works well for everyday Estimation

Take-off ease and speed, use of catalog items.

difficult to add some specialty items to catalog for repeated use.

The takeoff features have been vital to our day-to-day since using FastEST. We came from doing everything on paper, and now it's so much more convenient, accurate, and easy to do it all digitally.

I use FastEST in a virtual machine on a mac. Sometimes the software can start to lag if I have a lot of takeoff items already.

Fastduct provides us with a breakdown on materials, shop labor and field labor, making it easier to review Profit or loss at project completion.

Fastduct is user friendly, easy to make special job items for one time use. Easy to sort data, break out floors, or duct design type. Ties into our Sage accounting system. Over all a very good product.

does not currently have a search feature.

Pretty good.

It is Excel based. It is easy to work with and understand.

American pricing and unable to talk with regional HVAC supplier price lists.

FastDUCT has enabled me to bring more consistency to our bid process by giving me a tool to estimate our man hours better. FastDUCT has also given me a tool to get a pretty good sheet metal estimate together for quick turnaround bids that my vendors can't get out in time.

The interface is pretty easy to learn. The customer service is the best I have encountered.

I would like to see more video tutorials or online help that I can refer to. I work all hours and it would be nice to have those resources available.

I like the detail you get in the report section

Doing takeoffs are real easy and you can combine all of your takeoff are you can do real detailed breakouts in the workbook section.

There is no way to square foot a drawing in the takeoff mode

Plan and Specs. Not reliant upon "Suppliers" to take complete jobs off. uses it as a checksum.

Select and drop of fittings ... Drag and drop Duct Ability to change spec and or sizes

does not do the connect like plumbing does. only picks up new duct after Transition. Would like to see it after Taps. or flex connectors.

Great!

Probably the easiest duct estimating system. the pictures for fittings are easy to get the correct fitting.

Nothing it is a great program. I wish all our programs we use was this good.