Trimble AutoBid 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

Trimble AutoBid

4.3

(53)

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

About Trimble AutoBid

Trimble® AutoBid Mechanical is the market leading estimating software for commercial and industrial mechanical, piping and plumbing contractors. Providing contractors with Integrated OnScreen View graphical takeoff, automatic fitting generation, value engineering, a database of over 100,000 items and multiple industry standard labor books. Trimble AutoBid helps contractors create accurate bids and gain a competitive advantage on bid day and complete estimates quickly with real-time, up-to-date material pricing. Professional, accurately priced bid submissions help win more jobs and protect margins. Trimble Autobid Mechanical can also help you improve information sharing with your teams and other stakeholders for enhanced efficiency and informed decision making.

Trimble AutoBid Screenshots

Trimble AutoBid Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $1.00

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

$1.00

No plan information available

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Trimble AutoBid Features

Popular features found in HVAC Estimating
Accounting Integration
Billing & Invoicing
Calendar Management
Cost Database
Cost Estimating
Data Import/Export
Electronic Signature
Labor Rates
Scheduling
Work Order Management
More features of Trimble AutoBid
Bid Management
Change Order Management
Collaboration Tools
Commercial/Industrial
Customizable Reports
Document Management
Estimating
Fitting Management
For HVAC Companies
For Plumbing Industry
Prebuilt Assembly
Project Planning
Project Tracking
Quotes/Estimates
Reporting/Analytics
Reporting & Statistics
Subcontractor Monitoring
Takeoff

Trimble AutoBid User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.3

Ratings Breakdown

51%

38%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.9

Value for money

4.0

Customer support

4.3

Functionality

4.2

Grayson P.

Verified reviewer

Construction

501-1000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2019

AutoBid SheetMetal Review

I have been a ABSM user since 1998 and seen the software grow with the industry. Our HVAC estimating capacity has had to increase as the company grew and as the Lead HVAC estimator I have had to opportunity to change software and found ABSM to continually lead the industry. I can't imagine using anything else.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Common database that is shared by all estimators. It's very fast. Anyone can access the software as long as they have a username/ password and a licence is available. Access can be limited on a individual user level. You can build anything you come across. The functionality of the assemblies is incredible.

Cons:

Labor categories are limited to shop and field in reports though user defined categories are available. i.e. Commissioning/Start-up. These categories do not receive correction factors. New users find it overwhelming. Database and takeoff is now one program so only one can be opened at a time.

Chris J.

Verified reviewer

Construction

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2023

Software refresh

All in all its alright. I'm winning jobs with it but I still need to do things by hand. I have so much to learn as I know I'm only scratching the surface of its capabilities

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I like the speed in which you can take off projects.

Cons:

I don't like dealing with errors after calculatingI don't like the cost of 1 on 1 trainingI don't like that specs are all over the place and that I have to edit constantlyI don't like that there arrnt any quick keys to do things quicker

Reasons for switching to Trimble AutoBid

Does not calculate labor to much set up required for each job

Brian K.

Verified reviewer

Construction

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2019

Not what it used to be

Recent tech support does not have field experience. They tend to just delete problems and not actually fix WHY a problem has occurred. Had I not asked a few questions regarding the latest version (2018v2) I would not have known it was NOT the actual version I was running even though it clearly showed the version number. An all new stand alone install had to be done, sending me back to square one with the program as if new out of box.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Pro:The ability to set up joints to pick up the transition parts such as going from CS to copper, (like a weld-o-let die-electric nipple and copper adapter). Importing direst from Trimble's Trade Service is great. Cons (continued) I have been using onscreen takeoff programs for about 15 years. This is an old program that requires way to many mouse clicks. No usable hot keys.

Cons:

Set up of the program takes a LOT of time and tends to be an ongoing project as you add items. Updates are few and far between. The updates are often are buggy leaving you with unexplained errors. Version 2017 had enough issues that the new 2018v2 version is a stand alone version requiring you to start all over. Supplied spread sheets can not be customized any more.

Tim C.

Verified reviewer

Construction

51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2023

Pretty good software, has some difficulties

It has made our takeoff process a lot simpler, we print less plan sets. Sped up our overall process.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The on screen takeoff looks nice, pretty intuitive once you get used to it

Cons:

The lack of keyboard shortcuts for basic takeoff features. It would really speed up the process

Reasons for choosing Trimble AutoBid

We use many Autodesk products and hoped the support/updates would remain consistent and the software would remain for years to come.

Reasons for switching to Trimble AutoBid

Wanted to use the onscreen takeoff on a product we hoped would be steadily updated and have increased functionality and support.

Lou M.

Verified reviewer

Construction

51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2023

My Take on the state of current Auto Bid system

From begining to end from quick pen Dos through the current version of Auto bid it has allowed us to bid more work with fewer people in shorter time frames without compromising accuracy.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It allows estimators flexibility to use a tool that they can trust to be consistent and accurate.

Cons:

The lack of ability to link Auto Bid Mechanical rapid reports with Auto Bid Sheet Metal that will work more than once.

Reasons for choosing Trimble AutoBid

Auto Bid as we know it today was in it infancy windows version was new in 2003 we also purchased sheet metal along with pipe designer and duct designer at that time they were in beta testing.I had experience running earlier versions of quick pen piping from the original all the way to dos andoverall, at the time it was the most complete operating system one may be better here or there, but none matched the overall package especially in the windows version.

Reasons for switching to Trimble AutoBid

He wanted to lease out the program not sell it .

Louis S.

Verified reviewer

Construction

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Reviewed August 2023

Makes doing take-offs easy and reliable

I have been using AutoBid since it was a DOS program and I have enjoyed the updates as they have made the product more reliable and easier to use.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I enjoy having the ability to print reports sorted by different systems, areas, floors, and/or alternates. This means if needed I can break-out different values/areas to give a better understanding of where our costs and labor are trending.

Cons:

About the only problem I have is with the sheet-metal program and that is minor: there are not as many fields as the piping program has which makes it a bit more difficult to break a bid down.

Colyn M.

Verified reviewer

Building Materials

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2023

Quick Pen / Autobid review

It is a great work tool for estimators providing the estimator know the work and can make the job by job adjustments

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It is the most widely known sheet metal estimating software in our market. I have been using Quick Pen since it was DOS based with a digitizer and dot matrix printer, and the advancements have been quite something over the years. There are a few things such as inability to merge the plumbing version with the sheet metal version that I thought would have been worked out a long time ago since the majority of the shops that use QP will have plumbing and sheet metal estimators

Cons:

For some reason since our last update we have not been able to work on the network, we have to escape out of the server do the takeoffs and copy the summaries back on to the server.

Cooper S.

Verified reviewer

Construction

51-200 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2023

Simple takeoff/complicated back end

Overall experience has been very good. Its has been challenging learning the ins and outs of the system on my own and I feel like the software has WAY more to offer than what we learn in the limited training sessions.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I like that it is very easy to do a takeoff. With the info it provides it makes it so almost anybody can prepare an estimate.

Cons:

For the price of the product there should be more training support available as the free sessions that come with the purchase of the product is simply not enough. After using the software for a few years I am not noticing that a lot of the products are out-dated and the systems & labor for some systems are just patched together. I would like to see an update that would update my library with newer product and proper labor.

Reasons for choosing Trimble AutoBid

Its the best overall takeoff software

Verified

Reviewer

Construction

201-500 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2023

AutoBid Mech/SM

Saves a large number of hours compared to doing manual take-off and entry or with some software support.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Can be fully customized to suit our organizations needs. Solid database of materials and list pricing. Training offered is pretty good and a solid foundation to get started. Ability to create assemblies that suit the needs of our local codes and methods is awesome.

Cons:

My biggest complaint is sometimes click accuracy can be a little funky. More instruction on how to create a variable assembly during training would be appreciated.

Reasons for switching to Trimble AutoBid

Efficiency and time savings.

Verified

Reviewer

Construction

501-1000 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2019

AutoBid Sheet Metal 2013v1

Overall the program is very good and fast for generic non-detailed take offs.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The program and database is very detailed and complete. The versatility is quite broad. the ability to break jobs down during take off is a big help especially when dealing with cost codes.

Cons:

The "Code Manager" does not function correctly, I have sent AutoBid notices about this issue. as of yet no response to this. The process of setting up the equipment symbols is very cumbersome. we do not use the equipment label for what it is intended for because there is not the time to input all of the VAV boxes from the schedule. Although you can take off the ductwork by AHU label, it is very easy to make mistakes while doing this, it would be very time consuming to go back and make the proper corrections if this happens.

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