We have been using Estimation software for our plumbing & HVAC estimating for almost 20 years. Over the years, Estimation has continued to fine tune the program keeping up with ever changing computer and operating system improvements. Each upgrade to the program has installed seamlessly and we have never lost important information from previously bid projects. New versions are stress-free with a very short learning curve, building on previous versions of the program. We have been very happy with the ease of use, the ability to customize the bidding process for our business, material pricing updates and its multiple data base ability. With options to separate bids by addendum, alternate bid, take-off by floor, building sections and other project disciplines, Estimation gives us the ability to bid and manage more work with less energy and estimators. Every project we bid from small service jobs to multi-million dollar ventures are estimated with our system. After getting the job, multiple reports can be generated for project management, foreman, project buy-out and warehouse material pulls. Without a doubt, I would recommend Estimation to any mechanical contractor, except, of course, to our competitors.

Industry standard which most companies adopt.

Custom service as I am still waiting over 4 weeks for my ticket to be completed. No response from the team either.

GS Hydro is a supplier of non-welded hydraulic piping systems to the petroleum, marine and industrial sectors. We needed an estimating system that would allow us to build a database of some 8,000 GS Hydro part numbers and provide detailed estimates to our sales group. Prior to installing Maxwell we used an Excel model to estimate item quantities and roll up the cost numbers. We currently use the Mechanical Estimation software with the Digital Takeoff feature. Since we could not take advantage of the data book provided by Maxwell our implementation probably took a little longer than average. However, once the data book was completed the implementation went very well. We selected one GSH employee to attend Maxwell classroom training who in turn passed on the knowledge gained from the Maxwell classroom. The Maxwell customer support has been great, offering prompt answers to our problems. The main benefit we received from Maxwell is the ability to take a customer drawing and plot out the specific lengths of pipe and related products required without having to build a manual bill of material list. This saved us considerable time when building the project estimate.

We are a third generation plumbing company that has struggled through this economy like everyone. Making good financial decisions is key too not only surviving but also, staying on top. Maxwell Estimation has been a big part of that strategy. We were utilizing another takeoff system that wasn’t user friendly and required more training than we felt should be necessary to utilize a system. It seemed to take longer than writing it out by hand. We switched in 2009 to Estimation with the digital takeoff feature. Digital takeoff allowed us to reduce the amount of plans we produced and enabled me to send my digital takeoff to our engineer, client, and suppliers. This one feature has reduced the time necessary to explain our intent and design. Once we installed the system it didn’t take long to get up and running. Very user friendly, and with the benefit of the online video instruction I can enhance my understating of the system at my leisure. For us the system is fairly trouble free but, when I needed help, the support team was there. Occasionally, I receive a call from the support team asking how things are going or if I need additional training and could they set up a training date for me. I update our estimation date base weekly through a separate service that keeps our pricing up to date. Never lagging behind in the market is important. I usually see the updated price before our suppliers get a chance to inform me. In the end, I get a report that is current and more detailed than I ever was without Estimation, right down to nuts and washers.

We are using Estimation Logistics Version 4.5.1. I know we should upgrade to 9.x but I haven't been able to find the time in our bid schedule. I suspect we will upgrade soon. This program was in use here when I got here in 2005. The company that I worked for previously also had Estimation Logistics so the transition for me was seamless. We don't use customer support much anymore; I can usually figure out what I need to, but do get stumped occasionally. I will say that customer support was excellent when I was implementing. But I am not as pleased with it as I used to be. In the "old days" the support personnel would talk you through any issues, so you would learn what to do in certain situations when they arose. Now it seems we just go to webex and support fixes the problem while I watch, but afterwards I didn't learn anything. I don't know after all these years if I would be able to do an estimate the old fashioned way with a scale, pencil, and paper. We have come to rely so much on the computer that the old skills atrophy. One final word: for an old dog like me using digital take off on the computer screen is a non starter. People must be getting better quality plans than we are here in the Northeast, because I would never be able to do take off without my paper plans and digitizer board.