QuickMeasure Takeoff Software

Once setup is complete, I would recommend this program to anyone who is doing a lot of take offs but doesn't want an overpowered tool.

Pros

The interface is simple, it doesn't take long to figure it out. Its simplicity makes it easy to use. Quickmeasure is set up to directly import your take off into Excel which is great.

Cons

There is not a Mac compatible version. Initaily setting quick measure up with Excel integration can be tedious, you will need to call their support team to walk you through it.

This is the fourth estimating software I tried and it is by far the best one I found for my usage.

Pros

I love using excel for most of the work that I do, the fact that this is an excel based program made the first time use extremely easy. Compared to other software I had tried this one is one I believe if something happened to me and someone had to jump in to cover my work they could easily get it done, if they are familiar with using Excel. It is also very affordable, granted it doesn't have all the bells and whistles some of the more expensive software's had, but in my case I wanted something simple and straight forward and that exactly what I got in this software.

Cons

The only con I have found is lets say you save the excel spreadsheet with linked plans in a folder on your desktop, if you move that folder or the plans to a sub-folder it un-links the plans and you have to go in a enter the new location. Not a deal breaker, but a bit of a nuisance.

Pros

The best part of this product is that you can completely customize your summary sheets using a medium that everyone is familiar with, Excel. Keeps it simple organized and easily translates into my reporting software, perfect marriage.

Cons

There is really nothing that comes to mind in terms of cons. I'm a new user and have not run into any bugs or weird results from onscreen measurements. The program is exactly what you make it.

This is an easy product to adapt to how you are used to doing your own take-offs. Even if you are not real savvy on the computer it is easy to use and understand.
It took a few attempts to adapt the templates to best fit our needs but once you have a working Template it's easy to use.

Pros

Simple not complex computer skills needed.

I've only used this product on a free trial basis so there may be some quirks I haven't run into.

Pros

No paper plans, blowing them up trying to get the scale correct etc.

Cons

Not sure, I haven't used it enough to know.

I've tried a few simple takeoff software packages and this one seems to be the easiest to pick up without a guiding hand. The controls are easy and intuitive to a point where you feel like your using a paint application you've used forever versus a totally new piece of software. This software allows me to calculate numbers in about 5 minutes that would take me 2 hours manually. There is a free trial so you can try the product no hassle versus some other vendors that will have a salesman constantly hassling you.

Pros

Simple and Intuitive
Saves Time
Visually Pleasing

Cons

Sometimes have errors when trying to open saved documents

Advice to Others

Give the trial a try and you will see how easy this program is.

Easy to make payment and follow up. Its all in a organize way and easy to understand.

Pros

has a step by step process to follow by. I would defiantly recommend this product to anyone.

My company wanted me to try a couple different options. this product didnt work for what we were looking for but was easy to use and had good functionality.

Pros

Ease of use

Cons

Not exactly what were were trying to accomplish withthis type of program

Advice to Others

TRY IT!

Great product very easy to use, although I have not tried excel yet with the system. I have people I work with that use other products that are not as flexible as the quick measure. Glad I made the purchase.

Pros

Simple, quick, and flexible

Cons

Nothing comes to mind

Advice to Others

Great investment, go for it!

QuickMeasure OnScreen is a fantastic program for getting footages off of plans. It is integrated into Excel, so you start with a spreadsheet of your design and use the program to put footages that you draw on the plans into cells on the spreadsheet. Because you can use any spreadsheet you make, you can use those footages to calculate whatever you need and customize it to your trade. I find this much more appealing than a full program that is complex and does a lot of calculations for you. However, I can see how someone who is not comfortable with excel and formulas would prefer the latter. As far as value, I doubt it can be beat, it is by far the most affordable takeoff program that I have interacted with and is the one I choose to work with everyday.

Pros

-Ease of use
-Integration with Excel
-Customizable

Cons

-Requires some user configuration with a spreadsheet, depending on how complicated you want to make the spreadsheet. However, if you simply want footages with no calculations needed, very little configuration is needed
-Missing some automated features that full suite software contains. Trade off is that you can customize a spreadsheet if needed

Advice to Others

Assess what kind of takeoff program you need. If you need a full suite that is complicated and does many calculations, then this program might not be for you. If you're not comfortable with Excel and using formulas to create bids, then this program might not be for you. However, if you are good with Excel and just need something to quickly get footages off of plans, then this program is definitely for you.

WOW! I love this software. It has maximized my productivity. A job that used to take me an hour to hand measure is done in less than 15 minutes. The accuracy is spot on. I wish I would have bought this software years ago. Thank you to software advice for recommending Quick Measure to us!

Pros

Accuracy, ease of use, excel compatibility

Cons

none

Advice to Others

LOOK NO FURTHER. Best one out there

I know nothing is perfect, but we are an accessories trade and this still involves having to physically go through and count up the tags I need to quantify. It definitely is helpful for larger jobs but almost moot on smaller. We were looking for something that could search the pdf drawings for a tag and that doesn't seem to exist.

Pros

Pretty easy to use and god for larger jobs as it tallies in excel while you review the drawings.

Cons

Not quite as sophisticated as we needed to be worth the money.

Advice to Others

TRy it out, the customer service was definitely patient and helpful.

Likes Best

ease of use is great, it seems a little clunky ans slow on my computer (could be a system thing)

Likes Least

not a whole lot only used it a little bit. Seemed pretty specialized to certain trades and processes

Recommendations

Get a timed trial and use for yourself. THis program is great but you will want to know what it can do before purchasing.

Likes Best

My old program didn't tally my quantities as I measured. This one does and can be pre-formated with descriptions. It is saving me a ton of time.

Likes Least

I don't like that if I have the Quick Measure open to the measuring screen that I am unable to open other Microsoft office new windows (Excel, Word, etc). I have to select done and get back into the Excel portion prior to opening another document.

Recommendations

Ask for the trial. You can watch lots of YouTube videos, but it doesn't make sense until you try it.

Likes Best

The product is easy to use and the customer support is outstanding. The price was very good.

Likes Least

The only thing I didn't like is that i did not purchase this years ago.

Recommendations

Take your time and try them out before you buy. Just because a product is expensive, doesn't mean it's better. We tried six other products before buying QuickMeasure.

Likes Best

The software is easy to learn and use. We were up and running after a few hours of instruction over the phone the first day we installed it. It is much better than using a scale wheel or a pad and paper.

Likes Least

It works fine. I have no complaints. The vendor helped us get started via a conference call.

Recommendations

We use Excel to prepare estimates. QuickMeasure sped up the takeoffs and made it more accurate. It also keeps an easily referenced picture of what was taken off. It does not require you to build a separate database like some products we looked at.

Likes Best

The vendor is hands-on to answer any questions and help guide you through. The software saves me a lot of time.

Likes Least

The spreadsheets are not as easy to use as I had counted on, but I am still learning to use them.

Recommendations

Be aware that not all your plans will be on a PDF, and you will still end up scanning them in or doing them by hand.

Likes Best

It's easy to use and has a very short learning curve. You quickly become very productive with this tool and can accomplish takeoffs substantially faster with considerable greater accuracy.

Likes Least

So far we haven't found anything we don't like about it. It exceeds all our expectations for which we procured it. It does the job we intended it for and does it well. For the price, it's the best value in our opinion.

Recommendations

Definitely request a trial period and use it extensively during that period. We had two people work with the trial version we obtained, and it was so easy to get up to speed that we were off and running when we secured the licensed version.

Likes Best

I like the portability of the product. I can do takeoffs from home or on the train between meetings, etc.

Likes Least

I really find having to scale each individual page onerous. There should be an option to bulk scale the pages especially when I am using the counting function. This is a real handicap. Also, the manual is difficult if you've never used this type of product before.

Recommendations

Take your time and don't get bogged down. It will really simplify your takeoffs.

Likes Best

Once you get started it quickly and easily integrates into existing estimating spreadsheets.

Likes Least

There is no way to change scale once it is set. You have to reload the sheet and reset the scale.

Recommendations

If you currently are using excel for all you estimating this will help you populate your spreadsheets quickly. It does not require any changes to your existing templates.