The benefits to my customers are numerous. From the ability to understand through the use of cost models for construction costs, my clients are better able to make decisions. The ability to manage my plants facility costs are also a key deliverable.

This software is the foundation for my entire business offering. It is a highly regarded cost database in almost every industry. The ability to understand impacts of geographic location and timing are unprecedented in the software industry. The full range of the offering by RS means online is a very important standardization across multiple sectors. I highly recommend the software to any company or person that is responsible for cost management activities in their business.

There are no negatives to the software. It takes a while to truly understand how do you manipulate the data sequence but again it is without any constructive defect.

It's OK overall, but the absolutely most glaring thing missing, is that this program has not been implemented into app form. I have been looking online for any evidence that this is on the horizon and I have not seen any indication of it. As a project manager working in the field and in charge of proposals, it is the single largest inconvenience of my entire job to have to stop and find some place to sit down with wifi access to do an estimate on the go. That coupled with the other cons I listed in the previous inquiry makes it beyond frustrating.

Overall, its interface is user friendly for the most part.

Its several lag on load time when scrolling. That the database lacks almost anything that is specialty or modern technology. Pricing is a joke at best and forces me to struggle with almost every proposal (FYI, I have been using this product since it was just a book). The annual cost increases are always a sticker shock. I understand as a product grows in popularity and comprehensiveness that there is a need for cost increase for the logistics of it alone, but the price increases seem to jump by leaps and bounds. This can be very hard to encumber, especially when used for a contract that is not as lucrative but requires your software.

Using the Online version takes more time than the CD version and the lack of ability to tailor the costlist view in the Online version when compared to the CD version is a significant deficiency that I hope can be modified.

I like the ability to access my estimates from any location with a good internet connection.

The online version does not permit "tailoring" of the costlist window at the bottom when completing an estimate. In the CD Version, you can hide columns that are not needed without having scroll from right to left in the costlist screen. Additionally, when you enter Notes in the CD version, they are displayed and it's easy to copy notes from one line item to another. The online version is cumbersome when entering notes and after closing the note, you can't see it without opening the note screen again. If the costlist display screen in the Online version can be modified to allow Users to tailor what they see and to display the notes once entered, this will SIGNIFICANTLY improve the User interface.

Frequent database updates and ease of use.

The biggest issue is the lack of ability to modify user accounts in bulk. It takes me 5 minutes to delete a single user license. I need to add and delete up to 60 users every 6 months. It takes me days to add and delete these users to our organization account. This is a major issue for us. We also hope that RS Means will recognize the value of customers like Roger Williams University’s Construction Management Program as an academic/educational user. We train and graduate 40-50 construction management professionals every year and have been teaching them RS Means in multiple courses. As a leading construction management education provider we receive free educational licenses for almost all of our specialized software packages. That is not the case for RS Means. Thanks to CSR we have been getting a discounted set of licenses over multiple years. However, if it was not for him personally advocating for us, it seems unlikely that the remaining team at RS Means would support such access for us.

We use RSMeans Data online in different courses in the construction project management program. It a great online cost data and great tool have it.

The software has different levels of estimating (square foot estimate at early phase of project during feasibility study, assembly estimate during schematic phase and unit price for detailed estimate). Ease to use, and exporting report to MSExcel.

It is all in imperial units (inches, feet, square foot etc..). There is no feature in the software to convert imperial unit to metric unit and the user must have an option to either work in imperial unit or metric unit. All construction drawing in Canada are in metric unit. Second, if someone works in imperial unit and generates a report, there must a feature in software to easily convert the result or report to metric unit. Third,there must be a feature in the software that enable the user to integrate the online cost data to AutoCAD, Revit, MSProject, Primavera Project Planner P6, Primavera Risk Management and other construction management software etc...

I'm estimating building components for the purpose of assigning different depreciation recovery periods for federal tax purposes. I've used this tool since it came out and have used RS Means data (formerly the books) my entire career (over 35 years).

1) I like that we can tweak the individual components within the SF model. 2) I like being able to take an existing model I've created in past years and update it with current (or whatever year is relevant) costs to create an estimate for a different year version.

1) Historically, the cost of this tool has skyrocketed much faster than inflation every year. 2) Sometimes we make square foot models and the output doesn’t include costs for what I would assume are key parts of the building. We’ve had issues in the past with roof structure not being a part of the model but recently I generated a model that didn’t have costs for interior partitions, even though it most definitely should have. Is there a way for them to tell us which models exclude certain costs? Sometimes these are difficult to catch in our reviews.

A great investment!

Great for quickly estimating larger budgets. RSMeans Cost Data is second to none. I find it is extremely accurate. Great tool for developers, project managers and estimators.

It is expensive. But I have found it is well worth the money.

This software has made our estimates way more accurate and competitive.

Huge range of trades to choose from, updated cost lists by quarter, ease of use.

The only thing we don't like is that the table doesn't display properly when the browser window is collapsed to half screen.

I have a great experience when it comes to cost data on items I am able to locate, but find it hard to search and locate the exact item/assembly I am looking for. Also the estimating section could be more user friendly. Some of the assemblies are not specific enough and do not allow different exterior finish options.

Power software with cost data. Love the cost index feature. I like the ability to build an estimate.

Difficulty in searching for desired methods/products and less than desirable estimating section.

I use RSMeans in my estimating and planning and scheduling courses. I have found it fairly easy to use it, as well as my students. It has the majority of the costs listed that we use in our projects.

- Easy to create new projects and save on data base. -Easy to find material -Real time updates - You can access it anywhere on-line

-Unable to fully delete users (student) on RSMeans. They show up every-time we add new students, even-though they are marked as "not active." - Have to look up the crew on a PDF file. It would be great if there was a function that would allow to hoover over the crew number, in the estimates page, and have a pop-up box show you a quick look at the actual crew.

I have not found it to be even close at all in cost to qualified bids on individual scopes of work on projects. We are an open shop but even using the union scale datasets, it is sometimes as low as 50% of actual. This makes it almost useless. In addition, the inability to customize building type superstructure elements is also disappointing. I need the ability to individually choose more options in order to make a ROM estimate meaningful and useful.

I like the design and ability to build estimates and customize

The quick estimates are predominantly building types and combinations not relevant to the types of buildings we build on the west coast. Not enough ability to combine superstructure elements. Does not include at all the types of apartment buildings we build in the Western US: wood framed structures with steel on the first floor and hardi siding (90% of designs)...also the preloaded concrete structures are off. It seems like building types haven't been updated for about a decade or the Western region is completely overlooked. We don't have the concrete and brick apartment structures out here. Also - the nomenclature of data is hard to find...looking up something simple like "drywall" doesn't appear - so you have to learn the RSMeans nomenclature for everything. Having synonyms for lookup would be helpful.

In general, I have had excellent experience with Means. I feel confident in their prices, wages and factors for various areas of the country. I live in Mexico so would love to have a Spanish version.

the scope of the cost items is very extensive. The wage rates are very good and the crews are excellent

they should have versions for Power Plants, Refineries, Mining and Metals and other large types of projects. They should also design it so that there would be a industry standard type of estimate report. Means used to have a Spanish language version. They should continue with this version.

I started using the RSMeans books many years ago as a Facilities Engineer. They were excruciatingly difficult to use; they are expensive and do not update. When the opportunity arose to use RSMeans on-line, I took it. As a Buyer/Engineer for Aerospace I needed up to date information for bid justifications and comparison. As a Consultant doing facilities cost estimating for the Navy, I need the most up to date information I can get. RSMeans on-line provides me with that information.

The ease of using and the quaterly updates.

Obvously everthing is not in the data base. So I may have to estimate and get close to use a line item.

I have been using the product for over 10 years for construction cost estimates after I stopped using the data books. Using the search engine for items and having the in-built estimator software makes my work easier.

Ease of use, search engine, features and functionality

RSMeans is most often behind in incorporating new materials on the market in the product.

We are a construction management firm - not a general contractor. We see a very wide variety of work types and construction styles that make it difficult to maintain an in-house cost model. RS Means allows us to have up to date data without the maintenance costs of a self built database.

We really like the square foot estimator. It allows us to quickly talk over conceptual projects with clients and make our project kickoff meeting really meaningful and efficient.

The web interface doesn't always format correctly on my screen. Often times the chart titles don't line up with the data chart making it difficult to read.

I am very happy with it. It is great product for us

It is very important for us to estimate our projects. RSMeans give us what we are looking for

It should be more resources of YouTube to learn the software for new users

In this current construction market we are able to get budget estimates out quickly to prospective clients utilizing the RSMeans square foot estimator. This gets our firm in front of more clients and gets us more opportunities. For our smaller firm, the cost is not cheap, yet it is justifiable seeing the results of how quickly we can turn out estimates. I also like the professional look of the exported data into excel.

As a smaller general contractor with few employees, being able to turn around estimates quickly is critical. I have utilized RSMeans square foot estimator to help understand project costs and help owners initially develop budgets. This is helpful in the current economy because trade contractors are so busy getting bids timely is sometimes difficult. Also, I like having updated costs at my fingertips to understand where the market is.

The square foot estimator needs more models. Our firm is located in California and a lot of our projects are type V wood construction. The models that come up are steel, masonry, or brick with skins that are slightly different than what we are bidding/building. If I could get some models similar to what we are currently working on in our market that would be great!

Ease of use - I mean we can get $/UOM regarding any construction work based on any location in US/CANADA.

Price of packages - It seems bit high. Also, you must consider that teams will be using this - so please consider increasing the number of users for an account

I like the ease of searching for a "needle in a haystack". I can drill down quite far to get detailed item pricing

Not enough parameters for square foot estimates. I would like to see the ability to put more info in when I start the square foot estimate

Overall it does the job we need it to do. However, I am not overwhelmed with satisfaction.

How I can break down my estimates into individual lines items

The process of changing the city/state locations

Current and up to date information with the online version.

Sometimes difficult to find the correct line item and you have to refer back to the book to find exactly what you are looking for.

RSMeans gave us the ability to quickly create valuations for our many structures on six different campuses across the state of South Dakota. The customization process was cumbersome at times but the values were very helpful.

The ability to create valuations of a variety of different buildings

I'm a fiscal manager not a civil engineer so it is difficult to look at those huge lists of interchangeable components to what goes into a building

I like the tools RSMEANS gives for guidance if you are unfamiliar with a particular trade.

The auto logout is annoying. It would be better if you got a log out on your own.

qty and price already "adds up". Too much time to create a system proposal because you need to add each line. Procore system contains a construction system layout with all its accessories synced as soon as I click the type of system to be installed.

The catalogue does contain a fair amount of line items.

I need to create my own system. I need to search for items with different terms. Line items sometimes may be too generic or too specific. It's not consistent.

Industry standard. "We used MEANS for pricing" - lets people know where the price baseline comes from and most constructors are familiar with the system.

The lack of assemblies. My specialty is electrical construction - lots of parts and pieces. It would be best to create an assemblies section of MEANS. 1. Conduit with supports and boxes. Create an assembly that has supports and "x amount of boxes" per foot of conduit. 2. Wiring device assemblies - include all the parts and pieces plus some branch circuit. Have assemblies tailored for tennant finish, warehouse, etc. 3. Fixture assemblies. Assemblies are much more efficient for use at the MEANS level of pricing. Independent count of individual fittings isn't critical, so having an assemblies section would be much more effective, but more accurate than a square foot number.