What’s the best workflow to estimate precast projects today? Excel, paper, and felt pens? Adobe?

Why not in BIM?

Traditional estimation workflows are highly specialized, time-consuming, error-prone, and provide only limited value to engineers and detailers who begin work once projects are won. BIM-based estimation is easily accessible to salespeople and estimators used to working in Adobe, Bluebeam, or CAD, and provides important benefits to precast fabricators looking to improve responsiveness, speed, and accuracy.

• Speed: rapidly create initial project estimates and much more rapidly mock up alternatives and price them
• Accuracy: Data is driven from model and drawings, and exports to Excel or ERP directly, eliminating manual data entry/calculations, and thus errors
• Ease of use: trace-to-model looks and feels like Bluebeam or Adobe, but with much more automation and intelligence
• Responsiveness: Easy to modify based on owner need, engineering changes, or unforeseen complications
• Continuity: Models built for estimation can quickly and easily be refined to serve as basis for shop tickets, erection drawings, and engineering documentation

Watch this course to see how estimators can realize huge gains in speed and accuracy, while providing engineers and detailers a jump-start on their work once projects are won.

Presenters:

David Loughery: David has a Master’s in Structural Engineering with over 5 years of industry experience. As a practicing engineer in China his work focused on fiber composites (FRP) in civil infrastructure, including bridges and powerplants, before he transitioned into the AEC software industry upon returning to the United States. As an engineer he’s faced many of the same challenges which confront Allplan’s customers each day, an understanding which enhances his ability to help overcome them.

Frank Holz: Frank has a Master’s in Civil Engineering with over 9 years of industry experience. Primarily focusing on precast, he has worked on a variety of infrastructure projects. As an industry expert he helped to write and program precast software, as well as train other engineers on usage and best practices.