More and more software functions continue to move online and estimating is no different. From at least one perspective this is advantageous since you are all aware of the time and cost involved with maintaining software on your computers and servers. RS Means just announced the availability of their online square-foot cost calculator so I stopped by there to get a look at how online estimating works. The company already has a complete online estimator for everyday detailed estimate creation.

I was immediately impressed with the level of detail and ease of use. When you begin you choose the type of labor, like Open Shop or Standard Union. Next you select the date of data release and this includes the most recent quarter so you know you’re working with some pretty up-to-date numbers. In subsequent steps you select your city and state, building type, wall framing types, building parameters (square feet etc) and building additives (emergency lighting, elevators, etc). You can also name the project and save details about it. The estimate totals appear in a right-hand pane and as you work through it is updated, or you can click a calculate button to see how the costs are mounting up. Finally, a separate page provides the report with each area’s percent of total cost, square foot cost and total cost. You can print this out and export it to MS Excel. Once you save the estimate it is stored under your Home Tab along with any other estimates for which you have used the calculator.

For $700 a year you get the online Construction Estimator and the online Square Foot Estimator. McGraw Hill Construction has a free square foot calculator that you need to register to use. American Dream Consulting has an online estimator that costs $19.95 per project and seems to be focused on residential. Another one that is aimed at residential is Resi-Cost and it comes in two versions, Lite and Full. This seems to be designed for homeowners who are trying to figure out how much their dreams will cost or who are going to build their own. The Lite version costs $99 per month and the Full-featured version costs $199 per month.

This probably is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to these types of online estimating efforts so if you know of others leave a comment with the URL so people can explore their options.

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