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#1 Tom Rogers

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Posted 23 October 2015 - 07:44 PM

Just want to toss a bone out to SoftList and in case some of you are not using it or hesitant.  I had a builder ask me if I could do some sort of take off with a project that I had done for him (ranch house).  I said I could and would look at it.  I had played around with it before but I decided to give it a try on this house as it was only framing and roofing take off.  I completed the job and sent him the report.  I was nervous wondering if I had hit the spot or if he was going to call me up and tell me I was horrible at estimating.  Got a call today and he said he wanted to let me know about the roofing take off.  He got his numbers in from his roofer and he had to take some shingles back (over-order due to waste, damage, etc.) .  They calculated the amount and checked it against my numbers.  Softlist estimated 59 square of shingles (this was a gable roof with three hips along the back and a three gables on the front-so a decent roof).  They used 58.66 square.  Softlist hit it within one bundle.  He then went on to tell me that my (Softlist) take off was 20% less than what he had crunched the numbers for.  And mine was more accurate.  20% is a make or break deal on whether a builder can get a job or not.  He told me that I better be marketing myself as being able to save a builder 20% off his take off price even before starting a job.  I think I just found me a new income source. :-) 

 

So I said that to say this.  Play with it.  Give it a try.  Follow a job or two or give a builder a free one to watch the numbers.  Softlist does a great job if you spend time to set it up correctly and think it through.  And now is it is a simple go to adder on my contracts that builder want.  Thank you Softlist.


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#2 Steve and Carla Farnam

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Posted 25 October 2015 - 01:10 PM

Thanks for the bone Tom. 

I have been thinking of supplying materials lists for our projects. My only hold back, and I hate to say this, was a concern

over liability if a builder uses the list and finds it was not accurate enough to generate the anticipated results. I have thought

of supplying the list with a disclaimer attached. Thoughts?

Steve



#3 Tom Rogers

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Posted 25 October 2015 - 05:40 PM

I don't but it probably isn't a bad idea. When I provide it to my builders I state that I don't add a waste factor or for damage pieces. And of course all framers are a bit different with wasting materials. However a written disclaimer would be good.

"remember... what we are building today, should be what we want in the future"​
Version 10 to Version 2024+ and beyond
www.residentialproductions.com

 

 


#4 Martin Livingston

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Posted 28 June 2016 - 03:45 PM

I produce plans "in house" for a our own company. We have been slowly incorporating the power of Softlist into our planning department to get a little leaner on our quotations. It has gotten to the point that some of our suppliers are requesting our numbers to compare with theirs. As we complete more projects and review the actual materials consumed we can keep adjusting the waste factors to get even more accurate numbers. We also use Softlist to calculate our building permit fees, all of our labour and sub-contract fees.


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