Estimating software I laughed at, now can't run a bid without it

Back in March I watched a demo for one of those AI takeoff tools and figured it was just another gimmick for guys who can't read blueprints. After three straight weeks of getting home at 8 p.m. re-measuring ductwork for a school project in Tulsa, I tried the free trial and it caught 14% more linear footage than my manual count. Has anyone else had their workflow change after giving in to something they initially dismissed?

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xenan643d ago

The same thing happened to me with my shop drawings last year. I spent two days hand counting every weld symbol on a hospital job, then my son talked me into trying a drafting add-on that flagged overlaps I had completely missed. It found three places where my duct runs would have collided with pipe, which would have been a nightmare to fix on site. I still do the initial layout myself, but now I run everything through the checker before I send it out. It's not about being lazy, it's about catching the stuff your tired eyes skip at 9 p.m. after a long week.