Best practice on how to optimise your estimating practise

1. Using technology to
meet the top 5
estimating challenges

2. Causeway Estimating
a brief introduction
Causeway Estimating has been developed in response to feedback from
users to deliver even greater ease of use, along with enhanced
productivity and functionality. As such, it retains Causeway’s
standardised approach to the estimating process, equipping contractors
with the tools to tender with improved accuracy, win more bids and
minimise risk.
Time-saving features in Causeway Estimating include the ability to import
Bills of Quantities directly from Excel with no need to convert to .csv or
text files. Text formatting can be used to assist in auto-creation of
Bills/sub-Bills and coding structures can be allocated to the Excel file to
designate items as standard, provisional etc. Further time-savings will
result from the advanced item search, and new multi-select drag-and-
drop capabilities.
In the latest generation of Causeway Estimating this multi-user
functionality has been further extended to encompass true collaborative
working, enabling estimators to collaborate in real time and work on
projects concurrently, thereby saving even more time and reducing
errors and exposing core data to all
For more insight, please contact one of our Consultant for a discovery
session, visit www.causeway.com/estwin

3. Using Technology to Meet Your
Top 5 Estimating Challenges
From our recent focus group research, the top 5 challenges for
estimators have been identified as follows:
• Inadequate timescales
• Risks in the estimate
• Collaboration problems
• Electronic Bill of Quantity files
• The need for a standardised approach
In considering these challenges we can see how an estimating system
can help to meet them.
1. Inadequate timescales
The fast pace of modern construction projects means that time is at a
premium and there is ever more pressure on estimators to produce
estimates faster, thereby increasing the risk of expensive inaccuracies.
Consequently, time-saving features in an estimating system are
incredibly useful.
For instance, a lot of time can be saved if an estimator is able to go
quickly to a previous estimate to find similar items to those that are
currently being pricing. Advanced search features make the whole
process much quicker, giving the user the ability to find not just priced
items but also resources that have been used previously.
With the added ability to be able to set the search criteria, the user then
has then got the pricing trends at their fingertips, making estimating
more accurate and reducing risk.

4. 2. Risks in the estimate
Sub-contractor prices are used for large parts of most estimates and
these prices usually come with some form of caveat or qualification from
the sub-contractors.
Being able to enter these as separate line items enables comparisons to
be carried out not just on the priced items but also on these additional
items. It also gives much more informative data to the user, enabling
risks to be quantified and reduced.
Obviously such facilities present a challenge for reporting, so a useful
feature to look out for in estimating software is a direct-to-Excel report
that expands to suit the data entered
3. Collaboration problems
Lack of time is usually cited by most estimators as their biggest concern
when producing estimates as this can lead to rushing the completion of
tenders, thereby increasing the risk of mistakes being made.
The ability to be able to have more than one estimator working on an
estimate, at the same time and without having to physically split the
estimate is therefore extremely important.

5. 4. Electronic Bill of Quantity (BoQ) files
Of course, it’s also important to be able to share information easily with
those outside the estimating team. A common example is the need to
import an Excel-based BoQ directly into the estimating software without
the need to convert it to another format first. It’s even more useful if you
can use text formatting in the Excel file to automatically assign item types
to the data, as this all saves time.
5. Standardised approach
A recent survey of construction estimating software by ERP analyst Derek
Singleton revealed that standardisation is a significant problem facing
estimators today. So it is vital that your estimating software supports a
standardised approach that incorporates built-in safety features for
missed or unpriced items.
Standardisation underpins the consistency and accuracy of estimates,
regardless of project size, thereby mitigating exposure to risk while
minimising requirements for re-engineering. A true multi–user system
simplifies and streamlines the standardisation of estimating data,
presenting a corporate approach to the estimating process.
In order to be a fully functional estimator’s tool, estimating software
needs to incorporate the features and functionality to address all of the
challenges described above, as well as the many other challenges
estimators face on a day-to-day basis.

6. Summary
Winning more profitable work requires effective bid management and
the increasing use of integrated tendering operations. With the need to
meet quality and compliance standards demanding greater bid
competence, a structured approach is essential as is a willingness to
review processes beyond the individual tasks.
The good news is that Causeway Estimating is designed to improve bid
management, reduce the cost of bid production, minimise risk, support
supply chain collaboration and streamline core processes.
Contact us now to find now for a Demo so that we can show you how to
counter the challenge

7. The Benefit of
Causeway Estimating
Users of Causeway Estimating have identified the
following benefits from implementing the software:
• 98% saving in the time to import and prepare a BoQ
ready for pricing.
• 19% increase in tender win rate.
• 31% increase in business turnover.
• Mitigated risk as the software makes it impossible to
ignore ‘unpriced items’.
• Easier provision of key costing data to consultants by
using the software for sub-contractor enquiries.
• 40% saving in take-off time by using CAD Measure for
automated measurement (compared to manual
methods).
One of the many benefits cited by users is its multi-user
functionality, as Robertson Group, observed: "We have
been utilising Causeway Estimating in a ‘multi-user’
environment for 10+ years. We find the standard reports
to be more than sufficient and the ability to analyse
tenders in detail using Tender Adjudication is most useful.
This is a reliable product worth consideration by any size
of contractor as it is intuitive and flexible while still
providing highly complex analytical data."
For more insight, please contact one of our Consultants
for a discovery session www.causeway.com/estwin