FastPIPE estimating tool: time saver for bidding!!
Rating: 10 out of 10
IncentivizedUse Cases and Deployment Scope
FastPIPE is being used in all facets of HVAC Piping estimating. Takeoffs, labor, material costs, and also being used for change orders and other job budgeting along with its companion FastDuct. The entire estimating team is using the software. In some cases, I was training PE's and estimating assistants to use the software for bid preparation. It addresses consistency in takeoff, it is also a quick and easy way to detail how your estimate is based, and to adjust costs and labor factors quickly.
Pros
- FastPIPE was very fast to learn, very straight forward and user-friendly. It's easy to use and teach new interns and project engineers how to quickly takeoff sections to backup change orders or assist in heavy bid load.
- It's fantastic at keeping up to date on price changes. I'd get updates often, and they were usually within 2-3% of our discount prices with local vendors. In the few instances it wasn't, FastPIPE was very easy to adjust or factor for project costs.
- Is great at being able to pull up reports and graphs and track different materials and labor costs for factoring. We bid on a lot of high rise residential buildings, so we do takeoff by floor. It would give detailed reports per page as opposed to just a lump sum. Very detailed so it was easy to adjust per our project approach.
Cons
- It was a trick or two learning how to upload prints correctly, I think that interface could be a bit easier, but it's already better than most of the competition.
- Might be nice to have easier labor factoring, in case we want to pre-load our own instead of MCA time factors for piping labor
- It would auto update upon opening occasionally. It's fairly fast, but I prefer to OK that in case I just need to come up with something quickly and don't want to wait.
Likelihood to Recommend
It's absolutely well suited to anyone needing accurate piping takeoff and laboring estimates, with great reporting and up to date pricing. I love that I didn't need to spend time trying to update the price logs. It's easy to learn, and works well in a large or small environment, and lends itself to more than just estimating, but becomes a good project management tool as well. Fantastic software.