One of the best parts of the holidays is the time-honored tradition of thinking up your Christmas wish list. Maybe you’re hoping for a couple of new books to enjoy as the cold weather sets in, or maybe your dreams are a little loftier, and you’re hoping to find a cute puppy under the tree.
When it comes to your job as an estimator, what would you put on your preconstruction wish list? Integrated 2D takeoff? Fewer clicks to perform said takeoffs? Maybe one centralized database your company could reference? While all of these things are definitely important, one thing we can probably all agree that most estimators anywhere would put at the top of their list is: saving time.
This exactly what Curt Kluznik’s team at Life Time Construction had at the top of their list when they switched to a new, centralized estimating platform. And, after successfully implementing this new tool across their team, they found they were able to shave hours off their previous workflows. Things that had required jumping between different programs were now consolidated under one roof; things that had necessitated dozens of clicks and extra steps were now reduced to just one or two clicks. So, what exactly did Curt’s team do with all this additional time?
First, Curt shared that the most important thing his team has been able to do is just leave the office on time. Because they’ve been able to streamline their workflows due to moving to a centralized platform, they can leave at 6 pm instead of 8 pm and enjoy things a lot of us might take for granted, such as actually being able to eat dinner with their family or finally being able to go to one of Junior’s softball games.
Secondly, though, Curt’s team has also been able to more efficiently track data throughout its lifecycle in a project and build a more accessible cost history database. While Curt’s team has always kept track of their data so that they can use this history to improve future decisions, implementing a unified estimating platform has made this task a little more standardized and accessible.
Those are just a few of the things that Life Time Construction’s team has been able to do now that they’ve chosen a centralized estimating tool. What would you do as an estimator if you had more time?
