# BID4BUILD vs. PlanSwift



## Sawyer (Apr 24, 2010)

I need some estimating software. Please help and compare the two.

Thanks!!!!


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## modterry (Nov 14, 2008)

That depends on your needs and committment to the effort. I say that because you will get great results if you will spend the time developing your cost books ( costs of your jobs )

Plan swift will try to do take off 's directly from the plans. It does calculating automatically once it knows certain dimensions and room sizes.

If your projects don't always have a good set of plans you might not use that feature enough.

Plan swift info is held in a database - easier to retrieve costs, old jobs, etc.

Bid4 Build is based on Access database - will run on almost any machine, flexible. Uses some national construction data ( which I don't use )

I found the screens easy to use. Can't be shared over the internet if you are looking to share info with others.

It is hard to evaluate for You without knowing your needs and how you work. If you plan to do all the bidding then a program on your laptop is fine, If you have other people , not at one location, you may want a different approach.

I was frustrated with most estimating programs because NONE factor in the Specifications.

Specs - - > drive Materials - - > Materials drive - - > Labor

Without know what the spec is how do you know what to bid ?

I ended up building our own system ( Web Based ) with specs being the key element, with the materials and the labor tied to the spec

Just some thoughts for you


Good Luck,

Terry


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## CementCreek (Feb 22, 2010)

I agree you need to just try them out and see PlanSwift has a free trial free trial so you can see what you think of it. Give it a run. I've used it now a bit and love it.


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