eTakeoff of ePlans in Excel Tutorial

BidScreen XL is a Microsoft Excel add-in program that measures items from AutoCad DWG, PDF, TIFF and other file types while working in Excel. Additional calculations on the area, length and count measurements generated with BidScreen are performed through formulas and functions directly in Microsoft Excel. A concise audit trail is provided by automatically storing the drawing with the digitized measurement into any Excel workbook cell and file. In summary, BidScreen allows you to view and measure from many files types while clearly organizing your takeoff in any Microsoft Excel workbook.

Before we begin, a few words on performing the takeoff and estimate:
⇒ Quantity Takeoff is performed by measuring certain items and then calculating the desired quantities from these measurements. ⇒ Estimating is applying costs to the quantities.

Applying the estimated cost to the quantities is usually performed in either an Excel workbook, a stand alone takeoff program or through a relational database estimating program. We at Vertigraph believe that organizing your takeoff quantities in Microsoft Excel, regardless of the software used for estimating, is often the easiest, most logical and best way to organize the takeoff for most contractors. You’ll measure with BidScreen and calculate quantities with Microsoft Excel. Excel is not for everybody however; certain divisions of work, such as site excavation and some of the mechanical trades may be better served by performing the takeoff in trade specific, non-spreadsheet applications. Overwhelmingly however, Excel is the number one application by far for both large and small contractors for documenting takeoff quantities. In addition to the takeoff, Excel also has the largest market share among contractors for estimating the costs of construction.

As a result of the widespread use and power of Excel, we at Vertigraph promote Excel estimating and have included a collection of takeoff and estimating workbook files for you use and review. Many of our customers have already created their own Excel estimating template. Others use the included Excel workbooks and customize these templates to fit their needs. After installing the software, the Excel takeoff and estimating workbooks provided with BidScreen are found at the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Vertigraph\BidScreen XL\examples folder when installing under Windows XP. If you installed BidScreen XL under Windows Vista, these Excel workbooks are found at C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Vertigraph\BidScreen XL\examples.

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