Too often, carpentry contractors have to spend their evenings writing out long-winded quotes after a hard day on the tools in the hopes of securing more work.
This means carefully measuring every aspect of a project and manually putting together a carpentry construction takeoff for the potential client. This can be time-consuming and frustrating, particularly when you don't win the job.
While this old-school method is OK if you’ve got the time, today’s digital world has made way for awesome construction takeoff software that make creating carpentry takeoffs much quicker and easier.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at the key reasons that you should adopt carpentry takeoff software in your business and which platforms are best to use.
Let’s get started.
What is Carpentry Takeoff Software And What is it Used For?
In case you’re not familiar with what carpentry takeoff software is, let’s first take a look at what it can do.
Carpentry takeoff software is a computer application that helps Carpentry Contractors and others in the construction industry to measure and price materials and easily put together quotes. More specifically, these tools are typically used to:
• Measure and count materials accurately
• Offer databases with up to date prices on relevant materials
• Calculate material and labor costs on a project
• Keep track of whether the project is over or under budget
• Set up templates that make future carpentry takeoffs much easier
• Provide quick and accurate quotes that win more business
Keeping this in mind, we can begin to see why so many carpentry businesses have begun to embrace carpentry takeoff software. But, in this next section, we’ll look at this in more detail.
If you’re unsure about whether to invest in carpentry takeoff software, we’re here to show you just why it’s so beneficial.
Below, we’ve put together a list of four reasons why you should implement these types of software in your business.
First and foremost, carpentry takeoff software can give you back control of your estimating and means you don’t need to rely on any third parties.
This way, you can ensure the most accurate measurements and costs. Which, in turn, means you can guarantee the biggest profit margins for your business.
As we’ve already mentioned above, carpentry takeoff software makes creating estimates and quotes a lot quicker than doing so manually. This can save carpenters precious time and means they don’t have to work long hours just to try and pull in more work.
The overall impact of this will be that they save themselves money on hours spent working, but also that they can more accurately track profit margins.
Lots of carpentry takeoff software is cloud-based, which makes collaboration amongst teams much easier.
It means that users can log in and work on the estimate together in real-time. This can be helpful for remote teams or those who are short on time and may need to work from different locations in order to complete the project.
One of the easiest ways to ensure a steady flow of work is to keep winning bids and keep the project coming in. Therefore, your focus should be on being better, faster, and more accurate than the competition.
Putting together fast but professional-looking estimates is the key to impressing clients and winning bids. Creating clear, consistent quotes with your branding in place also gives clients the right impression from the start.
It’s all well and good looking at the benefits of carpentry takeoff software, but how do you know which platform you should choose?
Well, we can’t be with you every step of the way, but we can help you get some ideas.
Below, we’ve pulled together a list of some of the key players in the carpentry takeoff game. These include:
Houzz Pro Takeoffs is a digital takeoff tool built directly into the Houzz Pro platform, helping pros quickly calculate materials and quantities straight from project plans. It’s designed to make estimating faster, more accurate, and seamlessly connected to the rest of your workflow. Some of the key features include:
• Upload plans and measure areas, lengths, and counts
• One-click calculations that convert directly into detailed estimates
• Integration with Assemblies to account for labor and sub-components
• Professional, branded documents you can share with clients
• Full connection to estimates, invoices, and change orders—no double entry
Houzz Pro Takeoffs can save hours on manual measuring and help protect your margins by reducing errors. When paired with Assemblies, you can automatically generate complete material and labor lists down to the last detail. Because it’s part of the all-in-one Houzz Pro platform, your takeoffs flow directly into estimates, purchase orders, and work orders—keeping your projects organized from the very first calculation
In just a few simple steps, carpenters and contractors are able to put together accurate estimates with Groundplan. Some of the key features that make this carpentry takeoff software so great include:
• Collaboration for remote teams
• Ability to create a bill of quantities
• Takeoff templates
• Measurement tools including linear meterage and counting items
Groundplan also offers users a 14-day free trial and prices start at $99 per user per month after that.
Complete your carpentry takeoff in one-tenth of the time with PlanSwift carpentry takeoff software. The platform helps users to improve accuracy, save time, and increase profits. Some of the key features of this tool include:
• Point and click functionality
• Drag and drop material and labor assemblies
• Integration with Excel
Like the other platforms, PlanSwift offers a risk-free 14-day free trial.
Construction takeoffs of any kind can be time-consuming and error-prone, which is why eTakeoff Dimension software quickens the pace and accuracy of takeoffs. Some of the key features include:
• Sophisticated assemblies
• True database structures and security
• Multi-user technology for collaboration
• Superior Excel integration
As well as offering a 15-day free trial, eTakeoff also offers a basic version of the software for completely free, so you can always use this before investing full-time!
Of course, these are just a few of the carpentry takeoff software you can choose from; there are lots of other providers out there. But whatever you do, be sure to do your research first and take advantage of the free trials before investing in your chosen platform.
If you’d like to know more about the different types of construction takeoff software and which disciplines these can be applied to, check out some of our other related reading below:
