Construction Estimating Software is computer software designed for contractors to estimate construction costs for a specific project. An estimator will typically use estimating software to estimate their bid price for a project, which will ultimately become part of a resulting construction contract. Some architects, engineers, construction managers, and others may also use estimating software to prepare cost estimates for purposes other than bidding.
Estimators used columnar sheets of paper to organize the take off and the estimate itself into rows of items and columns containing the description, quantity and the pricing components. Some of these were similar to accounting ledger paper. They became known as green sheets or spreadsheets.
Many construction cost estimators (over 55%) continue to rely primarily upon manual methods, hard copy documents, and/or electronic spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. While spreadsheets are relatively easy to master and provide a means to create and report a construction cost estimate and or cost models, their benefit comes largely from their ability to partially relieve estimators of mundane calculations.
