Using pre-built templates, construction estimating software creates material and labor lists, projects estimated costs, calculates margins and integrates with resource-planning workflows, eliminating humans' tendency toward optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. It's real-time financials connected to what's actually happening in the field," Sturm said.
"People think, 'O h, that's accounting ,' but it's not. Many contractors dismiss the importance of construction estimating software because they see it as a back-office function, said Kevin Sturm, senior director of product marketing for Procore, whose software connects field teams, office administrators and developers in one platform. Technologies exist to address those challenges, the report found, but "only a fraction of the industry is currently taking advantage of them." They need solutions that can integrate final cost estimates into project budgets, track every aspect of a job's impact on overall project costs, forecast critical costs with real-time data from the field and dynamically track every dollar. When it comes to estimating, most contractors are struggling, according to a recent report by Dodge Data & Analytics and construction management software company Procore Technologies. It's become an evergreen issue." Data-rich and readyīoldt and DPR are exceptions in an industry that has been one of the slowest to digitize. "Starting in March of this year, it just became all-consuming," added Brian Perlburg, senior counsel of construction law and contracts for Associated General Contractors of America. The rapid escalation of material prices, a crisis that revved up last spring, shows no sign of slowing down for at least another year, Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors, told Construction Dive. Having access to accurate and up-to-the-minute estimating capability is more crucial these days than ever, as material prices and availability fluctuate due in part to global supply chain instability. "The current toolset can get complex due to the expectations that have progressed in the past few decades," Bartkowski said. Like Boldt, DPR uses estimating and bidding software from several different vendors, filling in gaps with in-house applications and development solutions.