Estimating Software

HD is the world’s premier estimating software solution built specifically for engineering and construction projects. It is relied upon by thousands of users worldwide to manage costs, estimates, and budgets for projects totaling more than a trillion dollars.

HD is built from the ground up to handle the complexities and ever-changing parameters of engineering and construction projects as they progress through the project lifecycle. With more than twenty years of development and a long history of innovation, HD estimating software is continually enhanced to reflect customer feedback and new developments and trends in the industry.

At the heart of HD estimating software is the database – a living repository of estimated and actual data representing costs, production, man-hours. The database is standards-based and open, allowing legacy, historical data to be imported as a starting point, and then capturing and organizing new data automatically as estimates are created. In addition, data from leading third-party sources such as RS Means and Richardson can be leveraged electronically to drive estimate calculations and provide comparisons and validations. The historical database managed by HD estimating software becomes one of the customer’s most valued assets, streamlining estimate creation and serving as an answer machine for everyone involved in the company’s projects. The result is the elimination of knowledge bottlenecks, achieving scalability and efficiency for the company by empowering both new and existing employees to achieve new levels of productivity.

HD estimating software includes the most robust cost modeling feature set available, including multiple cost sources (Plug, Detail, Quote), crew and productivity modeling, assemblies, unlimited cost breakdown structures, audience-based groupings and roll-ups (such as owner proposal view, estimator view, accounting view), and intelligent dependent cost items that allow costs in the estimate to be tied to other estimate line items, schedule durations, or even cells in an Excel worksheet.

The major players in the capital projects market – owners, engineers, and contractors – are all adopting the principles of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in order to create multi-dimensional models of a project that provide visibility across the project’s design, cost, and schedule. HD estimating software is a key component of BIM, enabling all parties in the project to efficiently develop work breakdown structures, cost models, estimates, budgets, proposals, work packages, and cash flow forecasts.

Through its industry-leading integrations, HD estimating software enables detailed cost models to reside in between the project’s design and its schedule. That means estimates can be quickly and easily updated when fed the latest design data (quantities, dimensions, and other parameters), and durations found in the schedule can be used to drive certain costs in the estimate, such as crew costs, rental costs, escalation, and other time-based contingencies. Likewise, production rates, crew sizes, and shift arrangements specified in the estimate can drive durations in the schedule, ensuring estimates and schedules are in sync.

The result is a true model of the project that spans scope, cost, and schedule, with the ability to perform “what if?” analysis and instantly see the impact across any of those three areas. For owners and contractors who demand visibility into cash flow and earned value, the integration provided by HD estimating software is particularly beneficial, as it turns separate, manual processes into a single, integrated process. Cost-loaded schedules and resource-loaded schedules become mere output from the process, rather than a separate task that must be performed manually.

What makes this possible? It starts with advanced technology. HD estimating software is built on Microsoft’s .NET platform and mission critical, SQL Server database. The system utilizes advanced networking technology to enable real-time collaboration across many simultaneous users, as well as remote and disconnected usage.

Construction Cost Estimating Software

Construction estimating software version 10.2 by HD blows away the competition. For starters, it has features and functionality that can meet even the most demanding requirements in construction estimating. Second, our construction estimating software is the only estimating and job control system that uses advanced technologies for the ultimate in scalability, speed and ease of use. It makes construction estimate creation fast, flexible, accurate, and gains insight into project and corporate health.