Estimators have never had it easy in the rough-and-tumble world of construction cost estimating—especially when using traditional 2D files or drawings for quantity takeoffs and cost estimates. More than a few still lie awake at night, wondering what materials they might have overlooked in a complex change order.
But things are looking up for estimating departments. Thanks to the advance of building information modeling tools that can integrate model-based data into an array of platforms, quantity takeoffs and cost estimates are getting more granular, which is changing how projects are run.