Kevin R. Miller BYU Construction Management

Estimating today

 When was the last time you estimate a set of plans that were 100%?

 How do you perform quantity takeoff?

 How long did it take you to do the takeoffs?

 When you perform a takeoff, do you look at every sheet simultaneously?

Risk

 Who bears the risk today if the plans aren’t complete?

 How do you cope with plans that aren’t complete?

 Hard Bid  Negotiated, Design-Build

Benefits of Takeoff Process

(Traditional Plans)  Become familiar with the project  Find problem areas and identify risk and constructability issues  Value engineering

Down side of Takeoff

(Traditional Plans)  Time consuming (Detailed Estimates)  May miss something  Transferring quantities from takeoff sheets to Estimating software tedious and non productive

What do we want from the Model?

 Accurate quantities.

 Less takeoff time.

 Better visualization of project.

 Subs to understand the project and their scopes.

 More time verifying what is modeled is constructable  Interference resolved before work in the field starts.

 Better understanding of design intent.

General Sales Pitch

 Push the button.

 Costs are generated.

 The 4/5 D model is generated.

 All the work is done.

 Looks good, sales software.

 Not necessarily doable without a lot of extra work.

Model World Today

 Not the magical pushing a button and the estimate is done.

 No such thing as a 100% Model  Look at the information that is relevant to your takeoffs, not everything at once.

 Your costs come from your historical cost database or bids not Means or some other source  The liability that exists with 2D drawings exist with 3D models  With BIM – Risk shouldn’t change or shift

Estimating from the Model or Not?

 Do I really want to work from the Model?



No

, I want static drawings that don’t change so there is an accurate history of the costs for the project.



No

, I don’t want the potential to change the drawings because I’m and estimator, not a modeler.



No

, the file size of the model would really slow me and my computer down.

 DWF file (a read-only copy of the model) addresses the above concerns

What can we really get from the Model?

 Counts  Lengths  Areas  Be careful with areas and volumes  Use Length * Height for areas  Use Length * Height * Width for volumes  Do these concerns mean don’t use the model? NO, just understand how the quantities are being calculated.

 When in doubt, check the quantity calculation.

Timberline/MC2 Opportunities

 QTO integrates seamlessly into Timberline.

 QTO integrates with MC2.

 Cleanup and optimize the estimating DB  Too much legacy junk in estimating DB’s  Every item in the DB should have a formula in order to link  QTO integrates better with Timberline than Timberline does

What is needed to Estimate From the Model

 3D model  2D modeled sheets  Allows you to perform takeoff for the things not modeled.

 DWF file format  May use PDF, jpg etc files but they will not link to the 3D model.

Model prep hints

 If there are more than 20,000 objects, things slow down.

Most likely you will want the cost by building anyway.

If the model is too big to work on your computer, Section it

If there are too many objects, turn off the ones that are not being taken off, like curtain wall mullions (9621 Objects) out of 28,015 objects in the entire project.

Estimating in the Classroom

 Takeoffs taking less time  Students are understanding what is being taken off better in 3D than in 2D.

 Test scores are going up and takeoffs more accurate.

Contact:

Kevin R. Miller [email protected]

Office: 801.422.8728

http://cmfac.groups.et.byu.net/miller/