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 an estimator, not a modeler.
 No, the file size of the model would really slow me and my
computer down.
 DWF/NWC 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 Opportunities
 QTO integrates seamlessly into Timberline.
 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
Methods of Estimating
 Schedule
 Quick method to get list of quantities.
 List quantities typically without visualization of the model.
 Doesn’t takeoff items that are not modeled.
 Active Takeoff
 Navisworks. Assign model objects to the takeoff.
 Takeoff objects that haven’t been modeled using 2D takeoff.
 Visualization of what has been taken off.
 Ability to override model quantities
What is needed for Active
Takeoff from the Model
 3D model
 2D modeled sheets
 Allows you to perform takeoff for the things not modeled.
 DWF/NWC file format
Model prep hints
 If there are more than 20,000 objects, things slow down.
If the model is too big
to work on your
computer, Section it.
Then Link the Models.
Most likely you will want
the cost by building anyway.
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. Assigning more projects for
takeoff.
 Students are understanding what is being taken off better
in 3D than in 2D.
 Scores are going up and takeoffs more accurate.
Contact:
Kevin R. Miller
kmiller@byu.edu
Office: 801.422.8728
http://cmfac.groups.et.byu.net/miller/