Viewpoint Estimating

We are a commercial Plumbing Firm specializing in heavy industrial piping, hydronic and water/wastewater treatment plants. We offer in-house design CAD work and dedicated staff. Maxwell is the only estimating software in use at this facility. There are others out there, but thus far, Maxwell appears to be the best value for the dollar.

I have worked for two (2) previous plumbing/heating firms, both used Maxwell, although earlier versions. We are currently using Version 9.3.0.2334, Service Pack 3. This was obtained the last time we upgraded - last year, I believe.

The upgrade usually goes quickly, a couple hours at most unless issues are encountered. I would have to state that most upgrades have some type of issue that either requires a "patch" or technical support. Customer support is for the most part, excellent - response time(s) could be improved. As with all products, there are some technical support people that are much better than others.

I feel that past versions of Maxwell are more concerned w/keeping up with the competition than what the actual users want. My personal opinion is that the Maxwell product is an excellent product for it's purpose - a quick, accurate way to obtain a bid. Just stick with this ideology, and you will be just fine. Trying to make Maxwell into something else is a waste of time and effort.

I learned Maxwell some years ago while working for Western Mechanical Service, Inc. - in just a day or two I was up and running. I have trained a number of personnel over the years - the same can be said today. If anything, Maxwell is a little more straightforward and easier to use than back in 2001.

For the most part, customer support is excellent. As with any product, there are some support staff that are more knowledgeable than others. There have been issues that have taken more time to address than others - however, if one is willing to work together the problems can be solved. One particular issue that was causing us "section corrupted" errors was solved by virtue of just watching how the program responded and was finally traced to the copying of "takeoff notes"; once this practice was eliminated, the "corruption" issue disappeared. I was instrumental in this discovery and was happy to help in this regard.

Since the offering of On-Screen Takeoff, quick, accurate takeoff's can be done w/o hard-copy drawings. There are situations where this is most advantageous, as some projects require a "quick-turn" to achieve the bid in time. Although "phantom" pick points still plague OST, it is still a viable option in these situations or when printas are "unscaled" or hard copy prints are not feasable.

Pros

Flexibility. I have been using this software for over 20 years. It has been really good for me because of my background. However, this software is not for a normal typical estimator. This is the major downfall for Estimation. Over the years, I convinced many of my customers to use Estimation, and most of them did. Some of my customers are the biggest mechanical/plumbing contractors in California. However, most of them only use Estimation for a few years then decided to switch to Quickpen. I have seen Quickpen software work every week when I go to my customer offices, and I can understand why. What Estimation really lacking is the know-how to keep the chicken alive in order to collect the eggs. A dead chicken will not do any good. A typical estimator is someone that will come from the trade and most likely can barely operate a computer. The expectation that a typical estimator can handle a complex system like Estimation is delusional. Thanks.

Cons

The way the software handles the PDF files. Also, Single Line Take-off can be improved to automatically catching the lines instead of the estimators.