Estimating, Take-Off and Project Management software for UK MEP contractors

From the first stages of taking on a new project to the final completion date can often be a long and complex process. Even highly experienced MEP contractors often become frustrated at various points in this journey, although we’ve found that the same issues tend to come up again and again when we speak to people. A lack of confidence in the systems you’re using, combined with the high level of effort and concentration required to plan for a typical MEP project, will often lead to problems down the line.

This is why we’ve developed EES Data to become the comprehensive system that it is today. You can use our software to consistently guide you through an entire project, making your work more efficient along the way at every possible opportunity. Simply put, this enables you to make more money while refocusing your attention on ensuring your on-site work is always completed to the best standard.

Let’s explore how it works using a typical example. A new project has become available, and the (potential) client has sent you a PDF drawing with all the required services laid out. EES Data comes in straight away; you can open the PDF in the MEP Take-Off software and get started on your markup with user-friendly, on-screen tools.

If you haven’t done this before, you’ll be amazed how quick and easy it is. Even if using a computer to do this as opposed to pen and paper isn’t something you’d usually do, after our software training you’ll be fully comfortable with it.

Completing your take-off also generates lists of materials and required quantities as you go along. This saves you from having to recreate this list when you progress to the next step; the software will carry everything across when you import the data to the MEP Estimating software. Now you have a 100% accurate list of what you need based on your take-off, and the Estimating system gives you everything you need to transform that into an estimate for your client.

You can do this using all your preset data and settings if you want to use typical labour rates, discounts etc. These are completely customised for your company, but you won’t need to enter them every time you create a project. Of course, overriding or changing anything is also very straightforward with the tools available in the program. You have full control with an amazing range of powerful advanced tools, should you need them.

When you’ve got everything exactly as you want it, you’ll be able to review all the figures in the Summary Table. It’s incredibly easy to make adjustments at this stage too; if you want the overall total price to be a certain figure, for example, you only need to change one number and the software can automatically spread the difference across each area of your estimate (depending on how you’ve set it up).

After this, you have the option of carrying over all you’ve done so far to the MEP Project Management software. Using your estimate as the starting point, there’s a huge range of useful features you can use to ensure you keep full control over the live project moving forward. Changes to your costs, for example, need to be accounted for and communicated in a professional manner so everyone can keep track of what’s happening. This is one thing that’s made easy in our software, so you can manage everything month-by-month without losing track.

You can start to see how EES Data works for MEP contractors who want a total solution to aid with their processes. For a lot of our users, there’s no turning back once they get used to the system. There’s simply nothing quite like it for managing entire projects with absolute confidence, which is increasingly important to modern contractors.

At EES Data, we understand and appreciate that running your MEP contracting business is complicated enough. You don’t need your estimating process to be any more time consuming or difficult, which is why our software isn’t about that. There’s nothing flashy and unnecessary, just the tools you need to get the task done efficiently and accurately.

It starts with our MEP take-off software, which offers a significant advantage over handling drawings printed on paper. Doing everything on your computer screen allows for greater speed and accuracy simultaneously, with precise measurements and view controls. There’s much less chance of making major mistakes when you’re using software that’s geared towards what you do.

Another massive benefit here is that doing your take-off digitally means you don’t have to repeat it for different services. The software allows you to easily use colour-coded layers for each service. For example, your mechanical and electrical systems can be clearly shown on the same drawing while being completely separate when it comes to the quantities and measurements, with no overlap or confusion.

When it comes to MEP estimating, software can obviously help, even if it’s just a basic spreadsheet. However, that method (despite being common even today) opens up countless opportunities for things to go wrong. Spreadsheet software is simply not made for estimating. You need to figure out how everything is calculated yourself, which isn’t much better than doing it by hand. Even using some estimating software packages can be unhelpful because the systems are too outdated or not specific enough to your trade.

Each element of our Windows-compatible take-off and estimating software allows you to have maximum control and minimum effort. Wherever possible, your costs and rates are preset in the background so there are less decisions for you to make, but you always have the ability to make adjustments. Your whole approach can quickly change from struggling through a painstaking process to getting on with the project safe in the knowledge that your predicted costs are as accurate as they can possibly be.

Taking this professional approach to estimating one step further, you can even use our project management software (which integrates fully with the estimating app) to assess how things are going in the live project on a month-by-month basis. It allows you to make alterations based on your real life costs and present these in the required format with just a few clicks.

All of this enables MEP contractors to feel much more confident about the bids they submit for new projects and focus on what really matters to their business: high quality work, efficient operations and healthy profits.