Opiniones de Countfire

Countfire - Pros and cond

Comentarios: Excellent, the online support is fantastic, as is the software. There have been some containment drawings that I simply could not have lifted off with Pen and paper, but Countfire has made it possible and easy to review. If in doubt do the trial on a big job and see how you get on!

Puntos a favor:

Whats not to like? Not much. Its a fantastic tool for estimators, the more you use it the faster you get and the more confidence you gain. Automatic counts - Brilliant Manual Counts - When you cant use automatic counts this is still super fast compared to pen and paper Measurements - Brilliant Splits and multiples - essential and very helpfull I have been using it for a year now and would recommend it to anyone involved in estimating or any other form of take offs.

Contras:

Every now and again you get a bad drawing where all the symbols are slightly different and its a pain. Just use manual count and safe yourself a lot of frustration! The cost is pretty high (but worth it in time saved) If I was self employed it could be out of price range.

Taking off made easy!

Puntos a favor:

Automatically counting multiple drawings at the same timeAbility to identify any issues/errorsConstantly adding new features

Contras:

So far we have had no issues wit the software. The only very minor issue was not receiving a notification of duplicate symbols on a set of drawings but still not really an issue

When it works it's a real time saver, but holy cow it's very expensive

Comentarios: I found the customer support was second to none, there is a little chat box in the corner when you are doing take offs and if you are having any issues then you can talk on here and in my experience you get help normally within half an hour.
The first 2 drawings that were quite big the auto count feature didn't work and so I had to count manually and I had software already a lot cheaper that I could do that with.
When i had a drawing that worked, it worked well and saved a lot of time. But honestly the cost of this software you'd have to do a heck of a lot of estimating with drawings that work to make up for the huge cost.

Puntos a favor:

The auto count feature when it works does save a lot of time. The customer support and training is excellent.

Contras:

The cost is way too much. not all drawings work with the auto count feature.

This product has revolutionized the way i run my business...

Comentarios: I've found the software brilliant and the customer service exceptional. Its taken my business to the next level and couldn't imagine how i would run my business without it.

Puntos a favor:

Easy and quick to use. Absolutely brilliant.

Contras:

It would be nice to be able to copy test off the drawings to paste in the software

Countfire 2 Year Review

Puntos a favor:

Central storage of all takeoff documents. No more boxes of rolled-up plans cluttering my office. I would typically fill 1-2 boxes every month, so it really has reduced clutter and the overall appearance of my office. It definitely saves money when you consider that you no longer have to plot jobs that you don't win. That is a lot of paper, toner, and wear on your plotter. The software is very easy to use and you can be fully trained on all of the keyboard shortcuts and navigation in less than a week. After about 5 jobs, you will very confident that you aren't missing any devices during takeoff and will have your own workflow for getting a takeoff done. The developers are constantly making improvements, adding features, bug fixes, and you get pretty routine feedback when one of your feature requests are considered or implemented. Customer and Tech support is top-notch and very responsive, and everyone seems to be very well trained on the product. It is also a very small team, so you will typically be speaking (texting) with someone you're familiar with.

Contras:

The software is 100% cloud-based, and from my early conversations with the sales team, is the heart of their mission and will never change. That alone is not a negative, however, I feel that some of the processing could (and should) be done on your local machine and then pushed to the cloud to create the "output package". Moving between pages of a PDF is not as fast as scrolling in your preferred PDF reader. It's not slow, but there is definitely a pause before you're ready to work on the next sheet. It seems they could have better control of the user interface if there was a PC-based client option. If you need support, the time difference from Eastern US to the UK can sometimes be a challenge, but the support team is absolutely great and will respond back to you outside of their normal working hours, assuming they aren't sleeping. All support is initially done through an in-app chat bot that will recommend that you go read articles based on your questions. I will admit that most of the time, the recommended articles DO contain your answers, but I personally just like to call and talk to someone. I realize this would put a strain on their resources though, so I rate this as a very small negative. I would rather support maintain their current level of quality than be burdened with phone calls over minor issues. If you do have a major issue or prefer to speak to someone, you can ask for a call and they will call you.

What did we do before this software?

Puntos a favor:

We use solely for the count of off drawings for tendering projects, this has saved immense time for even some of the largest projects, we are able to add additional points and measure accurately to check the designs were supplied. We are then able to provide the spreadsheet produced with our tender with a comprehensive list of where the information came from.

Contras:

If the drawings are not made correctly then the software does struggle to read all symbols this though probably is more down to the original document than Countfire problem,

Amazing Software - Would definitely recommend!!

Comentarios: Great, efficient, time saver!!

Puntos a favor:

Easy & straightforward to use. Great user interface. Reliable automated counting (if drawings are half decent!)

Contras:

Copying symbol selection over to new drawings & also reviewing later revisions of drawings does not always work as it should with no real explanation as to why apart from it being something related to the drawing

Integral Part of Our Business

Puntos a favor:

Without the software we wouldn't be able to deliver the speed of work that we are able to do now

Contras:

Sometimes the symbols don't import quite correctly, also doesn't like complex symbols exported from Autocad

Mechanical take Offs

Comentarios: I have found using Countfire really helpful as it is more accurate than printing and marking drawings and also i believe faster

Puntos a favor:

I have found that even though it is mainly for the electrical trade i have adapted it with the help of the Countfire Team to mechanical use

Contras:

Nothing. It has suited all my needs and assists in my day to day works

Revolutionary takeoff experience.

Comentarios: Reduction in time in the estimation process (magnitudes).

Puntos a favor:

- clear cut user interface with everything hotkeyed, and the hotkeys labeled in plain sight - PHENOMENAL customer service and support (I requested and had a feature built and deployed overnight, etc., etc., etc.) - Documentation from another planet (over 25,000 words of concise walk through material - Redundancy (the way projects are delivered after being processed eliminates worry and most potential for error) - Data manipulation (the data spit-out from a project comes post-pivot table, saving us a step in formatting to get our numbers straight) the list goes on and on - simply amazing!! Will and the boys are a phenomenal team, awake at preposterous hours of the morning solving issues that could wait, etc. just amazing!

Best Estimating Takeoff Software

Comentarios: I've only been using it for a month or so but it has been very nice. The support team is phenomenal. They are very good at fixing any problems you might face. There is also a feature request page that you can request new features and everyone can vote on them and then the Countfire team will work on implementing that feature. The Countfire team is very active and always looking for new ways to make the experience better.

Puntos a favor:

Features that I like the best: The Support: User Interface: I really like the clean simple user interface. It looks very nice and up to date unlike a lot of the competition. Autocount: In comparison to other software such as Livecount, Planswift, Bluebeam, eTakeoff, etc. Countfire is by far faster. I've used Livecount & Planswift the most. Countfire can do in 2 seconds what Livecount & Planswift takes 3 minutes to do. I can select a fixture type to autocount and it will find every fixture with extreme accuracy on every plan page in 2 seconds or less (Tested with a plan set of 120+ pages) Background Hide: Countfire has the ability to hide the background on a drawing. This is very useful when you have a messy plan set or when all the furniture and details are on the same page as the electrical. You can toggle it on and off. You can also define what is a part of the background and it will hide it. This makes it so much easier to see only the electrical stuff. Hide Counted Symbols. (Only works for symbols counted with autocount). This is a feature that most of the estimating takeoff software has but this does it in a much different way. It will actually hide the symbols that have been counted not just the digitizer count itself. This allows you to toggle off everything that has been counted and now you can see what hasn't been. This only works on the symbols that are counted with autocount. You can still hide the manual digitizer counts but it won't hide the symbol.

Contras:

The estimating side isn't as advanced as some of the other competitors but they are currently working on a big update that will fix most of that.

Countfire is a lifesaver!

Comentarios: From a user perspective, Countfire is a lifesaver. You upload your drawings simply and easily and within minutes you can have a scaled, marked up set of drawings with all measurements documented in an excel spreadsheet. I take this output and use it to accurately build quotes and check quantities on all projects from single residential to large scale hotels and commercial. For us it means that we can have accurate information to supply alongside our quotes to give us peace of mind that our measurements are completely transparent to clients without sending physical copies of marked up drawings. The guys at Countfire are beyond helpful and have put a huge amount of work into making the software work for us, they are always easily contactable and jump right in to help whenever there may be a problem.

It's dramatically reduced the time we spend on quoting, and in turn improved our workflow and relationship with clients. I couldn't recommend it more.

Puntos a favor:

Easy and simple to use for a process that is inherently complex and difficult.

Contras:

Countfire used to be heavily geared towards counting references and not linear measurements. There have been HUGE steps by the guys at Countfire to improve the linear side of things with many new additions to the software for this purpose. Some drawings on a large scale (1:200+) are hard to measure small lengths under 300mm, but this is a very minor issue that the support staff will help with on a project by project basis.

Amazing & Friendly Staff

Comentarios: Countfire has saved me tons of time performing takeoffs. It is also very helpful in accomplishing a set of takeoffs for a project with a quick turn around time.

Puntos a favor:

I absolutely love the quick response from the members of the Countfire Staff. They are quick to respond and help resolve any issues you may have.

Contras:

I love everything about the Countfire Program.

Countfire Review

Comentarios: I have worked in the industry for many many years in directorship and management and used many costing / take off software. I can honestly say this is the best I have worked with. the level of detail you are with once you process a project is fantastic and it is very user friendly. And last but no means least the team are constantly on hand to help whenever needed and go above and beyond to ensure your experience with the software is positive. Thats not just an initial help that always.

Puntos a favor:

I like near all features of the software but really like how user friendly it is and the level of customer care you get.

Contras:

Not really come across anything that I dislike yet

YPHS Electrical

Comentarios: fantastic

Puntos a favor:

Easy to use fantastic tool , great support service when you need help

Contras:

It would be an advantage if you could free hand and write comments on your dwgs . Maybe this can be an update

Essential for estimating

Puntos a favor:

Countfire is so easy to use. I've only recently moved to the estimating department and this tool is essential. I love that the Countfire team keeps an eye on the way you use the software and come in with suggestion how to use the tool more effectively if they see you making the same mistake multiple times. They will also offer suggestions on the most efficient ways to do your take-offs.

Contras:

Countfire can sometimes fail to recognize the same symbol if there is a difference in orientation, but having said that, the "Toggle" function will identify missed symbols.

Easy and interesting way to count drawings much more efficiently and quickly

Puntos a favor:

It takes a bit of playing around with to get used to but any question I had was answered within minutes through the CountFire team chat, I find the automatic link with DropBox and CountFire very useful with all the counts done automatically through an excel quantities spreadsheet.

Contras:

It doesn't pick up symbols that are the same but at a different angle, so a few extra counts must be done to count all the symbols

my review, would happily recommend!

Comentarios: the software is relatively easy to use. the downside is that there is alot to learn compared to doing it manually. it is getting better now i have used it for a few weeks, but as a new starter i struggled to begin with. maybe an online tutorial would work well, i am not sure if you have this or not. the customer service is excellent, another problem is countfire doesn't always pick up all of the symbols, i often have to double check. Nevertheless, it is great in the sense that it is much quicker than doing it manually, i would happily recommend it to other users.

A brilliant and innovative piece of software that's helped the estimating team.

Puntos a favor:

The speed to be able to create a take-off which would've potentially taken many hours by hand. This software is saving the company so many man hours already.

Contras:

Due to the way we use countfire we don't just use it for symbol counts. We use this for the measurement of luminaire leads. Sometimes the drawings can become a little busy and tricky to follow. So maybe the option to turn certain layers drawn in countfire off would help.

Good experience, hope it will continue to improve

Comentarios: quicker quotation and counting

Puntos a favor:

1) in general it is simple to use and give a quick access to count and item selection. 2) Very good the split selection

Contras:

1)I would add description/comment in the drawings. 2)I would have more "Color selection" if it possible, as sometimes we've got a large number of selection to do (like Grey, Brown, etc...). 3)When we need to count "a point" there is a "circular selection" , could be nice have also a different other selection like a "triangle" or "rectangle". This could be very helpful.

Easy & Fast

Comentarios: I've recently started using this software and already it has saved me time on measuring. I've used Countfire for 3 projects so far and it really is quick and simple to use. Once I've measured each individual drawing it then pulls everything across to my dropbox making it easy for me to check certain symbols. I can then print off my totals for each take off sheet. A great piece of software for estimating.

Puntos a favor:

I like the way when you measure one drawing that it automatically counts the selected symbols throughout other drawings saving you loads of time during the tender.

Contras:

It can be a little too sensitive when selecting certain symbols but that's down to the quality of the drawings provided. It can be easy corrected when checking each symbol in the editing section.

Feedback

Comentarios: It is beneficial in a lot of aspects as it speeds up the take off process

Puntos a favor:

Speed in doing take offs Being able to remove the background on "busy" drawings so symbols are easier to find

Contras:

Although you can create Zones to separate from the legend, it can sometimes pull through legend details and transfer them to the drop box quants. It can be difficult to separate symbols in different areas. For example if you highlight twin socket it picks them all up but you might want to separate those on Dado Trunking or on a wall or area because they have a different finish

This is the product you wished someone would make but never knew existed.

Comentarios: This program cuts our paper cost and review time while increasing efficiency and accuracy.

Puntos a favor:

Every feature incorporated into this product is top notch. It's speedy, efficient, and accurate. Multiple avenues to check your work and be assured in your counts. Work multiple disciplines within one job....there's just so much this program can do!

Contras:

There's really not much to dislike with this program, but if I had to voice a small nit pick it would be that I would like to see more color options for device designation. Often we deal with large quantities of different devices. Like a said, I'm just nitpicking.

Quick and easy!

Puntos a favor:

Its very simple to understand with lots of pointers and tips to get you doing. It is also very easy to use and packed with keyboard short cuts to help you find you way around.

Contras:

It requires the use of a dropbox which might not always be practical in companies which have limited internet browsing.

Great quality software find

Comentarios: My overall experience has been a good one. I expect this relationship to continue from her and into the future

Puntos a favor:

The fact I can reach almost anyone at anytime really works well for me. Dont need much help. But when needed they have been there all the way.

Contras:

Not much so far. The software has done what we needed it to do.