Greg Williamson

Greg Williamson, director of preconstruction services with construction management firm Walsh Brothers Inc., www.walshbrothers.com, Boston, Mass., admits that while no two projects are exactly alike, it is helpful to tap into past estimating data in order to view breakdowns of components or pieces when estimating current jobs.He says this helps acquire accurate detail costing and confirm benchmark values on a job.

Using eTeam collaborative estimating from WinEstimator, www.winest.com, Kent, Wash., the company hosts the solution on a Citrix server, which allows its team of 15 estimating professionals to access the program from outside the office.The tool is also hosted on the company's intranet, allowing for better interoffice access.

"Through the network we've put estimates together where we share resources from multiple offices," says Williamson."With the appropriate coding in the work breakdown structures, if you are breaking down an estimate by areas, floors, departments, functions, etc., you can go into the filters either to look at the complete detail of the estimate in a viewed report-or from a summary level."

This allows him to go into estimate tables, where he can see, with various metrics for the area, either the square footage of the area or a breakdown of costs per unit.He can distribute the gross costs right within the table and view such factors as what trades will cost on the area of the job.

Greg Williamson, director of preconstruction services = with=20 construction management firm Walsh Brothers Inc., http://www.walshbrothers.com/,= =20 Boston, Mass., admits that while no two projects are exactly = alike,=20 it is helpful to tap into past estimating data in order to = view=20 breakdowns of components or pieces when estimating current = jobs.