iTWO costX - Avis

We moved to CostX completely as a QS practice a number of years ago and we find it a very powerful tool in producing all levels of estimates, bills/schedules of quantities and builders quants etc. It's the best software we've seen for a number of years and for the future with it's BIM capabilities also.

With customised branded report formats available allow us to provide consistently high quality presentation documents.

Staff were quick to pick up the basics of operation and quickly progress their skills in taking off and scheduling digitally.

Regular updates from user feature requests and continually developing and improving the CostX software.

Excellent customer support and follow up to ensure the best service is provided and maintained to resolve any issues found or queried.

Lack of ability to complete cut and fill exercises
The only real downside is the inability to handle drawings in batches and without having to load them individually to edit their properties. We understand that this is a registered client feature request under review for development and greatly look forward to its implementation.

- Really easy to get started, just set out dimensions as you would manually, set out your spreadsheets and link the two up. The more you use it, the more you learn, and it just keeps getting better.
- No need to save all the time as all your work is up to date.
- Easily relates to excel spreadsheets.
- Data from spreadsheets can be exported or imported with ease.
- Importing of .dwg files directly from the drawing team makes measurements exact. Any mistakes in the drawing files can be picked up and relayed back to the drawing team before another revision.
- When working on multiple build projects, it is a lot easy to open and close jobs from the same place compared to other applications where they would all be seperate files needing to be opened.
- Being able to compare drawing files, ie; site plan over a subfloor plan to work out pile heights easily.
- The ability to do measurements, add a legend with quantities, save as a PDF and provide to subcontractors. ie; joist layout for builder, measure of a full drainage plan for the drainlayer.

The only thing that I have found hard work is the report software provided with Cost X. This is mainly because I just haven't had the time to put into it. I can see that it will be very good, but can see that this is going to take some time to get what I want from it. Other than that I still was able to make up functional reports easy enough, just not to the level I would like yet.

It helps to automate creation of Bills of Quantity or Pricing Section after taking off or measurement stage. Shorten the process by alot and increase a QS productivity.

Price slightly on the high side. If they could lower to a personal user affordability level then the retail user might increase.

The biggest selling point for the software for us is the link between dimensions in the workbook and drawing files. This allows clients to quickly understand the source of the data in the workbook, and builds a level of transparency and trust.

The ability to store a rate database also has advantages in terms of the ability to reference past rates and benchmark cost. The rate library allows the quick adjustment of a rate across a major project, with only one edit required to adjust the entire estimate to accommodate this change.

After care in terms of technical support for the product has been superb, which is vital when adopting such software as your mainstay for measuring or estimating. The Product Support Team have gone above and beyond on numerous occasions to ensure that any technical issue we have encountered has been resolved in a timely fashion, to ensure minimal inconvenience to our projects.

I would consider the 3D Measuring Tools fairly primitive currently. The model maps tool would be perfectly adequate if the quality of models received in the industry currently was always sufficient for automatic quantity extraction, but unfortunately that often is not the case at the moment.

Measuring manually on 3D models currently can feel clunky, and measuring wall faces on the insides of buildings can feel like a chore, as navigating the model can be difficult with the tools available.

The ability to lock the model in the centre of the screen in v6.6 was a very necessary step.

The software allows flexibility to suit the type of work we do. We are a specialist ventilation contractor and Cost X has taken us from manual drawing take off to a quick, simple and reliable system that you can review in seconds. We are organised and know a project inside out so we can negotiate contracts know that our figures and quantities can be relied on. We are also consistent in of pricing as quantities are accurate and rates are stable. The technical support team are amazing they provide a very prompt and professional service, they go to great lengths to get you back up and running as so as possible. Cost X is also value for money, I believe that it is worth one extra person in the office to me, the volume of work that can be done is excellent.

I do believe that training would really be essential for the correct use of the system, I did not get training but have still found it brilliant but I do believe if I was using it correctly I would probably get more from it. Also on the standalone version the back up button or procedure would need to be streamlined, as loosing data in Cost X is a huge lose to a company.

The software is easy to use once you've taken the time to do the training, with a wide range of useful features. Being able to extract large amounts of take-off speeds up everything, while the 5D BIM integration is among the best available. I use it daily and compared to other competing software the competition doesn't compare.

A fairly advanced knowledge of methods of take-off is required, along with use of the provided training information and guides. For 2D take-off, DWG files are preferred, followed by vector'd PDFs and then rasta'd PDFs and images. While these will work, it really is built around DWG use.

It is pretty easy to use ONCE you get it set up or if someone else sets it up for you. One of the nice features is you can click a line to measure its length as opposed to clicking from point to point.

It is not very intuitive to set up a project. When you upload the drawings, hopefully they are already named properly or you'll have trouble finding the drawing you're looking for. The drawings are linked to a file on your hard drive, so if you move that file the link is broken and needs to be re-established which is a big disadvantage in many ways. The workbook is a blank spreadsheet and requires a professional to set up in order to be used effectively.

Multiple user can work on same project connected to costx server. Workbook is very easy to assemble from floor to wall area ,floor base,ceilings .the rate library function is very help tool,revision modes has eliminated my reworks,with the help of zones one can setup multiple workbooks.

please dont press Ctrl+F in workbook and change the spelling in entire workbook it will make your dimension appear zero because it will change the dimension name linked to your dimension group in quantity cell.

Intergration of measure
Abilty to sort by element / trade / component
Ease of review of take off

When power pricing - live link library rates are great - however the ability to rate on the fly and sort projects according to common rates would allow "estimators" a more diliginent and powerful review process

At the moment it will be the ability to copy and move dimensions from the current drawing to a different drawing, which saves a lot of time! Also, the phraseologies library which allows us to click and drag the description of ARM4 into the workbook is also really useful.

I don't see myself as a very experienced user yet and I am also not yet familiar with all of the functions. I believe this software has a lot of potentials and will send feedback to CostX for feature suggestions as discussed.

Easy to use, the multilevel work book, the subcontractor analysis function, customized code libraries that suit our financial management system, project specific rate libraries that allow rate adjustments very late in the pricing phase.,

Measuring off a BIM model takes a bit of learning. Having a BIM model that is sufficiently developed at pricing stage to extract quantities is an in frequent occurrance. As a consequence I don't have the opportunity to use this feature.

Ability to have open drawings in more screens.
Ability to quickly update the building templates with ease.
Ability to create reports.
Ability to have a support team on hands.

Here we use costx to standardize the estimates we do for our construction projects. We are utilizing a default template on all our estimates and sometimes we require to update specific cells in multiple workbooks. It would be nice if we were able to do it, once, for a series of buildings, rather then repeating the same task several times.

Ability to reference rates and dims. Ease of measuring vast amounts of drawings quickly. Zone splitting. BIM functionality.

Exporting to excel (contractors still want to use it) looks terrible. Report printing time consuming.

Takeoff software is second to none, simple excel style pricing structure makes it easy to use. Rate libraries are extensive and detailed once populated correctly.

Reports are a tad complicated if you want your own custom report. With a large number of buildings its best to keep a searchable building code somewhere else as it can get confusing scrolling through the list. I have been informed this will be implemented in the future though.

I really like the measurement functionality and how this can be auto linked to costing workbooks. Generally like all aspects of Cost X

Would be fantastic to have more excel functionality in costing sheets/workbooks, for example; additional formula options, circular referencing etc

It is a very complete software that includes almost every aspect of the estimating/construction business development. It will make a bid proposal and estimation look easier.

One of the issues I experienced is while sharing files. It can be tricky and very easy to make mistakes while transferring the CostX file to other party. It takes several steps in order to save and export your final product, and make sure it is compatible with your other party's version.

My users find that the software is easy to use, deploy and update. Feedback is positive that it does what it says on the box!

Resource hungry, we use an i5 processor platform with Solid State Drive and some functions seem slower than others, so would benefit being on faster systems.

CostX has good features in terms of estimating as it supports 2D sheets and 3D models. It supports PDF, dwg, skp and other file formats. Calibrating feature and snapping feature while using 2D sheets is very helpful. Spreadsheet with costX maintains the data and organizes the project.

Model based takeoff in cost X for simple projects is achievable. But I have struggled when it came to projects with complicated geometry. 2D to 3D collaboration for the same file is not as suitable as it is in Assemble Systems.

It's the best quantity surveying software have ever used because it has the capability of carrying taking off and bill preparations within limited time. Most especially 3d intelligent BIM model

It is expensive for the early career , which makes it unaffordable.

One of the best Taking off Software Packages available on the market.

Not many standard reports available. Need to spend a lot of time editing and writing a report if you do not already have a standard template.

I can get accurate measurements in our day to day works.

I can take many building elements measurements in very shorter period.

Understandable interface and workflows and reflects traditional pricing processes well. Auto quantity extraction is a helpful automation aspect.

Limited 3D input formats (DWFx & IFC) only. IFC files import with incorrect orientation (on their side). No ability to add global factors e.g.; materials, location factors etc.

CostX is fairly easy to use once you get the basics. It has great functionality and provides accurate take-offs. The PDF functions are a bliss and simplifies the process considerably as well as saving time.

CostX software pack is fairly pricy with monthly leasing options or a one time hefty purchase price. Apart from the pricing, the rest is great.

I am using this daily - measuring quantities. This way quicker and faster then the old school method of using scale rule.
this is a great tool for the quantity surveyors

The depth, knowledge and experience of technical support when issues arise makes CostX a stand-out product