DESTINI Estimator - Avis

The ability of the product to easily mold to your company’s estimating database to the program. Most other programs are exceedingly difficult to manipulate.

Inability to easily bulk update information across all estimates without having advanced knowledge of SQL (I.e. meta data, WBS nomenclature, “data cleanup”).

Beck-Tech has a tremendous support team to help with issues, bugs and general how-to's. The flexibility of the software allows the user to bend it to his/her will. We especially enjoy having all our estimates in a single database for quick resourcing of historical costs and enterprise level collaboration.

Not sure it's a Con so much as a point to before purchasing: because Beck-Tech is a leading edge software developer changes in the software are frequent (2-3 times per year). This means your team had better be comfortable with adaptation and pushing the limits of software.

Takeoff and estimator is in one location not two software's

Takeoff is terrible, not user friendly, terrible product compared to actually takeoff software, estimate version is not user friendly, change production in two places, same line items dont roll up (even with the toggle roll up). Importing rates with modified crews all screws up. Consistently finding destini glitches

The features are very good, it has great reporting features and different ways of presenting the cost, for much easier analysis. Great 3D takeoff features but if you are in early stages of design you can't only rely on BIM models. You can't allow your estimate to be as good as your BIM model

Implementation needs to be more standardized, the support and implementation teams have done everything they can but the development of the program is lagging. 2D takeoff must be greatly improved. There has to be a simpler way to build assemblies. No available online tutorials. Need realistic set in stone dates for releases of required updates

This is one of the best estimating software packages in the market. We were able to develop a very detailed and powerful cost database and align several different regions to make our estimates more uniform throughout the company.

The Takeoff module is not efficient and needs significant upgrades. We will continue to need to have a separate takeoff software until this is improved.

This brought all of our estimating functions into one software package.

Takeoff tool could be better. They have committed to upgrading.

The automatic pricing functionality makes takeoff and pricing easy to gather quantiles from the plans and link to the estimate line item costs. The ability to break down an estimate into different scopes, phases, alternates and base bid or any number of scenarios using the WBS features. The BIM 360 tool is one of the most impressive features and the ability to pull quantities for the estimate from the model.

Onsite deployment is cumbersome and spotty. I would recommend the cloud base solution. The challenge with cloud based deployment and use is you loose connectivity if your internet connection goes down. The takeoff software needs additional functionality with takeoff tools similar to more mainstream products.

In Destini Estimator many of the processes we do in our estimation process have been streamlined. Compared to our previous software, it is much easier to work with large sets of plans, draw and edit our takeoffs. We like how the estimate is linked with mapped quantities and will update live as we make changes on the plans. The multi-user interface also allows for a much easier workflow when working in teams as we do on most of our projects. Although we have not used the 3D takeoff feature much so far, this is another advantage for us as more and more of our projects have BIM models available.

The implementation process has been very difficult. Our team works with very large and complex assemblies & estimates, implementing these assemblies in Destini has been an arduous process that has taken many years of work and is still ongoing. It seems that the program is optimized for working with individual line items and simple takeoffs, this however is not how we work in our assemblies. Another complaint we receive often is how it is inefficient needing to open/close multiple windows in order to add, modify and copy assemblies. Although this is being addressed in the new version, we felt that much of the functionality essential to our workflow had been left out of this new version. Working through these types of issues throughout the implementation process has been a very long process that has costed our department countless man hours. Additionally, we ran into a lot of issues with crashing when our department first began using estimator, due to this many of our estimators are still hesitant about using the software.

The software is versatile and meets the needs of our team and even more importantly woks well in out tech-stack. We have embraced systems that allow us to maintain maximum interoperability to stay lean and minimize the potential for data corruption. The system itself is very user friendly and training is intuitive, we were up and running in a few months.

The system is great but would benefit from being cloud based and have a more flexible license assignment and management process. We are about to extend the product roll out and would like to be able to police users not within our trained group of SME's and reduce the potential for data corruption on the historical end.

We appreciate the ability to handle most of our workflow in one program. The program is not overly difficult to use.

2D takeoff while adequate could use some improvements

The greatest pro of Estimator is the ability to easily sort and display pricing, allowing for changes and updates to made easily. The database our company works with includes preset coding for CSI, Procurement Packages, Systems Format, etc. to allow an Estimator to quickly export information into whatever format an Owner or team member may prefer. This preset ability to sort line items, also allows an Estimator to easily access any project within the company and have the ability to easily sort or find information to their preference.

A con would be the updating of software. This con comes with a pro, in the sense that Beck Tech has listened to the market and our needs and are frequently updating the software to meet the ever-changing market and technology upgrades. However, the added con is the updating of unit pricing and database information as well as someone managing the software updates to be able to use the software to its fullest potential.

The ease of creating WBS codes and the user friendliness of sorting estimates is its strongest attribute. The ability to program assemblies is also strong. The ability to link the estimate directly to quantity takeoff can be beneficial.

The 2D takeoff tool lacks some critical functionality that keeps me from using it as my primary takeoff tool. (zones/layers) I'm accustomed to using a QTO tool as a record of an estimator's takeoff that can be accessed by others. The Estimator 2D takeoff tool doesn't seem to allow that functionality.

-Easy to use, intuitive
-Constantly updated & improved
-Customization
-Accurate
-Targeted to preconstruction, not a suite of software products
-Good customer service & training

-Involved software setup period
-User interface can be tricky sometimes

The integration with BIM 360 and the ability to utilize the design files (Revit) has a huge impact on our estimating effort, significantly reducing the time it takes to create an estimate. Also the support received during implementation and after is unparalleled with any other tech company I have dealt with. Even being from a smaller firm I feel we get the same support of their larger clients. Having access to the people that design the software and understand your questions is huge.

The feature that DESTINI Estimator is missing right now that is causing the most frustration within our company is the fact that once you do a take-off it is not very easy to track where the item was taken off from in the 2D application. We need this ability especially with self perform work so the guys in the field can utilize our take-off quantities and confirm where material was figured for the estimate.

Highly flexible for sorting and viewing data. Easy to produce custom breakdown reports with the Dashboard.

Currently does not have the ability for more than one estimator to be using the software at the same time. That feature is coming soon though.

Transfer from D-Profiler.
WBS codes, flexibility.
Transition to excel bid tab spreadsheet is seamless, resulting in a powerful tool to analyze bids and ensure a complete estimate. Best estimating software I've ever seen and I've used them all.

Screens are actually a bit complicated to open and arrange.
Loses the quantity formulas that originated from D-Profiler.

DEstimator has been a great tool for us in our estimating process. Great sorting and filtering functions, 2D and 3D takeoff capabilities, estimate comparisons, etc. all have helped make us a more efficient estimating team. Another great pro is the support staff from Beck Technologies -- the best customer service I have ever had from a software company.

Don't really have any, just the internal struggle to keep up with their releases. Because they listen to their customers, they are constantly testing and releasing new features, which can be hard to keep up with if your internal IT processes aren't as agile.

It is great having all aspects of the project under one platform from takeoff to reporting. The new format is much more intuitive and user friendly. We are slowly seeing the time savings as we are able to start new projects in this software version.

versioning estimate form previous software versions is proving challenging. The "Bugs" of the new version are creating additional challenges for some users as well.

What I love about Estimator is the ease of sorting estimates. You can find a particular item using the numerous sorting options by WBS properties.

The 2D takeoff is a little cumbersome. Linking existing takeoff to new items can be a hassle.

The product connects a robust estimating software with 2D and 3D takeoff and a historical cost index. Very easy to present information in multiple presentation formats (System, Uniformat, CSI, etc.). Very easy to use.

The 2D takeoff tool is being worked on and will become much better than currently deployed.

I like that it has estimating capabilities incorporated into the program. Took me awhile to figure out how to connect costs, but once I did it was helpful.

There are several features missing that would create an easier workflow.

I would like to see the program include a drop-down list of some kind for organizing drawings and be able to click on them and jump directly to pages. It would also be helpful to have some sort of indication next to the pages that shows which have takeoff in them.

It would also be nice to have some sort of shared file storage so that a network of people could have access to projects and be able to work and see a variety of projects.

Another feature that would be helpful is to have a way to turn layers on and off to eliminate clutter in the takeoff sheet. Maybe be able to turn bid tab's on and off.

I do like that you can take Revit models and download that for quick takeoff. However it is only as good as the modeling imported by the architect.

Do not like that it is difficult to track and locate takeoff items, and to be able to review with others. and to be able to share this information with field operations for their information.

We use it for price modeling almost weekly. It's fantastic for creating a high-level budget and I love the customizable templates that allow us to adjust our proposal in different forms depending on the client. It is fantastic!

The 2D take-off software. It's tricky to map, not easy to use and I find myself using OST and just importing the data into Destini.

I have used Destini Estimator on all my conceptual & schematic level budgets for my clients. This software is a must have for an estimator in the construction industry. The use of historical cost database, tie take-offs to your line items and the detailed line estimate reports it generates - really adds great value in our department.

Maybe finding ways to improve the work flow of this software and find solutions to make the process go faster.

I do like how in-depth the software can get. We can easily break down an entire model and see our costs broken down in a multitude of ways to help us dissect an estimate.

There are a lot of nuances that take time to pick up on. It's a lot to take in for a new user like myself.