April 24, 2008 11:11 AM CDT
Derived from Carlson SurvCE 2.0, used by surveyors in the United States and abroad, Carlson Layout offers a revolutionary new layout interface that allows replication of paper blueprints or building digital plans simply and quickly. Traditional entry methods are also supported.
Carlson Layout can be connected to most electronic total stations, including Topcon, Trimble, Leica, Sokkia, Pentax and CST. Data can be imported with Carlson Survey, Carlson Civil, Carlson SurvCE and other softwares.
www.carlsonsw.com/layout
"Open the mail, and enter invoices." Payables reduce paper handling and keep job costs accurate and current. Duplicate invoice prevention, automatic price checking, and quantity tracking aid accuracy.
Expanded Job Control assists the allocation of management skills to projects needing you most. Weekly and monthly job cost reports to your satisfaction are included.
For your free videotape and demonstration, contact TUT today. For more information on TUT Software, email moreinfo@tutsoftware.com, or call 800-875-6885.
www.tutsoftware.com
Bluebeam enhances the PDF world with WebTab, an integrated Web browser that gives direct access to the Internet within Revu. Userscan search online for PDF brochures, online PDF catalogs and other documents, and view them in Revu, then utilize that content with markup and editing capabilities. Web pages and PDF documents are viewed in tabs side-by-side to combine PDF document viewing and online search in one application. PDF Revu 6.0 also adds digital signatures to its professional PDF editor, giving more support for paperless offices.
For customers in architecture, engineering and construction, new measurement options include calculating volume measurements, counting items on a PDF, embedding the scale in a PDF, setting multiple scales on a single PDF drawing, and snapping measurement lines to content in the PDF for the most accurate measurement.
www.bluebeam.com
FOUNDATION's Project Management module provides immediate access to job documentation. Using FOUNDATION's document creation, tracking and reporting mechanisms, users can create and manage everything from submittals, transmittals and requests for proposals, to requests for information and punch lists. Change-order management is easy. An owner's change order can be made up of a request for change, or multiple requests for change, which then automatically update the user's subcontracts and billings.
FOUNDATION's Scheduling Module uses Gantt chart technology and features bar and line charts to illustrate the scheduled dates and sequences of tasks for each project. The module can allocate resources to tasks or change assignments to resolve over or under allocation. Predecessor relationships can also be assigned to tasks, ensuring that all work is performed and completed within the proper sequence.
www.foundationsoft.com
When estimating is integrated with accounting, contractors can start and manage projects more efficiently. Estimating information automatically is converted into budgets that can help ensure a profit is made on each job, and contract amounts can create AIA and progress billing.
Integrated estimating also helps contractors stay on budget with real-time comparisons. They can compare an original estimate to the current budget, and compare the current budget to the current cost for each job and job tracking code. This allows contractors to know how the job is changing from the original estimate while the job is in progress, rather than after its completion.
With the power of a single solution, contractors can manage projects with key capabilities that include project management, financial management, workforce management, service management, procurement/inventory management, and equipment management.
www.maxwellsystems.com
The Typical Areas Quantity Survey process facilitates faster counting of building conditions or assemblies for large projects that have multiple typical areas with groups of conditions or repeating levels/floors. The Duplicate and Reassign Takeoff Objects process enables users to select, duplicate and re-assign any similar building components taken off in the quantity survey to different assemblies or conditions, and place them on any page with a different scale of measurement, while correct quantities are preserved at the new scale.
Through Project Express, supported users of On-Screen Takeoff 3.6 can instantly send, receive and track takeoff and project files up to 100MB in size, with a bandwidth limit of 3GB per month, to other supported users at no cost.
www.oncenter.com
Built using Microsoft SQL Server, the WinEst Modelogix database provides a powerful query engine that allows anyone involved in cost modeling to quickly locate past projects similar in scope to the current opportunity. AEC firms are in the content creation business, and Modelogix exposes that content throughout the enterprise, allowing a company to derive value beyond the project for which the data was originally created.
www.winest.com/modelogix
Software Picks
Computer software for mason contractors
By Masonry
Carlson Layout
Carlson Layout
Carlson Software's Carlson Layout is designed to ease and speed the calculations required to lay out the foundations, columns and utilities of architectural buildings. Using conventional or robotic total stations, Carlson Layout sets out corners, offsets and columns in record time, minimizing the need for taping distances or making complicated calculations. The program moves smoothly between decimal feet and architectural feet and inches. Carlson Layout makes laying out all aspects of any size building foundation a one-person job.Derived from Carlson SurvCE 2.0, used by surveyors in the United States and abroad, Carlson Layout offers a revolutionary new layout interface that allows replication of paper blueprints or building digital plans simply and quickly. Traditional entry methods are also supported.
Carlson Layout can be connected to most electronic total stations, including Topcon, Trimble, Leica, Sokkia, Pentax and CST. Data can be imported with Carlson Survey, Carlson Civil, Carlson SurvCE and other softwares.
www.carlsonsw.com/layout
TUT Accounting Software
TUT Accounting Software
Payroll, payables, receivables, job costs, ledgers and equipment make up this integrated software solution. Payroll includes certified reports, different union/pay rates per job, unit production tracking, 401K, and child support deductions."Open the mail, and enter invoices." Payables reduce paper handling and keep job costs accurate and current. Duplicate invoice prevention, automatic price checking, and quantity tracking aid accuracy.
Expanded Job Control assists the allocation of management skills to projects needing you most. Weekly and monthly job cost reports to your satisfaction are included.
For your free videotape and demonstration, contact TUT today. For more information on TUT Software, email moreinfo@tutsoftware.com, or call 800-875-6885.
www.tutsoftware.com
PDF Revu 6.0
Bluebeam Software Inc.'s PDF Revu 6.0 is an upgrade to the desktop application that simplifies PDF creation, viewing, markup and editing, with a redesigned interface, enhanced markup and editing tools, and online search technology.Bluebeam enhances the PDF world with WebTab, an integrated Web browser that gives direct access to the Internet within Revu. Userscan search online for PDF brochures, online PDF catalogs and other documents, and view them in Revu, then utilize that content with markup and editing capabilities. Web pages and PDF documents are viewed in tabs side-by-side to combine PDF document viewing and online search in one application. PDF Revu 6.0 also adds digital signatures to its professional PDF editor, giving more support for paperless offices.
For customers in architecture, engineering and construction, new measurement options include calculating volume measurements, counting items on a PDF, embedding the scale in a PDF, setting multiple scales on a single PDF drawing, and snapping measurement lines to content in the PDF for the most accurate measurement.
www.bluebeam.com
FOUNDATION for Windows
FOUNDATION for Windows
Foundation Software, FOUNDATION for Windows job cost accounting system, offers contractors an end-to-end solution for managing their jobs and financials. With the addition of Project Management and Scheduling modules, FOUNDATION unites office and field data within one system.FOUNDATION's Project Management module provides immediate access to job documentation. Using FOUNDATION's document creation, tracking and reporting mechanisms, users can create and manage everything from submittals, transmittals and requests for proposals, to requests for information and punch lists. Change-order management is easy. An owner's change order can be made up of a request for change, or multiple requests for change, which then automatically update the user's subcontracts and billings.
FOUNDATION's Scheduling Module uses Gantt chart technology and features bar and line charts to illustrate the scheduled dates and sequences of tasks for each project. The module can allocate resources to tasks or change assignments to resolve over or under allocation. Predecessor relationships can also be assigned to tasks, ensuring that all work is performed and completed within the proper sequence.
www.foundationsoft.com
Maxwell Systems Integrated Solutions
Maxwell Systems Integrated Solutions
Maxwell Systems provides complete estimating, job cost accounting and project management modules a single, fully integrated package. Since all of these applications are provided by Maxwell Systems, they are fully compatible with each other, allowing for efficient workflow processes throughout an entire operation.When estimating is integrated with accounting, contractors can start and manage projects more efficiently. Estimating information automatically is converted into budgets that can help ensure a profit is made on each job, and contract amounts can create AIA and progress billing.
Integrated estimating also helps contractors stay on budget with real-time comparisons. They can compare an original estimate to the current budget, and compare the current budget to the current cost for each job and job tracking code. This allows contractors to know how the job is changing from the original estimate while the job is in progress, rather than after its completion.
With the power of a single solution, contractors can manage projects with key capabilities that include project management, financial management, workforce management, service management, procurement/inventory management, and equipment management.
www.maxwellsystems.com
On-Screen Takeoff 3.6
On-Screen Takeoff 3.6
Patent-pending processes designed to enhance takeoff speed and accuracy highlight On-Screen Takeoff 3.6, now available from On Center Software, a provider of electronic plan viewing, takeoff, estimating and production tracking applications. The features include a Duplicate and Reassign Takeoff process; the capacity to work more efficiently with "typical areas" of building conditions; and the ability to send/receive large takeoff files via YouSendIt's file delivery service, integrated into On-Screen Takeoff 3.6 as Project Express.The Typical Areas Quantity Survey process facilitates faster counting of building conditions or assemblies for large projects that have multiple typical areas with groups of conditions or repeating levels/floors. The Duplicate and Reassign Takeoff Objects process enables users to select, duplicate and re-assign any similar building components taken off in the quantity survey to different assemblies or conditions, and place them on any page with a different scale of measurement, while correct quantities are preserved at the new scale.
Through Project Express, supported users of On-Screen Takeoff 3.6 can instantly send, receive and track takeoff and project files up to 100MB in size, with a bandwidth limit of 3GB per month, to other supported users at no cost.
www.oncenter.com
Modelogix
Modelogix
WinEstimator Inc.'s Modelogix is a project cost modeling tool developed for those firms that would like to leverage their project cost history to more quickly and accurately respond to future project opportunities.Built using Microsoft SQL Server, the WinEst Modelogix database provides a powerful query engine that allows anyone involved in cost modeling to quickly locate past projects similar in scope to the current opportunity. AEC firms are in the content creation business, and Modelogix exposes that content throughout the enterprise, allowing a company to derive value beyond the project for which the data was originally created.
www.winest.com/modelogix
About the Author
Masonry, the official publication of the Mason Contractors Association of America, covers every aspect of the mason contractor profession - equipment and techniques, building codes and standards, business planning, promoting your business, legal issues and more. Read or subscribe to Masonry magazine at www.masonrymagazine.com.
