Digital Take off Software

[estimatorguy100]

Does anyone know of take off software that can do "digital" take offs (from PDF, TIF, DXF, etc.), is under a $1,000 budget, integrates with existing excel spreadsheets and also includes built-in estimating and assemblies?

[m20roxxers]

The only one I'm aware of is Costx, though it cost more then $1,000 it has all those abilities plus it can read dwg, dwf and dxf.

[joe.williams]

If you haven't taken a look at Autodesk's QTO, its worth investigating. I beleive it does everything you're describing although it is more than $1000. We just started using it with DWF's produced from Revit with some pretty good results.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...12&id=10326955

[davida]

Have you tried oncenter.com? This software is currently being used on 2d information contained in dwg, pdf and tiff file formats. It has been proven quite effective over the years. I'm currently assessing BIM based QTO methods. I have yet to chew on the Autodesk "Quantity Takeoff" application. I will post my feedback when I do.
Thanks

[hougd]

We have been using On Screen Takeoff (OST) by On Center for over 5 years and we are VERY pleased. We now have 24 keys of OST. It is easy, a great documentation tool and also helps track changes via overlays. They offer a FREE version which does not allow saving qtys. Adobe Reader Pro can also do measurements. I have used the FREE Autodesk Design Review to measure or select elements in a DWF and then record as a Markup. We have 1 copy of QTO and 1 copy of Innovaya. I expect that we will have all three tools for quite a while as they meet differing needs.