On-Screen Takeoff Pricing, Features, Reviews and Alternatives

OST is easy to get up and running. It's intuitive and user friendly. I was recently introduced to PlanSwift - a competitor to OST and it was overly complicated. It was hard to figure out how to go in and just take the SF of a room. With OST it's a breeze to take a simple measurement or do more extensive takeoff without needing an owners manual or even a tutorial.

Is the difficulty in naming sheets that are imported in. It's cumbersome and time consuming. It also makes it hard to relink to a different folder location. The high cost for a single license is prohibitive to the freelance estimator and forces us to use alternative programs that aren't as efficient. I wish there was a way to make it cheaper for sole proprietorship businesses in the construction industry.

OST is flexable software, meaning it can be manipulated to conform to any/every trade. It is an amazing tool that makes any estimators take-off portion of the job quick and easy.

There is not much I do not like about OST, but... - some times I could more color selections differentiation for take-off conditions - Also it would be nice if i could freeze dimension takeoffs to either only move vertically or latterally respectively. - Also if dimensions could be a default layer separate from annotation that would be awesome. Sometimes i want to have annotations but do not need the dimensions and i have to delete all the dimensions on the page to only show the annotation that i want.

Nothing is wrong with the software. I only have a problem with their unfair policy and practices.

I was promised that the on-center takeoff software could work with their cloud platform Oasis before I purchased. I found out afterwards this wasn't true. But their policy was not to refund although they made a promise that was false showing they value money over principles. Very misleading and I am sickened by the way they do business. Be very careful when dealing and purchasing their products. Better yet don't get involved in the first place.

Allows me to constantly and quickly take off plans that used to take all day to provide.

The software has been awesome for me in many ways but I wish it was more report friendly for people who are working outside of the standard databases and reporting schemes. I had to build my database from the ground up and how we export and report that information isn't typical for OST. Trying to build custom reports and exports has been challenging but On Center support was always there to help or at least let me know that I have hit a dead end.

It's easy and quick to use and easy to train others. I like and use the overlay function a lot. I also like the intelligent paste function as well for repetitious items.

Only 1 overlay possible, needs ability to remove the original plan and add an additional overlay as plans change (i.e.,80% dwgs to 90% dwgs to final dwgs. The 90% supersede the 80% and now we have final. A new bid file has to be created and the takeoff copied to the new file for adjustments) Database bogs down on very large projects Auto count feature doesn't work very well on scanned plans