WinEst Essentials Reviews

I liked this software because I was able to build a database and after I did my take offs, I could enter them in here and it would do the math automatically. I think this is a lot like sage, but I love anything that has an Excel theme.

I did like everything about this software, I ended up using Sage at a new company, they were very similar and the costs were too.

WinEst is a fantastic way to organize and quickly prce jobs. They offer pre made and customizable assembly systems that decrease the amount of time needed building a budget.

While the software is adjustable, it doesn't seem very easy to create your own database. Deleting items from a database is time consuming. Also, initial pricing data is not accurate, will need to be updated constantly. This process is also very time consuming.

WinEst is a great tool for estimating. Whether you are doing small estimates or large collaborative estimates, it can do the job. It also has a lot of flexibility and customization for working with multiple customers. And the Customer Service is top notch. I don't think I've ever seen a company respond so quickly or help work through issues with the perseverance that the WinEst staff does.

Setup and administration can be quite a chore. And it can be tricky to get all of the output you may want, that will also take a lot of time and effort.

Easy to use and understand. Reliable and friendly environment. The screen prompts are very useful to infer its functions.

Sometimes limited with specific takeoffs attachments. There are series of elements and materials not found.

Easy and fast to use, possibility to create and customize own database, good on repetitive projects.

Bad on visualization tools, needed separate tool for comparison drawings (like overlapping new drawing on old one) to see the changes

easy to use. they spell everything out from the get go. as to what you get how it works etc. They were the only ones to come to us and demo the product and answer questions which is nice with such a big investment. setting up all training and outlining it for your needs. its hand on training not all videos and on line like most of the others.

No cons were added to this review

Powerful Program. Support is excellent

Digital Take-off is poor at best. You must convert PDF's to BMP's. You loose clarity and it takes a lot of time.

Spreadsheet based, but very powerful database behind it. Ability to assign two crews and two equipment groups to each line item, allowing huge flexibility in crew makeup. Easy to make revisions to production, crew hours, etc. on the spreadsheet, on the fly without having to open a detail window. Great flexibility in reporting of information without having to create/write custom reports. Creation of assemblies is much, much easier than Sage.

You have to assign both 5 digit and 6 digit CSI codes to each database item, making input of new database items cumbersome. We wish there was a way to toggle off the 5 digit requirement.

The line item organization

Nothjng

The flexibility of the program to handle custom WBS, and to be able to flip back and forth. The ability to create alternates within the spreadsheet and then to turn them on or off is very valuable.

The way the software manages custom views, layouts, etc through it's Config and INI files can be aggravating. Almost too many minute settings too.

WinEst Customer support is always superb and helpful. Just about anytime you call or email, you would get an answer right away! The markup function is great. It allows users to easily manage different markups, taxes or escalation.

Reporting is not the best. It would be great if it comes with a set of can reports and allow users to modify from it. Also, it would be great if crews table can be imported and exported. Understanding that there are ties from the trade table with it, but it is a pain to not able to import from a table. Auto line number would be nice, especially if it would be nice if it lets you renumber in case if we want to insert line in between existing ones.

I like the flexibility the simple interface offers. The ability to allocate markups makes this product especially useful and dynamic. The catalog and database of cost items is very helpful. Having the ability to choose items from a tree helps in the estimating process. It reminds you of different items you might be forgetting in your bid.

The biggest downside to this software is the customer support. Easy enough to get someone on the phone, but they will literally refuse to speak to you about any issues or problems unless you buy the support plan. The support plan is also overpriced. I am OK with software developers charging a fee to teach someone how to use the software, or to assist with integrating their program into your existing system. However, I am not OK with them charging a fee to fix issues within their software that you have already purchased. I feel like that should be included in the price of the program.

Winestimator is a great estimating tool. With the ability to save small local estimates, or collaborate and update versions with the Enterprise Data Manager, Winestimator allows companies plenty of flexibility to support its initiatives. This program allows you to create custom labor rate tables for your clients, custom crews, shifts, etc for the most accurate estimates. It also integrates custom or standard commodity codes for clean, consistent estimates from your company.

There is a lot to learn as far as administering and maintaining this program. It is relatively easy to use, but someone has to set it up and troubleshoot it. This can be quite a laborious task, but once everything is setup it is very efficient.