Countfire Features

Countfire has been developed specifically for take off from PDF drawings. The ease of take from PDF drawings and the export in Excel. The ability to create zones that match the tender breakdown/CSA. The exceptional level and speed of support is second to none.

The estimating package need a lot of work to be used by major M&E companies. The left hand margin and contents are fixed. This needs to be flexible to move and change fonts etc. Can be slow for take with the background on. (Sometimes the background need to stay)

Best counting and measuring software on the market by far – love it! Thanks Merv. You're spot on – Countfire has been designed by Estimators for Estimators with loads of features to help improve the speed and accuracy of your takeoffs. Our support is something we're really proud of. From online training sessions to our in-app live chat, we do our best to make sure all of our users get the most out of the software. Thanks for the feedback on the Estimating side of the software. We've recently added the ability to add prelims to your estimates and produce custom reports to suit your requirements. If you'd like to take a look, just let us know and we can set up a quick video call.

So easy to take off all elements and easier than trying to mark up manually

Nothing to add on this one that I have found at the moment

Appreciate the review David. It's great to hear you're finding it easy to complete your takeoffs in Countfire. We really welcome feedback from our users so if you do think of any features you'd like to see, you can either use the "Give feedback" option or "Send us a message" using the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app.

the main reason for using this is take off package which is very helpful and saves time at tender stage.

Estimate side seems a bit over complicated for new users.

Great review Wesley, amazing news that you find Countfire helpful for mechanical users. Really glad to hear Countfire's been useful during the tender stage– saving you time as well as money! Our support team would be more than happy to help you get to grips with our estimating tool. Please do reach out by using the orange button in-app. The estimating tool will allow you to work faster and increase accuracy.

Being a new user of the program is has been very user friendly and the tutorials were very informative.

one con to mention i noticed straight away is you can min/maximise the task bar on the right to view the drawing full page.

Thanks for the great review Joshua! Awesome to hear you've found the system user friendly and the tutorials have helped you get to grips with Countfire. Thanks for the feedback on being able to collapse the task bar – we have a feature request for 'Ability to customise the sidebar' and I have added your vote. If you have anymore feedback you can 'Send us a message' or click 'Give feedback' via the orange button in the bottom right hand corner.

- clear cut user interface with everything hotkeyed, and the hotkeys labeled in plain sight - PHENOMENAL customer service and support (I requested and had a feature built and deployed overnight, etc., etc., etc.) - Documentation from another planet (over 25,000 words of concise walk through material - Redundancy (the way projects are delivered after being processed eliminates worry and most potential for error) - Data manipulation (the data spit-out from a project comes post-pivot table, saving us a step in formatting to get our numbers straight) the list goes on and on - simply amazing!! Will and the boys are a phenomenal team, awake at preposterous hours of the morning solving issues that could wait, etc. just amazing!

No cons were added to this review

the ease of use for take offs is very good

some other features can be confusing however the countfire team are more than happy to help out

Thank you Aaron for the review 😊 Great that you have saved a lot of time and your finding completing take offs easy! Always more than happy to help, if you're finding any features confusing you can send us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app.

Ability to quickly turn around project quantities and transfer onto Excel for all to use and review.

difficulties using the product is when the drawing images are uploaded but each symbol has minor alterations. To the naked eye can't be picked up but the software will, therefore some symbols need multiple take offs done for same image.

Wow, what a great review - thanks Ben! It's great to hear that you're able to quickly turn around your projects. You're spot on – sometimes symbols can look the same on your drawings but, when the drawings have been created, they have been drawn slightly differently. All you need to do to count all these symbols is make an additional selection. Countfire will then look for your selections across all of your drawings in the discipline. If you do run into this, it's always worth popping our support team a message, they'll usually have some tips to help you get more matches from fewer selections.

I have found that even though it is mainly for the electrical trade i have adapted it with the help of the Countfire Team to mechanical use

Nothing. It has suited all my needs and assists in my day to day works

Thanks so much for your kind review Mark. Yes, although it's not specifically designed for the mechanical trade, Countfire is flexible and you can adapt it to your way of working. It's great you've found using Countfire really helpful and more accurate than printing and marking drawings. I agree, it's definitely faster too as you don't have to worry about adding up your measurements or losing your place if you're interrupted - Countfire keeps a track of all that for you. Once you've finished your takeoff you also get a set of marked up drawings and a spreadsheet splitting out your quantities.

The software is extremely intelligent. Once i had set up one level of drawing for lighting and small power it instantly took to work completing other levels.

Ongoing takeoffs as a benchmark when halfway through the estimate. it would be good to see a current line in the sand at any give time.

Thanks for the great review Jacob! Spot on – when you make a selection of a symbol on one drawing, Countfire will automatically count the symbol across all of your drawings in the discipline, speeding up the completion of your takeoff. We do have progress markers for your drawings. When the work on your drawing is saved, the marker will automatically change to yellow signifying your work is in progress. When you have completed your work and checked all symbols on your drawing have been selected, you can click the dot to change the progress marker to green. You can also change your project status on the main project page as you complete your takeoff and estimate and submit to your client – just click on the drop down menu in the top right corner of the page. It's great to hear you've found the support quick and helpful – we know that your time is valuable so we'll always try to resolve any issues as quickly as possible 👍

I absolutely love the quick response from the members of the Countfire Staff. They are quick to respond and help resolve any issues you may have.

I love everything about the Countfire Program.

It is pretty easy to use once you are using it on a daily basis. It makes the take-off process a lot quicker and doesn't require the need for printing off a Forrest worth of trees for drawings, plus you don't need to keep a whole range of coloured pens handy.

I have found that I have gone back to drawings that I have taken off first time around and noticed symbols which I did take off were not highlighted. That could be simply down to me not saving each time. However, I have had to go back through each drawing to make sure I haven't missed anything. There should be something in place to highlight anything that has been missed. It would also be helpful to have an option to pick regularly used symbols and containment so that you can save time not having to manually type them in.

The ability to drag, drop and created elements save days of manual counting on paper. the software can be used anywhere you have internet connection

an internet connection is required and a large amount of storage for dropbox also

Thanks Ciaran! Countfire now automatically frees up space within Dropbox meaning you no longer need to purchase a paid Dropbox account. With regard to needing an internet connection, there are a number of positives to consider too. We're able to provide near instant in-app support right when you need it (our current response time is less than 1 minute). Countfire is definitely not the kind of software you buy and then never hear from us again, and having an internet connection is an important part of us being able to provide that level of support to our customers. Additionally, new updates and features get rolled out immediately and we don't hold these back for a new version of the software, as can happen with traditional / older methods of software distribution. You always have the latest and best version.

I love the ability to join drawings, this is useful on Drawing updates, Split Drawings. I have also found a use for System Modifications too.

When I have to Manually Count, I find the dots placed can flood the drawing making it hard to ensure you have covered everything, when toggling the tabs, this equally leaves questioning.

Great to hear you're managing to save time Nicholas! Our Floor plan, Overlay and Compare features are really handy for handling layouts split over multiple drawings, checking compatibility between services and handling revised drawings. If you don't have any linear measures on your drawings, you can control the size of the manual points by changing the scale on the drawing in the measure tab. You can also hide the points you've already counted using the check box next to each measure heading to make it easier to complete the rest of your takeoff. It's awesome that you're benefitting from lowering the rate of human error and saving on printing paper on your takeoffs too.

Countfire is so easy to use. I've only recently moved to the estimating department and this tool is essential. I love that the Countfire team keeps an eye on the way you use the software and come in with suggestion how to use the tool more effectively if they see you making the same mistake multiple times. They will also offer suggestions on the most efficient ways to do your take-offs.

Countfire can sometimes fail to recognize the same symbol if there is a difference in orientation, but having said that, the "Toggle" function will identify missed symbols.

Love the common sense feel to this software. Very quick to do a take off. Every problem I have encountered so far has had a solution. Support and help screens are excellent.

I actually haven't found anything I don't like so far, but I have only been using it for a short time. I think it is just a case of getting your head around what the software needs from you to do its thing.

The constant improvements and the ease of accurate take offs! Countfire team are always looking for ways to improve the software and take on customer feedback very well!Its also a massive bonus for my business model that all take offs can be done online and no need for a printer! Enables the company to operate from anywhere very easily..

A live catalogue of materials would complete this software. It would cut down time going out to get live prices on materials.

Game changing – Awesome! Thanks Josh You're spot on 👍. At Countfire we work on 2 week cycles, releasing hundreds of platform enhancements each year. Great to hear you're also benefitting from being able to log in and operate from anywhere. It would definitely be useful to have access to a live catalogue of materials. We have a feature request for this – your vote has already been added to it. Brilliant that you've been onboard for 4 years – looking forward to continuing our journey together!

Central storage of all takeoff documents. No more boxes of rolled-up plans cluttering my office. I would typically fill 1-2 boxes every month, so it really has reduced clutter and the overall appearance of my office. It definitely saves money when you consider that you no longer have to plot jobs that you don't win. That is a lot of paper, toner, and wear on your plotter. The software is very easy to use and you can be fully trained on all of the keyboard shortcuts and navigation in less than a week. After about 5 jobs, you will very confident that you aren't missing any devices during takeoff and will have your own workflow for getting a takeoff done. The developers are constantly making improvements, adding features, bug fixes, and you get pretty routine feedback when one of your feature requests are considered or implemented. Customer and Tech support is top-notch and very responsive, and everyone seems to be very well trained on the product. It is also a very small team, so you will typically be speaking (texting) with someone you're familiar with.

The software is 100% cloud-based, and from my early conversations with the sales team, is the heart of their mission and will never change. That alone is not a negative, however, I feel that some of the processing could (and should) be done on your local machine and then pushed to the cloud to create the "output package". Moving between pages of a PDF is not as fast as scrolling in your preferred PDF reader. It's not slow, but there is definitely a pause before you're ready to work on the next sheet. It seems they could have better control of the user interface if there was a PC-based client option. If you need support, the time difference from Eastern US to the UK can sometimes be a challenge, but the support team is absolutely great and will respond back to you outside of their normal working hours, assuming they aren't sleeping. All support is initially done through an in-app chat bot that will recommend that you go read articles based on your questions. I will admit that most of the time, the recommended articles DO contain your answers, but I personally just like to call and talk to someone. I realize this would put a strain on their resources though, so I rate this as a very small negative. I would rather support maintain their current level of quality than be burdened with phone calls over minor issues. If you do have a major issue or prefer to speak to someone, you can ask for a call and they will call you.

Features that I like the best: The Support: User Interface: I really like the clean simple user interface. It looks very nice and up to date unlike a lot of the competition. Autocount: In comparison to other software such as Livecount, Planswift, Bluebeam, eTakeoff, etc. Countfire is by far faster. I've used Livecount & Planswift the most. Countfire can do in 2 seconds what Livecount & Planswift takes 3 minutes to do. I can select a fixture type to autocount and it will find every fixture with extreme accuracy on every plan page in 2 seconds or less (Tested with a plan set of 120+ pages) Background Hide: Countfire has the ability to hide the background on a drawing. This is very useful when you have a messy plan set or when all the furniture and details are on the same page as the electrical. You can toggle it on and off. You can also define what is a part of the background and it will hide it. This makes it so much easier to see only the electrical stuff. Hide Counted Symbols. (Only works for symbols counted with autocount). This is a feature that most of the estimating takeoff software has but this does it in a much different way. It will actually hide the symbols that have been counted not just the digitizer count itself. This allows you to toggle off everything that has been counted and now you can see what hasn't been. This only works on the symbols that are counted with autocount. You can still hide the manual digitizer counts but it won't hide the symbol.

The estimating side isn't as advanced as some of the other competitors but they are currently working on a big update that will fix most of that.

Automatically counting multiple drawings at the same timeAbility to identify any issues/errorsConstantly adding new features

So far we have had no issues wit the software. The only very minor issue was not receiving a notification of duplicate symbols on a set of drawings but still not really an issue

Thanks Jake - really appreciate you leaving this review! Countfire's auto-counting feature is built on our own proprietary image recognition algorithm, this allows the software to automatically recognise selected symbols/text across all the drawings within that discipline. That's spot on - finding errors is easy! You can hide your counted symbols allowing you to visually check your work in the software. Once your takeoff is processed, we also provide a check sheet and pdf drawings so you can be confident your takeoff is 100% accurate. You're right, we are constantly updating and adding new features. To keep up to date with what we're doing you can read our changelogs here https://feedback.countfire.com/changelog Duplicates are a tricky one as it's essentially due to how the drawing has been created - there can be two separate symbols on top of each other and therefore counts as two in the final quantities. Although it rarely happens, when a project is processed we have safety measures in place that notify us if the software suspects any duplicates in your project. As soon as the duplicates get flagged we send out a message detailing where the duplicates have been found and how to fix them.

CountFire being a cloud based service gets you up and running quickly. CountFire Sales is there to get you started and introduce you to Technical Assistance and Training. The On-Line Help function is integral to the CountFire Platform allowing you to be able to function seamlessly as you work on projects. I can count drawing elements or make extremely accurate measurements in one tenth of the time I did manually without the cost of drawing reproduction. The Final Reports are perfectly formatted in MSExcel and ready for Bill of Material development.

I am still looking for a Con. I thought that since CountFire is in Great Britain that communications might be hampered by five, (5) time zones, but this was not the case. CountFire was there 24X7 to solve my self-inflicted start-up issues.

The takeoff software allows the user to quickly takeoff any project. The symbol counting tool is impressive and in the future when the project is in a later build most estimators will use this software.

The technology, while impressive hasn't reached perfection yet. I believe in years to come this will no longer be a problem. An example of this is the symbol counting software which doesn't accurately take off every symbol. To counteract this Countfire allows you to take as many snippets of the symbol as you want. Hopefully in the near future this will no longer be an issue.

Thanks for the review Caelan, glad you have been impressed with Countfire! Absolutely – it's great you have been able to complete your takeoffs quicker. We acknowledge there's always room for improvement – our product team work in two week cycles to release hundreds of platform enhancements a year. Countfire finds matches based on your selections. Occasionally, depending how the drawing has been created, symbols can be drawn differently so they don't automatically match with your first selection. To count these different symbols, just make additional selections under the same symbol heading. Really welcome feedback from our users. To submit a feature request click on the orange button in the bottom right-hand corner of the app and choose "Give Feedback".

Countfire is a dream to use. It does everything I wanted when I imagined a program to help automate the takeoff process, and they are still improving and adding more. The ability to hide the background and define zones are two features that make complicated plans go so much quicker. Out of the hundreds of projects we've completed already, very few have issues that hinder the programs functionality. But when something like that does pop up, there is always somebody to respond quickly and take a look. They always are happy to hear customer feedback and take suggestions. I can't say enough good about the team behind this software, they are going to change the industry. I can't believe a couple of months ago in 2021 I was still printing drawings and using a yellow highlighter.

What I like least about the software is the output excel file is a bit complicated compared to what we are used to. I only count devices of one discipline at a time, there is really no reason for more than one sheet. After I download the take off from countfire I always delete about half the rows / columns and transpose the x and y.

Countfire is easy to use and the customer service team ensure this is always the way. I like how the information is collated and keep things organised.

I dont like how you cannot quickly check quantities without processing the take off then downloading. If there was a quick check function then that would be a lot easier for things like sending my luminaire enquiries before i complete my take offs. I understand the risk with not having the checking function doing this but i would be happy to take the risk. Matching overlaid drawings with the zone function is a tedious task and i got excited when i saw the overlay function appear but this function isnt great so zoning remains my least favourite task.

Really appreciate the review Kevin. It's great you find Countfire easy to use and our support team are always happy to help 😊 I see what you mean, it would be helpful to quickly check quantities in-app. There is a feature request for this, I have added your vote towards it and you will receive progress updates - so it's definitely on our radar! The overlay function allows you to see different drawings on top of each other, which is helpful when you need to see how different services / disciplines interact - for example overlaying a containment drawing onto your power drawing to help you visualise containment routes. To help you create zones across different drawings I'd recommend using our floorplan feature - this allows you to 'stitch' multiple drawings together to view the floor as a whole rather than as individual drawings. I'll reach out directly to arrange a quick training session to run through our overlay, compare and floorplan features.

Without the software we wouldn't be able to deliver the speed of work that we are able to do now

Sometimes the symbols don't import quite correctly, also doesn't like complex symbols exported from Autocad

Thanks so much Craig. Thrilled to hear Countfire has sped up what you're able to deliver! With symbols not importing correctly, that's related to the information contained within PDFs and how it's made ready to work on within Countfire. This is always a little tricky as PDFs can (and do!) contain virtually anything, however, we recently completed a major overhaul of this system and the results are significantly improved. With complex symbols, that's related to how many parts each symbol is drawn with. Again, it's a little tricky, because we don't have control over how these symbols are drawn originally, but there are a couple of tricks available to help! The first is to use the in-app editor to simplify these complex symbols down to just the parts that matter – improving automatic counting in the process. The second is to fire us a quick message in-app, we can take a look at your specific project and often make tweaks to improve things.