RSMeans Data Online Reviews - Page 2

Overall, its interface is user friendly for the most part.

Its several lag on load time when scrolling. That the database lacks almost anything that is specialty or modern technology. Pricing is a joke at best and forces me to struggle with almost every proposal (FYI, I have been using this product since it was just a book). The annual cost increases are always a sticker shock. I understand as a product grows in popularity and comprehensiveness that there is a need for cost increase for the logistics of it alone, but the price increases seem to jump by leaps and bounds. This can be very hard to encumber, especially when used for a contract that is not as lucrative but requires your software.

I use the interior painting, drywall and finishes items the most. RS Means can streamline my estimate and i am confident in my quotes.

Items are difficult to find...say I need a rust inhibitor for metal painting...try finding that item???

Hi Joe - We appreciate your feedback of your experience with RSMeans Data Online. You can find finishes for steel coatings in the finishing section, line item numbers 09 97 13.23 6100 through 7030. The labor involved in spraying is the same regardless of material being applied.

I like that it has just about everything you would need to price out for all types of construction.

Sometimes as an estimator you use your own template and you use RS-Means as a resource for costs and product descriptions. The software doesn't allow to right click copy and paste text feature so I have to jump through alot of hoops to export the estimate in Means to an Excel report and then copy and paste from there.

Depth of the cost data is impressive. Ability to "modify" and customize into "assemblies" is powerful. Software keeps a "running tab".

Customization seems very proprietary and cumbersome. Experience is required to learn the language and "assignments" of materials to categories and assemblies. Pricing adjustments seem to require being in Excel at which point, that specific work is not "saved" to the program.

This software is the foundation for my entire business offering. It is a highly regarded cost database in almost every industry. The ability to understand impacts of geographic location and timing are unprecedented in the software industry. The full range of the offering by RS means online is a very important standardization across multiple sectors. I highly recommend the software to any company or person that is responsible for cost management activities in their business.

There are no negatives to the software. It takes a while to truly understand how do you manipulate the data sequence but again it is without any constructive defect.

I used the software for maintenance purposes. It shows repair, replacement, and preventative maintenance frequencies of the items, material cost, and manhour need.

sometimes I couldn't find what I need in the maintenance section. The construction section includes lots of items but I can't say the same thing for the maintenance section. Also, in the software, we can see component details of the items (for example, if it is a door repair item, details show change hinges, replace lockset, etc.). However, there is no option to export this information on an excel file. In addition, the units are imperial. A simple converter can be implemented so that people can switch to the metric unit system.

We use RSMeans a lot for the purpose of completing cost reasonableness reviews for change orders and other construction costs. The software works very well for this purpose and we feel like we get reliable data to base our decision making process on.

Sometimes when estimating RSMeans software can be difficult to used simply because materials or assemblies aren't defined in the same way they are commonly referred to in the industry. For instance there should be an assembly for a NFPA 13R fire sprinkler system.

Hello Chris - Thank you for the feedback and sentiments of our customer service team. Regarding the NFPA 13R fire springler system, you can find that system at 21111316 for CPVC Fire Suppression Piping.

Frequent database updates and ease of use.

The biggest issue is the lack of ability to modify user accounts in bulk. It takes me 5 minutes to delete a single user license. I need to add and delete up to 60 users every 6 months. It takes me days to add and delete these users to our organization account. This is a major issue for us. We also hope that RS Means will recognize the value of customers like Roger Williams University’s Construction Management Program as an academic/educational user. We train and graduate 40-50 construction management professionals every year and have been teaching them RS Means in multiple courses. As a leading construction management education provider we receive free educational licenses for almost all of our specialized software packages. That is not the case for RS Means. Thanks to CSR we have been getting a discounted set of licenses over multiple years. However, if it was not for him personally advocating for us, it seems unlikely that the remaining team at RS Means would support such access for us.

The software has different levels of estimating (square foot estimate at early phase of project during feasibility study, assembly estimate during schematic phase and unit price for detailed estimate). Ease to use, and exporting report to MSExcel.

It is all in imperial units (inches, feet, square foot etc..). There is no feature in the software to convert imperial unit to metric unit and the user must have an option to either work in imperial unit or metric unit. All construction drawing in Canada are in metric unit. Second, if someone works in imperial unit and generates a report, there must a feature in software to easily convert the result or report to metric unit. Third,there must be a feature in the software that enable the user to integrate the online cost data to AutoCAD, Revit, MSProject, Primavera Project Planner P6, Primavera Risk Management and other construction management software etc...

1) I like that we can tweak the individual components within the SF model. 2) I like being able to take an existing model I've created in past years and update it with current (or whatever year is relevant) costs to create an estimate for a different year version.

1) Historically, the cost of this tool has skyrocketed much faster than inflation every year. 2) Sometimes we make square foot models and the output doesn’t include costs for what I would assume are key parts of the building. We’ve had issues in the past with roof structure not being a part of the model but recently I generated a model that didn’t have costs for interior partitions, even though it most definitely should have. Is there a way for them to tell us which models exclude certain costs? Sometimes these are difficult to catch in our reviews.

ease of use on line just wish you could split windows to make sure and looking at estimate easer.

need to fix mixing unit and assembly cost to do a completed preproposal. also would like to see my custom data base of my special items, this way its quick to see my custom date items to make search easer and to mod.

Hi Steve - Thank you for taking the time to submit additional feedback of your experience with RSMeans Data Online. We take your comments seriously and are committed to connecting you with the proper team member to resolve your issues. You should be able to use assemblies and units together in an estimate. Please reach out to the customer support team with questions or more information on using these items together. You have access to all of you custom data in the in the "My Custom Data" tab found in the account menu. There you can add it to estimates or modify as needed.

I like the ability to access my estimates from any location with a good internet connection.

The online version does not permit "tailoring" of the costlist window at the bottom when completing an estimate. In the CD Version, you can hide columns that are not needed without having scroll from right to left in the costlist screen. Additionally, when you enter Notes in the CD version, they are displayed and it's easy to copy notes from one line item to another. The online version is cumbersome when entering notes and after closing the note, you can't see it without opening the note screen again. If the costlist display screen in the Online version can be modified to allow Users to tailor what they see and to display the notes once entered, this will SIGNIFICANTLY improve the User interface.

I like the design and ability to build estimates and customize

The quick estimates are predominantly building types and combinations not relevant to the types of buildings we build on the west coast. Not enough ability to combine superstructure elements. Does not include at all the types of apartment buildings we build in the Western US: wood framed structures with steel on the first floor and hardi siding (90% of designs)...also the preloaded concrete structures are off. It seems like building types haven't been updated for about a decade or the Western region is completely overlooked. We don't have the concrete and brick apartment structures out here. Also - the nomenclature of data is hard to find...looking up something simple like "drywall" doesn't appear - so you have to learn the RSMeans nomenclature for everything. Having synonyms for lookup would be helpful.

There isn't a single aspect we like about this software.

The software is unreliable! It has costed our company several hours of lost productivity. If you call customer support for a technical issue it takes several days to get an issue resolved. They say they'll call back and they don't. They say you can log in in 15 minutes and you can't. They sell this software to Customers who require contractors to use it, but when the customer requests a quote, the contractor can't provide it because the software is down. I think Gordian needs to realize the contractors are their customer too! We pay thousands of dollars to use a software that is unreliable!

the scope of the cost items is very extensive. The wage rates are very good and the crews are excellent

they should have versions for Power Plants, Refineries, Mining and Metals and other large types of projects. They should also design it so that there would be a industry standard type of estimate report. Means used to have a Spanish language version. They should continue with this version.

Wide selection of items ... recognizing that it is impossible to have every item included, the software developer tries to have a broad range of common sense construction items covered

Not much to dislike. For some of my needs for taking data from the software and putting it into the client required format, the cut-and-paste attempts are blocked or do not function.

The ease of using and the quaterly updates.

Obvously everthing is not in the data base. So I may have to estimate and get close to use a line item.

the productivity for work described. This knowledge entitles me to assign our costs per unit which develops a more realistic cost for trhe described work in question.

Trying to get it intergrated wioth Sage estiamting so that the ionformation is "at my fingertips" so to speak. THis not necessasrily a Means issue as it is our own because I cant get thetimec to make the union

Hi Roger - Thank you for taking the time to submit your feedback. We suggest reaching out to Sage to assist you with the integration.

The name and cost date compiled by R S Means is known nation (or world) wide as a respected source of cost data. It is easy to use and estimators everywhere can generate a consistent estimates.

Means needs to increase their intuitional/industrial cost data.

Ease of use, search engine, features and functionality

RSMeans is most often behind in incorporating new materials on the market in the product.

We really like the square foot estimator. It allows us to quickly talk over conceptual projects with clients and make our project kickoff meeting really meaningful and efficient.

The web interface doesn't always format correctly on my screen. Often times the chart titles don't line up with the data chart making it difficult to read.

crews and daily output, it is update quarterly and it is good for big project and complex project. on site work or civil work has more breakdown.

the RSMeans does add variable for small job or the condition of the site, the date need integrate with all variable ex. the construction index, the shortage of materials and labors city by city. .

It is very important for us to estimate our projects. RSMeans give us what we are looking for

It should be more resources of YouTube to learn the software for new users

Hi Muzaffer - Thank you for your feedback. You can find helpful resources to learn the software in the Online Help Center as well as our training courses that are hosted in a variety of formats. For additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our customer support team in the future.