Bill Baer, of Korte Construction, remembers the apprehension of those in the company about changing to a pre-programmed estimating software. "We had our own estimating system that we developed in-house. We had been using that for a number of years."

Because of that apprehension, Korte Construction tried to build a second estimating system to fulfill their needs. "We tried to build our own estimating system based off of Timberline but on Macintosh computers. We tried using that for awhile and I think we found out the logic behind Timberline made sense, but doing it on the Macintosh did not work. We did not have the speed with the Macintosh that we needed and not near the speed that we now achieve through IBM compatible computers and the Timberline program."

The company finally reached the decision to evaluate other software. "I was involved in the initial process of reviewing Timberline. We didn’t even ever look at any other system."

Korte Construction purchased Timberline Estimating in 1992. "At the time, the program was DOS." Korte upgraded their software to the Windows version of Timberline Estimating in 1994. "The transition to Windows was an overnight thing. The Windows version is a lot nicer. It has a lot of nice features. Most everything transferred over from DOS to Windows with no problem."

Bill appreciates how easily adaptable the Timberline program is. "The system has a lot of flexibility. It was very easy to customize to my company’s needs. We did not use the canned database. We wanted to use the database that we already used at our company because it tied into accounting and project management systems. So, we took our database and programmed into Timberline and we have been using that since. That was not a difficult transition at all."

In addition to programming their own database, Korte Construction has built their own reports into the system. "The canned reports are just not quite formatted the way that we like to see them. We built our own standard reports in the system in the additional reports column. We developed some of our own to aid in the transfer of estimates into accounting. Reporting hasn’t been a problem at all."

One feature of Timberline Estimating that Bill finds especially useful is the copy function. "It sounds simple, but it is true. You can take an estimate and just copy and paste general conditions into another estimate you are developing. It’s slick. It makes things real quick."

Korte Construction relies heavily on Precision Estimating software. "This system is the beginning of every project we do. From Precision, data transfers into accounting and then to field management. It is a very simple, compatible system that we use as a foundation to all our projects and then transfer the data to the next portion of the company."

Korte currently has 26 uses of Precision software and operates the system from their headquarters, in Highland, IL, as well as from a remote office in St. Louis, MO. Bill works out of the St. Louis office. "We have our own server in St. Louis that ties into the Highland office. I pull up estimates from the Highland server and it only takes an extra two or three seconds to get. I can look at estimates that are on the server in Highland and they can look at any of ours."

When asked about the power of Precision Estimating by others, Bill tells them that what works for Korte Construction can work for them. "It does exactly what we need and what we want. What we want to happen, happens. The new guys that come in here find it very easy to pick up. That is a definite bonus."

If you are a company who, like Korte Construction, needs a flexible, user-friendly estimating system, we hope you will take a look at Timberline Precision Estimating software. Put the power of Precision to work for you!






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