Accubid Anywhere Default Database vs. a Developed Database

Accubid Anywhere includes database content that provides contractors with a starting point.

The important word is starting.

There is a major difference between having enough database content to begin using estimating software and having a database developed around efficient production estimating.

The Default Database Has a Different Job

A software manufacturer needs to provide a database capable of serving many different contractors.

Those contractors perform different types of work, operate in different markets, use different materials and follow different estimating practices.

A default database therefore cannot realistically represent every contractor’s preferred estimating workflow.

A Developed Database Goes Further

A developed database begins connecting the material information to the way estimators actually work.

That means building and refining:

· Assemblies

· Intelligent assemblies

· Labor

· Specifications

· Designations

· Takeoff structure

· Installation logic

· Common systems

· Global variables

· Lookup tables

· Item attributes

This is where a database becomes much more than a material catalog.

The Hidden Cost Is Time

Contractors sometimes compare the price of an existing database against the apparent cost of building their own.

The problem is that internal development isn’t free.

Someone has to build it.

‍If an experienced estimator spends hundreds or thousands of hours developing database content, that time has a very real cost—and it’s time the estimator isn’t spending estimating projects.

‍Then comes testing, refinement and maintenance.‍ ‍

You Can Build Your Own

‍Absolutely.

‍The better question is whether doing so is the best use of your resources.

‍Keystone’s Accubid Anywhere Database exists because that development work has already been performed and continually refined.

‍You can try building your own Accubid Anywhere database from scratch. But why would you?‍ ‍