Case study:
Access ConQuest Modernises a 125-Year Old Business
Access ConQuest helped EE Smith Contracts transform their bidding and estimating process with its speed and flexibility
Business size
Medium
Industry
Interior fit out & joinery projects
Product
Access Conquest
Challenge
- An estimating process reliant on Excel spreadsheets lead to difficulties with slow rework and inability to respond quickly to fast-changing demands and cost changes
Approach
- Implemented Access ConQuest estimating software
Results
- Estimating time now halved, more bids won
Overcoming Challenges
Andy Pagett, Estimating Manager at EE Smith Contracts, discusses how Access ConQuest allows EE Smith to rework estimating in reaction to changing scopes quickly – leading to contract wins soon after implementation.
In the video below, Andy talked to Access about a London-based hotel project where the original costings were above the client’s budget.
EE Smith had the ability via ConQuest to identify this early, break down costings, redesign with the client’s design team and easily compare new costings with the original estimate.
Not only could revised bills be sent out quickly, but once the first hotel room was costed, it was simple to apply these – with altered quantities – to the remaining 264 rooms in the hotel.
The Background
Andy’s 30+ year career in construction has expanded from learning 'how to make the tea and coffee in the right colours' for a shop fitter business through to working on bid management for tier one firms such as Wilmott Dixon and ISG.
He has seen the evolution of estimating from ‘writing cost sheets out on A3 paper’ through to Access ConQuest’s advanced functionality.
He is now at EE Smith, a Leicester-based contractor who have recently celebrated 125 years in the business.
EE Smith specialises in joinery and interiors for luxury hotels, groundbreaking residential projects such as the conversion of Battersea Power Station and large commercial builds.
Andy joined to bring his Tier-1 experience into the fold and modernise processes, and Access ConQuest was his first port of call.
ConQuest helped us with the ability to react in very short time frames
Halving Estimating Times With Access ConQuest
Crafting estimates for large-scale schemes on Excel is a time-consuming endeavour. The limitations of working on bills of quantities using Excel spreadsheets are clear – spreadsheets very often contain errors which can impact the whole data set, hold a limited amount of static data, and lack the ability to view past data sets. A single view makes it hard to track where an estimate is, or quickly make edits to the set to make side-by-side comparisons.
After a swift implementation and training process, ConQuest proved itself to be not just more accurate than Excel, but gave Andy and EE Smith the power to “chop and change prices with ease”, adapting to quickly changing prices and scopes with a few clicks.
Create Accurate, Responsive Tenders With Access ConQuest
Andy Pagett gave us an example of a project where the outlined provisional sums dramatically changed. Where the team would have needed to start from scratch using an Excel spreadsheet, with Access ConQuest it was easier to “look across the line”, easily spot increases and decreases, and level the tenders. ConQuest then gave EE Smith the ability to go back into the master project template, quickly re-resource the entire project and cost new items separately with a new resource code.
ConQuest’s ability to produce accurate and concise estimates which can be reworked at speed has already helped EE Smith provide a stellar service by responding to scope changes with new costs the very next day. When project designs change, estimates can be reworked quickly, with many aspects automated rather than reworking on Excel –which takes a significant amount of time.
(We can now) become competitive… producing net bills, gross bills for the client, which ConQuest does at the flick of a switch
Win More Work and Grow Your Construction Business With Access ConQuest
As the construction sector becomes more competitive in the current economic climate, and as we continue to see base costs change so rapidly it is vital to be able to put together bids quickly, accurately and responsively and adapt to these changes.
Features of ConQuest such as integrated takeoff, creating internal and external valuations and side-by-side comparison of subcontractor quotes allows contractors to become reactive in the bidding process.
Every tender is different, and ConQuest allows customers like EE Smith the flexibility to concisely value work, giving estimators more time to work on other projects. In Andy’s words – “ConQuest pays for itself!”
