# take off



## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I am looking at different pdf take off programs. Do any of you have a favorite? I am leaning towards take off live.


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

Anyone? Hello!!!!!!!


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

What is a take off program, never heard of it.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

ewingpainting.net said:


> What is a take off program, never heard of it.


I googled "Take off Live PDF"

and came up with this:

http://www.takeofflive.com/

I couldn't comment on his question 'cause I have no use for it. It's the back of my mind if I run into an Architect or GC who could use something like that


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

It is a program used to do your take offs on your computer from discs or pdf files instead of having to have hard copies or prints


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

couldn't you just make your own? cont that just be done through a spread sheet? if i am understanding you correctly. I have grown to love (scratch love for misinterpretations) like excel, because you can build your own


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I guess I am not being specific enough. With these programs you "measure" like you would do with your scale on a blue print. Only you do it on your computer with your mouse. The GC can email you the drawings or send you a disk. You import it into the program, set the scale and start measuring out the rooms etc... Very Cool! This way you don't have an office full of blue prints.


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

Ohhhhhhhh! Got you now, some gc,s are going in that direction. Most of them are just useing a online bid room. I can see in the future you won't be able to bid thesa jobs if your not computer savy. That does sound cool. Now just to get all the gc,s to go that way


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I think its more convenient than the plan rooms. take off live is about $250. I spent more than that on UPS delivery and purchasing of drawings. Some of these programs can be pricey. I just thought that most of you commercial and new residential guys would all ready be using this!


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

Thet were going that way during the boom. But now that we hit hard times and every obe is hanging on to their money their going old school. I know some of the programs the builders were in well over 100 grand for the big players such as Lennar.


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## ProWallGuy (Apr 7, 2007)

aaron61 said:


> I spent more than that on UPS delivery and purchasing of drawings.


I haven't done a whole lot of bidding off prints, but I've done my fair share. In all those instances, the architect or GC always sent them to me, and I've never bought a set. Why do you have to buy them and pay shipping? Every time I've been asked to pay to bid a job I laugh and walk away.


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed!!!


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

ProWallGuy said:


> Why do you have to buy them and pay shipping? Every time I've been asked to pay to bid a job I laugh and walk away.


It is comman when you have repeat clients to pay for the shipping. And a lot of small gc's well have you pay for the shipping aswell. Some that have gone online will still be required to pay a fee.


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## ProWallGuy (Apr 7, 2007)

aaron61 said:


> I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed!!!


I wasn't trying to knock you, I was just curious. As I said, they have all been shipped to me, or I went to their office to do a take off. 

And I have been cold-called to give bids for jobs, and when they said it would only cost me $XXX to do it, I asked why? They had no real answer for that. Imagine me being a GC, and getting a set of plans for a job. Cold call 30 painters out of the phone book, and have them pay $100-$250 for the privilege of bidding the job. That's $3000-$7500 pure cash in my pocket only to award the job to one guy. Seems like a _*cougheasymoneycough*_ scam to me.


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

No I didn't take it that way! And I was refferingto shipping costs of prints for the year. Usually they would ask if I wanted them to send us the drawings and we would pay for shipping because all the subs are doing there take offs electronicaly. So a set of prints would be around $20 on our UPS account. This is why I ws asking about the different programs.


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## CobraCDN (Jan 8, 2008)

daArch said:


> I googled "Take off Live PDF"
> 
> and came up with this:
> 
> ...



I viewed the demo and personally it's to much work for me. Much faster to work directly with a plan. I can see it being a useful tool for some other trades.. but not ours.:thumbdown: Was interesting though, I never realized there was such software.

Cheers


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

Do you really feel you can swing your scale or run a scale master around drawings faster than clicking your mouse??
Old dogs and new tricks!!


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## CobraCDN (Jan 8, 2008)

Well I'm pretty much residential new construction, guess I should have mentioned that. I pretty much bid on footage. Same with our boarder/taper... All I really require is square footage, wall height, finishing package details, and the type of ceiling the want. 

Cheers


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## crash (Oct 30, 2008)

http://www.oncenter.com/ or http://www.proest.com/ I think on-center is the best on the block for estimating and digital takeoff. Don't get an excell program. I have bought and used many of these programs and On-Center is great. I also like the estimating software for both of these companys. It's hard to find an app that works the way you do, so I decided to develop my own using C#. And yes you can do a takeoff much faster on a computer with digital prints.


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## crash (Oct 30, 2008)

Spell Check


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