Quick Bid Reviews

Helpful from the first look at the drawings to the end of the project, great for the smallest jobs all the way to multi-million dollar endeavors.

QB has quirks like any other software in this category, but the fewest process-breaking of the group.

Initial setup can be cumbersome for anyone not familiar with the software, but OnCenter is very helpful in this process.

I would recommend you take a good hard look at On Center's new product OASIS before committing to the OST/QB combo. Oasis exports to QuickBid, but the software is not interactive yet. Development is fast on Oasis, so I would expect to see a full blown pricing module in Oasis in the near future.

For the time being, I will continue to use the OST/QB combo.

All pricing for all projects in one place, in an easy to sort and manage platform.

No more making separate excel spreadsheets for each area or breakout - you can do all of this on the fly with QuickBid.

How simple is it is to connect with OST and price our entire project.

The only real dislike I have is that after the latest update there are many things that lag. Changing the mark ups after all conditions are priced lags every time. Also, sometimes editing conditions that are still connected to OST take quite a while to process.

Quick bid is very easy and simple to use. A lot of our material suppliers have databases that you can download directly to quickbid and will have all of their materials in it. Also, it is very simple to create and price you own materials if you want. Over the years we have added extra scopes of work in to our company and it has been very simple to add to our database. Also, we met with the OnCenter team at an AWCI event and they were great people to hang out and speak with.

We are able to price every aspect of our projects with the software.

Quickbid takes all the thinking out of bidding. Developing conditions to meet the needs of the project is a huge time saver which allows estimators to accurately give pricing to customers in a timely manner. Simple adjustments on the productions makes it easy for the user to understand the the time it takes for a Job to be completed. Having quick reports for stocking materials, getting vendor quotes with the eQuotes feature shaves time on ordering and able to get up to date pricing quickly.

The only complaint that I could have with the software would be not being able to have additional template features for the proposals.. Adding code to the template that could call out specific conditions could help save some time on giving breakouts of certain conditions/alternates. I have not found a way to add in code to give the description of the Alternates in the proposal. Bouncing back and forth between the notes and the conditions cost time to go in and out of the windows to fully give the scope of work needed for the project.

If you are unsure about the product, Get with the OnCenter team to do a 2 week free trial. Dedicate about 8 hours of time to get a feel of the product. Use the material database to your advantage on creating new items. Create Assembly's to help breeze right through the conditions. All in all, this has saved hours of time. A little trick to bidding that I have found to cut some cost is change the heights on the materials. Example would be a 16' tall wall. Instead of putting drywall all the way up to 16' at one production rate, go to 12' and a faster production speed (ie. 110 sqft/hr) then the remaining 4' to a slower production rate (ie. 80sqft/hr). This will help you accurately fine tune the bid.

High cost on projects. Being able to shave cost in the markup's, material waste, and being allowed to enter in numbers to the 1/10th or 1/100th position on the productions allow us to shave cost for certain conditions.

Intuitive user interface. Much like the other On-Center products, after a couple hours of how-to videos, my team was off to the races. Labor, material, and equipment database is easily maintained. Excellent product.

Quick Bid is mostly geared toward self-performance. I would love to see a true subcontractor category in the unit cost data base, rather than breaking all assemblies into labor, material, and equipment. Though, if mainly self-perform, this is the product for you.

If you're looking for a platform that is cost effective and not overloaded with unusable modules, or a platform that does not need to be tied to your accounting software, Quick Bid is the way to go.

Unified platform. Quick Bid has allowed me to provide a unified platform and cost data base for all my estimators across the company and in regional offices.

Intuitive and simple to use. Lots of redundancy for user preference. Customization is easy. Great training videos. Tech help is very good. Project express updates have been very good. Cut/Paste/Duplicate operations save huge amounts of time.

New Releases and Updates are sometimes "buggy". Too many "bells and Whistles"- a little less is more. Account Representative turn over seems high. Not fully compatible with all industry accounting software.

A great, very logically designed software package. This product is truly designed for the way that an estimator thinks. Also provides valuable information for the filed and internal support staff.

reduces many human errors. provides multiple methods for cross-checking work. Provides lots of information for reports. Easy and logical- very well thought out for the estimating mind. Easy to modify materials, assemblies, payroll, per diem, etc.

Quick bid allows me to concentrate on finding the complex items within a bid, by allowing me to set up standard assemblies for the items that occur most of the time in a bid. It is configurable to quickly allow for the differences that are in every market I am pricing in.

There is really nothing about the software I dislike, however the most common complaint I hear from others is the cost.

Get it and learn how to use it.

The first thing Quick Bid does is allow me to create detailed and accurate estimates. It also me to store a complete record of the costs and assumptions I made to arrive at my final bid. This is helpful when a project is shelved for a year or two and then restarted. Instead of starting over material and labor rates can be quickly adjusted to match the current market.

But by far the most important thing Quick Bid does for me is to provide the reports required for successful project management. When a superintendent has a labor budget to beat and a complete material list of long lead items, it helps a project start and remain on the right track.

It makes me look go to my clients. It certainly helps to validate my change order request with it's many reports. It plays a big roll in saving money on material with the e quote system.

There is no back button in Quick Bid. I would like to be able to have a longer description in the condition name. There is lots of space for notes, but the notes don't show up on the page when you choose to shows the conditions on the highlighted drawings.

It is a big learning curve.

Your understanding of the program is directly related to the amount of your time invested.

Many tens of thousands of dollars are saved with each of my clients when using the e quote system.

Importing a material quote is a click of a mouse in the eleventh hour of a bid vs. the old fashioned way of typing in each unit price, leaving lots of room for error.

It Interacts with on screen take off. It means we don't need to transferred any measurement (or quantites) from on screen take off - Quick bid takes care of it. If you are doing similar projects frequently, you can set up a template to include frequently used items, then the template can be used over and over again. It saves a lot of time.

When I do a printout under the Markups tabs, the printout doesn't show everything that I can see on the screen. It doesn't even show the total amount of the bid - the pie chart, the markup details, the Additional Markups, and the total amount of the bid are all missing from the printout.

- it shortens the time required to do an estimate or tender.

- it keeps good records/data of tenders - including materials allowed, labour, margin, etc

I like the way Quick Bid has databases that are easily manageable, and you can create your own assemblies to suite your needs.

I do not like it sometimes when the QB becomes detached from the OST portion of the job, and when trying to reconnect them, I end up getting different job numbers being put on them and it can be difficult getting back to where I was with out the potential of making a mistake.

Spend time talking with their salespeople to get a demonstration and see for yourself.

If you buy the product, invest in the training, as it will move you much farther along than trying to do it on your own.

I am able to turn over reports that customers like, that explain bulletin pricing in a manner they can understand and read.

Very intuitive to use,organizes everything and makes it printable. Free and easy to understand demonstrations, good customer service. I had my problem solved in a timely manner.

could be a little less expensive and the set up itself can be more user friendly. Changing mark ups created some issues.

easy to use,worth trying . Good design,if run into a problem or inconvenience while using, it will be solved and once you learn and get used to it, you will like it. I can easily plan my projects. We all search for better pricing but I think it's worth it and will use it again. Helped me a lot with reports, detailed and easy to read,very eloquent.

Easy for pricing across the company,easy to integrate.

My favorite feature is the real-time link to On-Screen Takeoff. Added or deleted takeoff automatically updates the connected pricing in QuickBid. This makes updating my estimates much easier.

Some non-standard items require manual entry. I wish that it were easier to manually enter atypical data. Occasionally I have to force items into producing the result that I want.

Make sure that you understand what is required to build your database. QuickBid is a great program, but it takes some time and effort to build a database that suits your specific needs.

QuickBid makes communication between estimating and project management much simpler. We pull reports from QuickBid for our purchasing department as well. We also send out the QuickBid scopes to the field for our project foremen to use.

Quick, easy and accurate. Emphasis on easy.

Minor details that may be better for me but not necessarily better for you. I would like under labor codes that

the window opens at all labor codes, then check down from there as opposed to opening at most used labor code and needing to click up to all.

I assume you are using OnScreen take-off. The take offs go seamlessly into Quick Bid and pricing is a snap.

Consistent pricing. I have been able to reach out to my suppliers with detailed information in what I need for my project and can get better pricing from them. Also on a negotiated project I can take my pricing sheets with in many different forms to help win the contract.

I do like the fact that i can create custom reports that only provide the information i select. i also like that i can adjust almost anything to create items that are specific to our company.

When calling support they mention that it only works properly about 50 percent of the time...

My biggest issue is the support that you pay for is lacking and they basically try to talk you into moving in a direction that they then tell you they do not support but is your only option. In our situation we had multiple users at same time and started having issues they said it was an access issuer and we should go to SQL we go to an SQL based database and they tell us they do not offer support for SQL. kinda wrong in my opinion.

It will work. keep your support do not let it lapse or go away. and hope you have a good IT guy.

It does a decent job creating stocking reports and other time based/ process based reports from your programmed or entered info.

I like the available database items available from top industry manufacturers that you can download directly into the database. I also like the equote feature to send quotes directly to the suppliers and accepting the quotes automatically inputting into you bid if you choose thus by passing any manual entry.

I wish more manufacturers would share their items list with OnCenter.

Quick and Accurate estimating with detailed reports that can be used in all phases of the business.

The use of a large database which was custom programmed to fit my needs make estimating projects fast. Any common materials that are used over and over are there at a click of a button for reference.

Certain tools could be improved on but most tools are very good. The first few years of using the software their were very few updates. They have gotten a lot better with rolling out new updates and features.

Its a great tool for estimating all sorts of projects. It is used by our office for Drywall, Ceiling Work, Millwork and Flooring.

Estimating projects has become faster. Pricing is in a database for easy references.

I really like how it connects to the On Screen Takeoff program, and does all of the math for you.

I dislike how easy it is to make a mistake. But that goes hand-in-hand with working at a quicker pace.

Be sure to watch all of the demonstration videos on their website.

We are completing projects at a much faster pace. We can bid on more work and have a lot more opportunity.

Ease of use. Ability to communicate with OnScreen. Easy to teach new users.

It will not communicate with our Timerline software with out additional setups.

It is worth the money.

Improves accuracy of bids. Makes it simple for another user to view and understand what another user is bidding. Speeds up the time it takes to make purchase orders. Makes it easy to request material quotes.

I first started using QB when it was DOS program. I like what it the name implys it does help make it a Quick Bid. The added features like emailing quotes to suppliers and the availability of Data Bases from QB.

Also the technical support has always been excellent from the technical side to help with actual use by folks

who were previously in the trades.

Not really anything that concerns me at this time.

A recommended tool of the trade in my opinion.

Made my life easier in estimating since I first started using the program.

I like the ease of adding drawings and modifying take-offs after a bid is completed. I also like the training videos which helped me get started by watching them after work hours.

I wish the program was browser based so I could login to the program from any computer without using VPN or Citrix.

I would recommend quick bid to any contractors looking for a way to maximize their time performing job take offs.

I don't have to print drawings anymore for take-offs. I'm able to work out of the office on bids easier than before.

We like the custom user conditions and the ability to change prices for materials and labor on the fly. It is pretty accurate in terms of measurement and calculations. It's pretty easy to add multiple users to the sql database. The bids are very accurate and the software is largely stable. The SQL database is very efficient.

Sometimes the Quickbid and OnScreenTakeoff lose synchronization and the SQL support is pretty poor, you better have a network admin that knows what they are doing... but the thing we dislike the most is the price, this product is ridiculously over-priced and you need a fairly powerful computers and server to run it well.

The bids are very accurate and we have seen success using the software, but it is very expensive.

Quick Bid 4 is a very powerful software. With the ability to have a master list and database for pricing, it has changed the way we bid and has made our proposals so much more accurate.

Only dislikes of this software is the reporting and exporting of data to the field and accounting software. Reports provide a lot of information but can be over whelming to workers in the field.

Quick Bid 4 helped us utilize an all in one Takeoff/ Bidding system when paired with On Screen Takeoff.

The best part about Quick Bid is the speed, accuracy and ease of use of the software.

Not much to dislike. The software has fit our needs for many years.

The time savings are huge in the construction industry. Everyone needs it now and this software does just that.

Easy to add and change product items and adjust labor rates.

I would like a few more patterns to use for areas and walls.

If you us this for a month you will never to back.

We can turn-out more bids and they are much more accurate.

Ease of use and the interactive feature between On Screen Takeoff and QuickBid

Program locks up from time to time. Need to work out the flaws. Happens once every other week or so.

Use On Screen Takeoff as an interactive tool with Quickbid

Time management/Saving time

The integration with On Screen Takeoff is great. It allows for fast an accurate measuring, which can then be rapidly converted into a quote.

Occasionally OST and Quickbid disconnect, then have to be reconnected to continue working.

Quick bid is a great product but users will need to ensure they have the necessary infrastructure in place to gain all of the benefits of the software.

Quick bid when combined with On Screen Takeoff allow for faster and more accurate quotations to be generated.

The ability to quickly price jobs and accurately do changes

having to have both qb and ost open to transfer changes

saves money- no longer have to print out huge sets of plans. saves time and manpower- makes taking off jobs faster and more streamline.

Ability to plan, manage bids, get accounting projections, send e-quotes, and provides searchability on design and workflow.

Its inability to use with various browsers, manual is very overwhelming and instructions sometimes are difficult to understand. If using a small device, such as a tablet, difficulty in being able to zoom sometimes is an issue

Easy to use

Ability to provide fast and quick building/construction quotes. Being able to provide excellent customer service and being able to get a job done quicker.

How you get real time pricing as you are completing a take off with onscreen

How your not able to set production rates and costs directly, unlike how they are currently integrated with one another

Great tool to have!

The accuracy of our bids.

Quick is very versatile. We are able to adjust the database to meet the needs of our estimating processes. We also work in many pay rates and quick bid handles our unique situation well.

It is expensive. Also, when changing computer the licensing process is a hassle. Also, updates can be a hassle as well.

Prepare for a lengthy integration process.

We feel it is a tool that allows us to be up to speed in our industry.

Flexibility and ability to customize database

Lack of updates and excessive price. Over 5 years (lost exact track at this point) without major update. Just bug fixes and compatibility releases to keep up with Windows OS

Consider the price and yearly support fees that tend to add up. Also, the company focus seems to be moving towards cloud services which in my opinion resulted in desktop users being neglected for over 5 years. After multiple conversations with support and sales team members I have no expectations of any major improvements to the desktop version in the years to come and I am actively looking for alternatives.

Ability to speed up bid pricing and analysis tools

I like using the program to gather costs

It can sometimes be a difficult program to navigate

Building data bases will take some time but once up and running it will save time and increase your ability to bid projects quicker.

I'm a Senior Estimator and with the connection to Onscreen Takeoff it enables me to utilize the connectivity to my conditions

The ability to build conditions, revise estimates without losing old data, and price change orders with ease

There seems to be an issue losing links with OST at times

I can estimate more work more accurately

It is easy to use and it is reliable. I have never had it fail on me

There is nothing I dislike about Quick Bid.

I would tell someone wanting to use a estimating software that Quick Bid is not only reliable but also very easy to learn.

It s a time savings program. I love how I can easily change the prices of material.

It makes it pretty easy to add up costs associated with complex installations to get a pretty accurate number for bidding and quoting work.

The program could use a little more customization.

Construction Management and Estimating wise, QuickBid is a good tool.

Complex acoustical ceilings have many conditions to consider. QuickBid makes it fairly easy to add up all costs associated with complex jobs.

Quick bid is great tool for a drywall subcontractor. It serves as a way to store historical estimating knowledge with ease of modification for labor trends of the day.

An improvement would be to create a more user-friendly dashboard for the reporting functions.

Quick bid is the ultimate solution to pricing materials in lightning fast time for bid delivary.

The software is pretty easy to use. Has lots of customization. Can be difficult to set up.

Can be quirky. Make sure you back up and often because it can crash and you WILL lose data.

Be prepared for an huge up front commitment to get up and running.

Can create estimates faster and use standardized productions.

The speed you can do an estimate, an be accurate.

Nothing at all the program is the best on the market

The best software on the market. Have used On Screen software for 20 years. Have used other estimating programs and none are better than On Screen Software

Faster and more accurate estimates

There are many different things that Quick Bid will do way past the basic quote.

although there is a lot to remember, once you are going it becomes easier.

Saves me time on those bids that I get and someone needs ASAP. Also helps me manage y time during the day.

The ability to build assemblies, it makes the bidding stage so much quicker.

There is sometimes glitches with it synchronizing with OST, wish it was easier.

You can see your labor and material separate, and that way you can print reports which gives PMs a guide for there project

eQuotes are a time saver and relatively easy to use.

Lacks automation with its partner software. When using interactively the speed drops creating a challenge to work efficiently.

I gets the job done with practice and a bit of training this can be a powerful tool.

Before being introduced to a competitor software that integrates all aspects of our business Quick Bid was our to go and problem solver due to its linking power to OST and exporting report. This was our to go tool.

I like the overall software as a whole. not one thing in particular, but the level of detail and ease of use.

Not sure I really have any to be honest.

atleast try it.. we tried a couple others and this system by far, quick bid / on-screen, were the best for us

This software allows me to produce bids 10x quicker than the good old scale tape and tablet book.. I can break my bids down by area, scope, etc.. great product

Very easy to use--Love the way you can customize everything on the fly. Also love the reports.

Takes some time to download the plans to a TIF

User Friendly and a Time Saver

Saves time and money

So friendly, help me to create more bid opportunities and a short period of time. Great tool working together with OST

No to much to said, need a little improvement interacting with other software

time and accuracy

How versatile and customizable the program is.

I wish the Armstrong and clarkdietrich databased were updated more often.

Helps complete bids quickly and automatically changes prices with QB Interactive. Which is great for constantly changing bids.

Quick bid features very useful reporting capabilities

Field labor calculation is somewhat different from the method we use (minor issue)

Quick bid helps us to standardize our bidding process

Very efficient, saves me time & money pricing projects

Can be very technical & takes a long time to learn the entire program

Time & Money Management

Assembly option. Building wall types that are used most frequent has been time saving

More manufactures and products would be helpful

Be ready to spend time configuring parts to your personal needs.

I'm a small business owner and this has allowed me more productive time in the field and less time estimating.

I like the ability to accurately break out areas of the job and see the costs. I also like the ability to quickly take a takeoff and have numbers applied.

Maintenance cost is high. But the ROI seems to be worth it.

Bid accuracy and consistency

How you can set up the conditions to your style of estimating.

The constant updates. If it's not broken don't fix it.

Try it you will like it.

It helps being able to transfer the bid to a project management format.

Love that I don't have to do takeoffs the old fashioned way with Highlighters

Sometimes it can run slow. It can also be confusing when it downloads the prints more than once.

There are a lot less mistakes