Top 10 Quantity Surveying Software [ 2024 Updated List] (2024)

Last Updated on January 30, 2024 by Admin

Hundreds of different software packages are available for various types of business. The major challenge is to find the best package for your needs. Here is the list of Top 10 Quantity Surveying Software that will help you search and make it easier to select one.

In the construction sector, a quantity surveyor is frequently seen as a hybrid of an architect, engineer, contractor, lawyer, and accountant. Quantity surveying generates estimates of anticipated project costs, forecasts work length times, and ensures the most significant possible profits for all project stakeholders.

In essence, quantity surveyors oversee construction projects. They examine each project’s minute details to produce an exact cost estimate, or at the very least, a figure that falls within the range of the project’s actual cost.

Influential quantity surveyors are aware of the need to be able to collect project-specific data and preserve it for easy access. This is just one of the numerous duties a quantity surveyor has to perform. Many of them now employ some of the best quantity surveying software available to make things simpler.

A quantity surveyor, often known as a project estimator, is quite knowledgeable about a building project’s components.

Unsurprisingly, many quantity surveyors have shifted to using software applications rather than conventional methods, given that today’s best quantity surveying software uses BIM capabilities, 2D and 3D takeoff, and configurable report writers.

They can now quickly and easily produce electronic takeoffs that quickly measure areas, lengths, and counts while automatically extracting numbers with just a few clicks.

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Introduction to the QS software

One of the time-consuming and error-prone steps in project cost estimation is the act of takeoff itself. Traditionally, paper drawings were used as the basis for manual quantity takeoffs. This was difficult and time-consuming to complete.

Quantity surveyors now directly collect quantities and measurements during project cost estimation using 3D BIM models. BIM tools ensure consistent information for quantity surveying because new measurements or revisions are automatically updated in the schedules.

Even with complex components, the best quantity surveying software speeds up the process and provides more precise takeoffs. They successfully enter takeoff data into contractors’ most widely utilized estimating program worldwide.

Users can anticipate that their tender values will be more in line with their estimates, that budget and value accountability will be higher, that addendum bills of quantities will be less likely to occur, that high-cost component will be identified early, and that building quality and performance will all be improved.

The Advantages of Using Quantity Surveying Software

One of the other advantages of employing quantity surveying software is the ability to launch the takeoff procedure directly from an image or blueprint file type using intuitive, potent point-and-click features.

Adopting instruments that enable measurement reproductions reduces the time needed for measurements. The top quantity surveying software also has tools that let you copy measures just you want from one drawing to another.

In essence, they combine all surveying and quantity data from the construction project, including drawing files, copies of the plans, measurements, etc., into a single, flexible, easily accessible “electronic” file.

Quantity surveyors make sure that cost planning is efficient so that everything that happens after a realistic project cost estimate has been agreed upon by the stakeholders—from the tender to the final project costs—is in line with it.

Continuous process monitoring reduces the risk of project overruns because they can now be identified early on and remedied quickly. Quantity surveyors can help architects compare costs for various building assemblies or finishings and provide budget and cost estimates.

Earning profit for the stakeholder is the quantity surveyor’s primary objective. The project’s results may be in jeopardy due to expensive mistakes and shoddy workmanship. Making costly errors and ignoring details can result in you as a quantity surveyor losing your career or clients.

Quantity surveying software helps to measure, define, and price quantities with the least amount of labor feasible while also considerably increasing productivity. So, it makes sense to use the top quantity surveying software available.

Quantity surveyors have been mentioned as potentially having critical roles in the fight against corruption in the building sector.

Although other team members on a construction project, such as engineers and architects, can also examine a project’s expenses, only a quantity surveyor is specifically trained to do so. Quantity surveyors can rapidly determine whether a budget is cloudy and can also pinpoint the causes of it.

Although the best quantity surveying software has increased quantity surveyors’ general effectiveness and position in a construction project, projects still need their knowledge. A software program can now create a bill of quantities but cannot determine whether developing a mall in a specific area is feasible.

A construction project’s costs can be determined and managed using takeoff and estimate software. However, only a quantity surveyor can offer services like viability assessments and give specific advice.

Some of those suggestions might be based on green building or sustainability principles. In this case, the customer would initially have to spend a little more on the project but would ultimately save more money. Quantity surveyors may no longer be as dominant in some fields where they once controlled, but their position is still extremely important.

For example, the quantity surveyor is still responsible for protecting the client’s interests. Typically, an architect will write down his dreams because they are innovative. Almost always, it will be a lovely creation or work of art.

The quantity surveyor will use quantity surveying software to ensure the plan matches the client’s budget and that the necessary modifications won’t stray too far from the architect’s original design.

*Note: This is not a ranking. This list is not based on any selection criteria. The list is only for information purposes. We have collected this data from the internet.

List of the Top Quantity Surveying software

Following are some of the best and the top quantity surveying software used in the construction industry.

1. Microsoft Excel

Excel is a program that is necessary for practically any form of work. Microsoft Excel may be used for various purposes, from making a straightforward calculation to creating a sophisticated Gantt plan.

Bills of quantity, progress reports, bar schedules, financial accounts, and many others might all be prepared. Excel alternatives are also available for Windows, Mac, and internet tools.

Microsoft Excel is the most popular program and an alternative to the UQTO add-on toolbar. A quantity surveyor uses the MS Excel program to complete almost 80% of the work.

They prepare budgets, BOQs, comparative statements, and cashflows using Excel, among other things. Drawing a pivot table, making charts, data validation, and conditional formatting are other significant yet common uses.

2. PRISM

For businesses that demand uniformity and centralization of estimates and estimating data, PRISM Estimating is project cost estimation software.

Users of PRISM Estimating can produce conceptual estimates for feasibility studies, resulting in various comprehensive estimates that support the acquisition of work and the creation of reliable budgets.

While MS Excel cannot control, validate, or standardize any of the inputs or formula computations within each estimate—we know you’ve been getting by with spreadsheets—the time it’s for a better, more accurate estimate.

It is utilized to estimate project costs for businesses requiring data estimation consistency. Users of the PRISM Estimating software can produce conceptual estimates to complete the work and create a just budget.

This program has advantages for teamwork and aligns the budget and expected expenditures to eliminate project hazards. One system can handle all of the estimated classes.

To provide a unified platform for the estimation of cost and carbon from the cradle to the grave, PRISM Estimating provides carbon estimating capabilities.

This function within PRISM Estimating expands the capacity to incorporate carbon tracking at the period end when combined with the PRISM Cost module.

Embedded carbon is calculated as the estimate is generated in PRISM Estimating and is held at the resource level. With this functionality, the organization can monitor how the cost and carbon will change when the estimator changes the materials being considered and the construction methods used.

When comparing cost and carbon, project groups can consider a range of solutions thanks to the software’s carbon tracking. This gives our consumers an easy way to compare the trade-offs between costs and carbon emissions.

3. Vector Snape

Building estimation specialists use this software in addition to qualified quantity surveyors. Quantity surveyors use this as a digitizer and CAD measure for Direct Entry measuring.

Additionally, it is employed in preparing financial accounts, resource analyses, cost plans, and precise building estimates. It is possible to export the results to paper, Excel, and C.I.T.E.

Every working day, hundreds of surveyors use Vector to produce detailed building estimates, cost plans, and bills of quantities for clients of every imaginable type. Many of these businesses and people rely on Vector for their daily survival.

With drag-and-drop, limitless undo and redo of any action you take, and all the other capabilities you would expect in the most outstanding contemporary Windows products, Vector is a genuinely modern Bill of Quantities program.

More importantly, Vector has a variety of tools that allow you to deliver documents in the format that works for you and your client’s temperament, just as you would anticipate an excellent toolkit to include a wide range of different types and sizes of screwdrivers that enable you to deal efficiently with the different jobs that come your way.

4. CostX

One of the most well-liked construction cost estimation programs is called CostX. It has features for estimating and takeoff.

CostX comprises workbooks, a comparison of subcontractors, and a 2D and 3D BIM takeoff. You can produce a personalized report to generate cost plans and bills of quantities for the client’s requirements.

2D and 3D takeoff, estimation, and configurable reporting are all available on the same platform with seamless integration. The estimating and takeoff software will assist in streamlining performance by streamlining your processes, increasing transparency, and removing misunderstandings.

5. PlanSwift

The best quantity takeoff program is PlanSwift. You can use it to compute precise estimates for any construction project. Free trial versions are available for download.

Use this software’s drag and drop functionality to organize material and labor assemblies onto your takeoff. The ideal one for small businesses is PlanSwift.

PlanSwift is simple to adapt for you and your particular profession. Simply assemble waste, supplies, labor, and regularly utilized materials. You may then quickly and precisely estimate your expenditures by dragging those assemblies onto the takeoff items!

6. PriMus TAKEOFF

One of the top quantity surveying software programs is PriMus TAKEOFF. It makes it possible for QS to provide precise cost estimates by removing the measurement information from your drawing files.

There is a free trial version of this premium program available. To take off measurements, you can draw and modify CAD drawings.

The quantity takeoff tool, PriMus TAKEOFF, lets you quickly and accurately estimate costs by removing measurement information from project files. With PriMus TAKEOFF, you may easily extract measurement data from files saved in AutoCAD® DWG or DXF, Adobe® PDF, and images scanned in BMP or JPG.

Because PriMus TAKEOFF unifies the two document types, which other software processes cannot do, the quantity surveyor can store both the drawing information and the associated cost estimate data in the DWG file.

This technique ensures that all modifications to the drawing are precisely in line with the information from the construction estimate. Of course, the CAD program needs to work with the DWG drawing directly.

7. QS Plus

Software for cost estimation designed for quantity surveyors and consulting construction estimators is called QS Plus or QS+.

With this cutting-edge software, professional estimators may create detailed Bills of Quantities, Cost Plans (Estimations), Valuations, and the Final Account. You can operate more quickly and productively by entering take-off quantities with the help of this software in a convenient and logical method.

A quantity surveyor will require QS Plus four modules to manage office paperwork and account for ongoing work on-site. The program’s four modules can be thought of as phases in the financial management of a building project.

Cost estimates are the first step in every building project, and final accounts are the last step. The following modules in QS+ represent a project’s phases:

• Cost Planning/Estimation: QS Plus features a module to assess and calculate the price of an architect’s rough sketches. A cost plan or cost estimate is what this is. To determine the estimated cost of a proposed building project, the program employs a format based on the Elemental approach of estimating.
• Bill Production: When the architect has finished producing working drawings, you may use the QS Plus Bill Production module to create a thorough Bill of Quantities during the pre-tender phase. The quantity surveyor must create a BOQ for the tendering process. You can achieve this in one of two ways: either by converting an elemental estimate to a bill or by measuring the quantities from scratch by removing them from an architectural plan and entering them in the BOQ dimension sheet.
• Valuations: An Estimator will find QS Plus helpful in preparing valuations and progress payments throughout the contract stage. The QS Plus Valuation Module may provide valuations depending on the amount of work completed, the available funds, and specific goods (which can be valued by percentage, quantity or amount to date).
• Final Account: After the contract, a Final Account is prepared. You can complete the contract amount with the help of the QS+ Final Account module.

8. WinQS

Professional quantity surveyors, estimators, and cost engineers can use WinQS to estimate construction costs. Bills of Quantities were once created on Excel sheets by consulting firms, which was a laborious and time-consuming process before the advent of desktop estimating software.

Nowadays, you can boost your output by using computer software like WinQS. Measurement and bill preparation are simple tasks that may be finished thanks to on-screen take-off technology quickly.

WinQS eliminates the need for an estimator to create columns, rows, algorithms, and formatting like you would on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, allowing them to enter measurements rapidly on the take-off interface. The estimate application reduces inaccuracies common in typical spreadsheet bills while saving time.

Building a home, office building, commercial property, or government building is not a one-time task; instead, it is a lengthy process that begins with planning the budget (cost estimate) and ends with negotiating the final contract amount. If you work as a construction consultant and manage construction costs, you should be aware of this.

Each contract phase can be handled by one of the seven modules of WinQS. The most significant ones are the Estimating, Bill Production, Progress Valuations, Cost Report, and Payment modules.

9. STACK Estimating Software

The well-performing STACK product can be used by small to medium-sized organizations. This product proudly displays its web-based estimating and on-screen takeoff capabilities designed just for the best contractors.

The users enjoy establishing user-defined prices for bids and precisely estimated costs with STACK. The reporting modules in STACK can be arranged according to the data’s location, division, or trade coverage rate. You can choose STACK’s Basic, Plus, and Pro editions to create your ideal estimating tool.

STACK Estimating Software’s main characteristics;

• Accurate measurement using equipment for the area, linear, count, volume, and surface
• Team member management is simple.
• Project organization thanks to the sophisticated OC and bookmarking tools.

10. QE Pro

QE- Pro is the most significant software created exclusively for quantity estimating and project planning. The program offers much to educational institutions, practicing civil engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, builders, and contractors. It can be used to generate cost projections from architectural models.

The software has the following functionalities: –

Bill of Amounts: The program calculates the quantities for various components when a construction model is created.

Simply multiply values with corresponding item rates from the rate analysis to obtain an abstract cost estimate for the construction. The software also generates reports on resource usage.

Quantities measured by QE-Pro are automatically arranged in LBD format in reports. Both options are printing and opening in MS Excel®, MS Word®, or HTML format.

There is a built-in library database with more than 1000 entries. Users will have the option of either creating a new library OR including and specifying the one that already exists. Easy copying and pasting of the things produced by Excel are possible in this collection.

Items are categorized into different heads and groups per item. For example, brick walls of various thicknesses are grouped under the heading “Brick Masonry,” In contrast, excavation materials, fills, PCC, plinth masonry, and soling are sub-categorized under the heading “Sub-structure Work.”

Rate Analysis: You can specify the unit of measurement for each book in your collection. Because only the rates will change depending on the time and place, but not the unit, it is a one-time task. QE-Pro provides all the information needed to analyze every standard item created in the database.

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Summing Up

The most excellent quantity surveying software also has tools that let you copy measurements just you want from one drawing to another. They combine all survey and quantity data for building projects, including drawing files, plan copies, measurements, etc., into a flexible, user-friendly “electronic” file that is easily accessible.

A quantity surveyor’s job remains relevant as long as the buildings are constructed and maintained. A thorough understanding of the aforementioned tools and methods could help you in the long run in the construction field. Although there are many things to be done, we may leverage technology to provide more precise and focused management for your successful career.

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