Exclusive to EstimatorXpress is Price Tracker+™. It links the user to thousands of live building material prices which are sourced by the HBXL team using data from a cross-section of Builders Merchants around the UK. It is worth noting here that HBXL are not tied to any one particular builders merchant. Users can also link up to some trade accounts (see the company’s website for the current options). Users can also set their own rates for labour and plant.

EstimatorXpress also includes calculators for profit, wastage and inflation. There are default percentages included with the download but the user can adjust these figures to suit their needs. Whilst EstimatorXpress undertakes the complex inflation number crunching, it doesn’t automatically add it to the final customer quote. The user must decide whether to provide the ‘start date’ cost in the customer’s quote or the cost that reflects the prices on the day of estimate creation.

EstimatorXpress has developed its own technology to sync the key software tools in its suite so that they can share data - part of HBXL’s strategy to save time by avoiding unnecessary duplication. Known as X-Connex technology it allows the user to put their EstimatorXpress estimate file into its health and safety, contracts and project management software. In the other direction, a design produced in HBXL’s CAD software can be dropped into EstimatorXpress, which then reads the drawing data to create an almost instant estimate.

EstimatorXpress offers highly comprehensive project management as well as estimates and quotes. From the data produced by the estimate, the software instantly creates over 80 management reports - all automatically produced from the estimate data. These include a full breakdown of costs, cutting lists, material schedules and labour schedules. The software’s Build Programme shows the phased build activity. Any delay in a particular phase automatically cascades through the rest of the project.