FastBid vs Excel for construction takeoff
Excel is free, familiar, and already open on your second monitor. It also asks you to move every quantity twice and keeps no link between the marker on the plan and the number in the cell.
Side by side · Excel + PDF markup
| Excel + PDF markup | FastBid | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Software you already own | Free to start, monthly after |
| Counting on the plan | By hand, on paper or a PDF markup | Click markers tied to a named scope |
| Retyping quantities | Every number moves twice | Quantities flow into pricing directly |
| Audit trail | Markup file and sheet drift apart | Every total traces back to a marker |
| Proposal output | You build the template | Proposal PDF or CSV, one click |
| Keeping your sheet | It is the sheet | CSV export into the sheet you bid from |
The detail
What actually goes wrong in a spreadsheet takeoff?
Nothing, until a GC questions a count six weeks later. The marked-up PDF and the spreadsheet no longer agree, and neither one shows the work. FastBid keeps the markers, the quantities and the pricing in one project, so the answer is a click away.
Do you have to give up Excel?
No. Export a CSV of quantities by scope and drop it into the sheet you already bid from. Plenty of shops use FastBid only for counting and measuring, and keep their pricing where it is.
Who should stay in Excel?
If you bid one small job a month off a single sheet, a spreadsheet is fine. FastBid earns its keep once you are carrying several scopes across a multi-sheet plan set.
Related
Run one real bid through it.
Two projects free, no card. If it doesn't beat your spreadsheet on the first job, you've lost an afternoon.