While cloud computing and the rich project data it provides have transformed everything from construction management to conceptual design, the preconstruction estimate remains stubbornly unchanged, at three-quarters of estimators still using manual spreadsheets or some form of local estimating software. Ediphi and its founder, Dustin DeVan, want to change that.
Estimation “has seen the least change in software providers, if you think about the disruption that has occurred in project management,” says DeVan, who previously founded preconstruction bidding platform BuildingConnected before selling -la to Autodesk in 2018. “Almost everyone has switched from Prolog. or some of these other desktop applications to cloud solution providers like Procore or Autodesk.”
DeVan said that hasn’t happened with pre-construction estimating, but with Ediphi, he wants to help construction companies move to the cloud.
Variable regional costs and project needs are often cited as reasons why the estimate remains in the saddle.
“Every company that has estimating software that you access through their virtual desktop, they create a different server for each location they operate in, which means they’re actually different systems across the organization that don’t they don’t realize any of the benefits of being cloud-based,” says DeVan.
Many estimators also consider their estimates a competitive advantage. They see it as both a science and an art, DeVan adds.
“There’s intellectual property in what you put in a budget, but you don’t sacrifice that when you use us as a cloud application,” says DeVan. He added that the biggest vulnerability to building data remains people witnessing a cyber intrusion, not cloud-based systems.
Ediphi provides a proprietary set of estimation capabilities, integrating datasheets and unit mixes. It also provides estimators with configurability to create assemblies for various project scales. For example, during the earliest stage of a project, with only approximate material quantities based on general geometry, Ediphi can match this information with historical cost data to make estimates. Floor-to-height ratios and perimeters can be used to calculate costs.
“One thing we have trouble with in our current estimation platform is that we can’t do formulas,” says Kyle Bonde, senior estimator at Hensel Phelps, who has been testing Ediphi in a pilot since October. “[Estimates] bound to the perimeter area allows us to use dynamic formulas in the quantity cell before taking off. That’s what this thing is built for.”
Seven Hensel Phelps regions are participating in the pilot program, which involves approximately $2 billion in work.
Bonde said the platform also brings transparency, allowing Hensel Phelps to know how estimates were derived.
“It’s kind of colorful,” he says. “Once you realize that ‘I can follow the footsteps of any love of mine or anyone else’s,’ you realize how powerful it is. That’s the key to love: following your leads. If I have to send a budget to someone, or I have to follow their tracks to find out how they came up with it [an estimate]I can do it.”
Bonde also said that the user interface that has buttons is easy for estimators to understand because they are similar to quantity cells in a spreadsheet.
“I’ll spend an hour with someone, and as long as they’re a little tech-savvy, they can use it,” he says. “Maybe two hours.”
In April, DPR Construction’s preconstruction teams agreed to begin a transition to Ediphi’s preconstruction estimating platform following a similar pilot program.
Alan Watt, DPR preconstruction technology executive, said in a statement that the deal was to “streamline our workflows for better efficiency, aggregate and improve the quality of our data, and reduce our reliance on Custom built-in tools and offline apps.”
