Estimating is a skill often learned through experience rather than formal training. It's a process many plumbers develop over time, refining it into their unique "secret sauce." 

Craig Pearman speaks to six to eight hundred plumbers a year. He knows firsthand the challenges plumbers face in creating accurate takeoffs, designs, and estimates.

During a recent webinar hosted by Groundplan in collaboration with Master Plumbers New Zealand, Craig, alongside Zane Britton, President of Master Plumbers Northland, shared valuable insights on how Groundplan is revolutionising how plumbers approach these tasks.

The current estimating landscape

The plumbers Craig speaks to each have their own approach to estimating. Some rely on mental calculations, while others use a simple per-fixture rate.

"Often when I ask plumbers how they’re currently estimating, it’s met with awkward silence."
- Craig.

This highlights a common issue: many plumbers, especially those just starting, need help understanding what it takes to estimate accurately and profitably. 

The full webinar

Webinar Highlights

Accounting and Job Management integrations

First up, Craig showed us a list of integrations available for Groundplan.

By leveraging the power of an integrated job management or accounting software, users can build a complete estimate process. Users can quantify materials directly from their existing job management or accounting software. 

Simplified takeoff process

Next, Craig dives into the meat and potatoes of what Groundplan is all about, showing us how the takeoff process can be simplified by using dedicated takeoff software. 

For example, calculating the number of downpipes using the Count tool or the length of 100mm PVC pipes required for a project based off a plan using the Length tool. This approach simply produces the quantities, which is often all people need.

See also advanced options such as Formulas or Integrations.

We also saw the Worksheet which holds a list of the resulting figures in a table, ready for export once a takeoff is complete. ‍

A professional design document

Next we looked at how to add your own plumbing design.

Extraneous lines, drawings, logos and instructions were removed from the plan to give us a clean slate. 

Then Craig added storm water drainage around the perimeter of the house (Length) including down pipes (Count). The Length Labelling feature ensures that anywhere this measurement appears, it is clearly labelled as ‘SW’.

The marked up drawing serves as both clear communication for the client, clear instruction for the people on site and of course, calculates your meterage, all in one process. 

These drawings are also often used on Council Consent forms. 

“A customer once told me they were paying a sub contractor $400 to do their Council Concent forms. At 250 houses per year, he’s now saving a lot of money.”
- Craig.

Add your own logo, your company details, client details and even a legend for a very professional a complete document.

Compare old plans with updated plans

Whenever a revision is received, it’s often difficult to see what’s changed. You certainly don’t want to go and begin all those measurements again on a new plan. Instead we use Plan Compare. 

Overlay the new plan onto an existing plan and Groundplan will highlight the changes in red. Update your measurements and away you go.

Zane Britton’s Experience: Digitizing the Plumbing Process

It was during Covid that Zane took the opportunity to build a robust infrastructure and as a result, has become a fan of Groundplan. See the full story.

One input, multiple outputs

Zane often points out the efficiency gained by using software such as Groundplan.

He often uses the phrase ‘one input, multiple outputs’. In other words, once the data has been entered once, a range of documents can be populated with the data that is generated from Groundplan.

"The biggest gain is productivity. Once the job is accepted you have a Bill of Quantities ready to go and a marked drawing for tradesmen to go to site.”
- Zane

A clear, professional presentation

It especially helps your B2C customers to understand what has been included in the quote. In other words, what they are paying for.

The transparency goes along toward having clients build trust by understanding what has been included and therefore, accepting the quote.

“It gives everyone an understanding about what’s happening. A clear, transparent plan goes a long way in demonstrating value to clients”.
- Zane

Flexibility of variation

Another advantage Zane has clearly seen is the ability to easily modify the plan and submit it to a customer or engineer for approval. With everyone on the same up-to-date plan, it can be approved and keep the project moving forward.

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