VW Building Projects, based in Melbourne, Australia, specializes in domestic renovations and new, custom homes.
Brett Way and his business partner, Josh Vendramini started the business determined to create a construction company of their very own. As carpenters, they had a passion for building finely crafted custom homes.
Using their combined 26 years of experience, they’ve built a network of tradespeople that delivers projects on time and on budget. For their customers, there is understanding and clear communication at every phase of their project.
However, as Brett and Josh built their business, they found they were spending a large amount of their time in the office, writing job estimates. Josh said even writing basic estimates with little detail was becoming too time-consuming.
“I think we started off probably like most small companies start off…and that’s with good old-fashioned pen and paper,” he said. “That’s where countless hours got put into after work, just sitting down behind a desk, looking at paper plans, and translating that onto paper.”
Brett agreed, saying that estimate writing was taking time away from his family and friends.
“Before Buildxact, we were doing all of our quoting, estimating—well—it was all after hours. So, the work-life balance wasn’t fantastic,” he said.
How Buildxact makes a difference
Brett, Josh and his team left the pen, paper, and even spreadsheets, behind when they made the switch to Buildxact construction management software.
Since switching to Buildxaxct, VW Building Projects has done way with writing basic estimates. They now provide accurate and detailed digital estimates, which have led to a higher quote win rate for their business, in a fraction of the time.
“We found Buildxact has played a huge role in setting us apart and just helping us win projects,” Brett said. “The ability to quote accurately and quickly and present it really well just stands out.”
With Buildxact’s estimating tool, Josh and Brett now have the ability to break projects into major tasks and their associated subtasks. They can also assign costs by type, whether that’s material or labor. With Buildxact, material costs are easily associated with each task using integrated supplier pricing.
Brett says this interactive capability within the software is critical to their business operations.
“It makes estimating an absolute breeze. We have had a couple of large (material) brands that had their catalog updated, and we know what’s been updated for every item and what it’s going to cost.”
For Josh, having a detailed estimating tool like Buildxact was personally impactful.
“I think one of the turning points was when Brett and I were going out on a Sunday to have a look at a job. And, like everyone, our customer wants to sort of have an answer tomorrow. So, we try our best to put our best foot forward.
“And I think that was the turning point where I realized ‘I really don’t want to be sitting down on a Sunday, estimating projects to be able to give it to them on a Monday.’ But with Buildxact, it’s simple.”
How Buildxact improves estimating in less time
Integrated supplier pricing has helped VW Building Projects guarantee they have the latest, most accurate pricing; giving them the confidence to know their quote is not only competitive but will also turn a fair profit. With Buildxact, hunting down your supplier’s latest material price catalogs is a thing of the past.
“Being able to have live prices via our suppliers is the difference between winning or losing a job,” Josh said. “Obviously, prices change dramatically almost daily when it comes to certain materials.
So being able to just log on and find the going rate is so powerful.”
“I think everyone’s well aware that prices keep fluctuating and there seems to be no happy medium. So being able to log on to Buildxact and view our suppliers’ prices daily just makes our estimates a lot more accurate.,” he said.
Once pricing is in place, Buildxact calculates the quantity of materials you’ll need, via the digital takeoff tool—keeping the job’s material pricing and needed material quantities all in one place. 
Takeoffs are made from digital plans that are easily uploaded onto the Buildxact platform. Measurements are made using simple point-and-click mouse commands.
Brett says one, simple end-to-end solution that tracks all aspects of a job in one place is what sold them on Buildxact.
The takeoff tool really stood out, just in its simplicity. You could clearly see that you could take an area, fill it in and move on. No time is wasted. With Buildxact, we can go start-to-finish on a quote in a handful of hours,” Brett said.
Ready to try Buildxact for yourself?
Like Brett and Josh, you, too, can benefit from the power of Buildxact construction estimating software. Schedule a live demo or get started today with a risk-free trial.
