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Profits Start With a Good Estimating Program, Salt Lake Contractor Says

To the thousands of visitors who stop by to hear his presentation, Jessop gets to describe his own success stories using EstimatorPRO.

A bad estimate could mean you start losing money the minute you start the job, Jessop tells convention-goers, and that’s why he keeps driving home one point: good estimates are the way to ensure good profits on every single job and EstimatorPRO .0 is the solution.

The Microsoft® Excel-based estimating spreadsheet template is designed for those who require powerful estimating capabilities. It can be learned in just minutes and can be easily customized.

EstimatorPRO enables detailed estimates for an average house to be completed in as little as 90 minutes, which is up to 12 times faster than traditional estimating methods.

Its integration with Quickbooks Pro® (2002) now allows users to post items to category accounts, add vendors automatically and post purchase orders and change orders quickly and efficiently.

The program’s author, Jay Christofferson, is an expert in Microsoft Excel and a general contractor. He heads up the Construction Management program at Brigham Young University.

“I’ve been using EstimatorPRO for about four years,” Jessop says during his demonstration sessions at the convention. “Before, I was looking at a long list of estimating programs available out there. There’s a ton of them. I was really close to spending $10,000 on an estimating program.”

But the first time Jay Christofferson showed him EstimatorPRO, “I said, ‘Just give me the mouse, give me the mouse,’ and pretty soon I was sold,” says Jessop.

“Jay’s designed this thing for easy navigation, to give you detailed estimates and do complex calculations,” he adds. For NAHB members, the cost is around $700.

“Even if you’re good in Excel, how much time would it take you to design your own estimating program?” Jessop asks. “Couldn’t you make $700 building houses in less time than it would take you to come up with an effective estimating program?”

“And quite frankly, I would be ahead thousands and thousands of dollars if I’d had a program like this six years ago.”

Jessop is president and owner of L.A. Custom Homes in Salt Lake. Working in the building industry for more than 19 years, his company is well known for creating beautiful custom homes that are consistently brought in on time and on budget.

Jessop will next be introducing EstimatorPRO to builders and remodelers at the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in mid-January. He will be at NAHB OnSite, which is located next to the BuilderBooks.com store.

EstimatorPRO is published by BuilderBooks.com, which has served the home building industry for more than 25 years as the professional publishing division of NAHB. BuidlerBooks.com develops books, brochures, software and other materials for the residential and light commercial industry. For information on this and other products, click here.

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