Countfire Reviews

Central storage of all takeoff documents. No more boxes of rolled-up plans cluttering my office. I would typically fill 1-2 boxes every month, so it really has reduced clutter and the overall appearance of my office. It definitely saves money when you consider that you no longer have to plot jobs that you don't win. That is a lot of paper, toner, and wear on your plotter.

The software is very easy to use and you can be fully trained on all of the keyboard shortcuts and navigation in less than a week. After about 5 jobs, you will very confident that you aren't missing any devices during takeoff and will have your own workflow for getting a takeoff done.

The developers are constantly making improvements, adding features, bug fixes, and you get pretty routine feedback when one of your feature requests are considered or implemented.

Customer and Tech support is top-notch and very responsive, and everyone seems to be very well trained on the product. It is also a very small team, so you will typically be speaking (texting) with someone you're familiar with.

The software is 100% cloud-based, and from my early conversations with the sales team, is the heart of their mission and will never change. That alone is not a negative, however, I feel that some of the processing could (and should) be done on your local machine and then pushed to the cloud to create the "output package". Moving between pages of a PDF is not as fast as scrolling in your preferred PDF reader. It's not slow, but there is definitely a pause before you're ready to work on the next sheet. It seems they could have better control of the user interface if there was a PC-based client option.

If you need support, the time difference from Eastern US to the UK can sometimes be a challenge, but the support team is absolutely great and will respond back to you outside of their normal working hours, assuming they aren't sleeping.

All support is initially done through an in-app chat bot that will recommend that you go read articles based on your questions. I will admit that most of the time, the recommended articles DO contain your answers, but I personally just like to call and talk to someone. I realize this would put a strain on their resources though, so I rate this as a very small negative. I would rather support maintain their current level of quality than be burdened with phone calls over minor issues. If you do have a major issue or prefer to speak to someone, you can ask for a call and they will call you.

When a pdf is is drawn properly it works great. Automatic counting etc. No I'm just trying to reach 100 characters

When a pdf is not drawn properly, i may as well count manually. Which is mostly the case.
Simple things could be added to improve experience, such as a plan multiplier for drawings that cover multiple levels.

Without the software we wouldn't be able to deliver the speed of work that we are able to do now

Sometimes the symbols don't import quite correctly, also doesn't like complex symbols exported from Autocad

Countfire is easy to use and the customer service team ensure this is always the way. I like how the information is collated and keep things organised.

I dont like how you cannot quickly check quantities without processing the take off then downloading. If there was a quick check function then that would be a lot easier for things like sending my luminaire enquiries before i complete my take offs. I understand the risk with not having the checking function doing this but i would be happy to take the risk. Matching overlaid drawings with the zone function is a tedious task and i got excited when i saw the overlay function appear but this function isnt great so zoning remains my least favourite task.

Ability to quickly turn around project quantities and transfer onto Excel for all to use and review.

difficulties using the product is when the drawing images are uploaded but each symbol has minor alterations. To the naked eye can't be picked up but the software will, therefore some symbols need multiple take offs done for same image.

The product itself is very easy to use and get used to. I can take drawings off in whatever way I need, and even go back to edit take offs if needs be with no hassle.

One feature I would like to see added to countfire is the ability to copy a Group/Measure/Count. Sometimes on one drawing I could have multiple types of spurs for example, and it would be nice to be able to copy one line item, and edit part of the reference to save typing out the whole thing.

I have found that even though it is mainly for the electrical trade i have adapted it with the help of the Countfire Team to mechanical use

Nothing. It has suited all my needs and assists in my day to day works

The software is easy to use and if in doubt the speed of assistance is almost immediate. The ease to choose symbols which then copies across to all drawings in that section makes it so much faster.

Not having used any other software for take offs in the past doesn't give me much to say what features the software lacks or is missing, anything we do use is a bonus and with new features constantly updating I cant fault it.

It saves an incredible amount of time when doing takeoffs and the other features make it much easier to complete many time consuming tasks. Also the countfire team shows you all of the ins and outs so you always know what you are doing.

No negatives at this time.

Take off software is definitely the stand out area of the software compared to others on the market which require you to manually take off items. This allows you to instantly highlight which then follows through to other pages in the same discipline. Cutting the time to do take offs dramatically

The kits can take some time to build up when you first start using the software which can be a bit tedious especially if you are used to working on spreadsheets etc. but if you bear with it it does get much easier and quicker to use.

Easy and quick to use. Absolutely brilliant.

It would be nice to be able to copy test off the drawings to paste in the software

Countfire makes doing takeoffs extremely easy and the amount of time it saves leaves more time to do other things that need doing.

not enough colours in the palette, When you measure & ask for itemised it measures every click not just start to finish giving far to many reults

The new feature to overlay drawings to save time taking off similar drawings more than once.

Can be long processing some complicated drawings.

So easy to use and if there is something you're not sure about Support are very quick to respond and walk/ talk you through it

Doesnt integrate with 3 party estimation software which would be nice but not essential

Its very easy to use and speeds up the take off the process substantially. The info you get afterwards speeds up inputting of tenders.

I would like a great selection of colours when do very large take offs.

The ability to drag, drop and created elements save days of manual counting on paper.
the software can be used anywhere you have internet connection

an internet connection is required and a large amount of storage for dropbox also

I love the ability to join drawings, this is useful on Drawing updates, Split Drawings. I have also found a use for System Modifications too.

When I have to Manually Count, I find the dots placed can flood the drawing making it hard to ensure you have covered everything, when toggling the tabs, this equally leaves questioning.

Countfire is so easy to use. I've only recently moved to the estimating department and this tool is essential. I love that the Countfire team keeps an eye on the way you use the software and come in with suggestion how to use the tool more effectively if they see you making the same mistake multiple times. They will also offer suggestions on the most efficient ways to do your take-offs.

Countfire can sometimes fail to recognize the same symbol if there is a difference in orientation, but having said that, the "Toggle" function will identify missed symbols.

The level of accuracy and ability to populate all take offs into a spreadsheet format.
the software is very easy to use even if you don't have great Computer skills

occasionally things can be a little slow if drawings files are large.
if you don't have a great internet connection access can be difficult at times if working remotely from Home / Office PC

it saves a lot of time rather than manually counting the items. it tally's up all the drawing at the one time and its very easy to use.

that when you select an item it pick up others as well. and sometimes you may have to go over some drawing to see if it missed out any of the symbols

1) in general it is simple to use and give a quick access to count and item selection.
2) Very good the split selection

1)I would add description/comment in the drawings.
2)I would have more "Color selection" if it possible, as sometimes we've got a large number of selection to do (like Grey, Brown, etc...).
3)When we need to count "a point" there is a "circular selection" , could be nice have also a different other selection like a "triangle" or "rectangle". This could be very helpful.

Ease of functions and effortless takeoff of multiple items

There is no automatic scale set or you cant measure say a doorway and tell countfire it should be 0.8m and it calculates the scale