McCormick Systems had a booth in the front of NECA's show in San
Francisco. Contractors and others got to see us at they came in!
Here are a few quick peeks at what was happening at the most
"happening" booth at a very busy, booming event.
McCormick’s New V9.0 Reveals A New
Face
“If
you haven’t seen McCormick lately, you haven’t seen McCormick.”
That’s the company’s new slogan – and the new Version 9.0 of its
estimating software delivers on the promise. Among numerous upgrades
and enhancements in V9.0 are:
-
Modifications
to the Proposal Sheet included in the software enable
contractors to take data directly from an estimate and put
it in a proposal to be sent to a client – along with job
notes, documents, photographs, and more.
-
A unique
capability on NetPricerTM and McCormick.
Estimators can see material prices – updated instantly –
from multiple vendors on one screen. McCormick offers this
combination of the ability to see real-time prices AND
side-by-side comparison.
-
Sharing
information – McCormick’s new software includes the
capability to share information with increased number of
construction accounting programs, making the contractor’s
job easier.
Those are only some of the V9.0 enhancements, all made with
McCormick’s usual focus on improving productivity. The goal: To help
electrical and automated building systems contractors produce faster
estimates with increased accuracy – allowing more time for estimator
creativity.
The feature that usually draws the biggest crowds is our CadEst program, and this show was no exception. Some of the features discussed appear below.
Your electrical estimating interface with CAD can do a lot more for you.
a. Lengths will be measured accurately (with the accuracy of the CAD system with which they were drawn). On many AutoCAD-created drawings, home runs are drawn with an arrow and a note designated a panel. Thus, there’s no object to measure. In McCormick’s CAD Estimating, there is a “home run feature” that does the measuring for you.
b. You can use the CAD takeoff after the estimating stage. One example: Block out a portion of the project and do a take-off using the CAD/estimating software or interface. This will provide an accurate material list and labor for that piece of the project – helping you make sure the right materials are delivered in a timely manner.
c. Field drawings can be drawn using different CAD “layers” (and colors). This enables your company to designate systems, alternates, change orders, and more, and differentiate between them.
d. Problems occur for estimators when they return to a project from which they’ve had to walk away – for minutes (on a break or phone call) or days. The interface between your estimating software and CAD should “remember” where you left off. This gets the estimator back to work, quickly.
e. Datacom outlets are (usually) home runs back to the telephone cabinet or data rack. Estimators can find themselves devoting many hours taking off the lengths for such installations. With the “home run feature” in McCormick’s system (as an example), a great deal of time can be saved.
f. You can even use CAD plus your estimating software as a job management tool. Areas of the project can be marked (boxed) as they are completed. You can then match the labor used in completing that piece of the job against what was estimated/budgeted.
g. There are other advantages “embedded” in using CAD. This is not a new technology! One example: All AutoCAD drawings are provided with real-world dimensions. By using CAD drawings, you will eliminate the troubling (and potentially very expensive) scale errors that sometimes pop up in electrical construction.
Other notes
This may be obvious, but it doesn’t necessarily “go without saying:” Contractors who work on design-build jobs will find life more rewarding if they are able to use CAD, and interface their electrical estimating systems with constantly changing digital drawings. Such contractors will be able to accept streams of new drawings, perform take-offs, and provide prices quickly and easily.
At first, contractors and estimators have to invest a little time in a CAD/software interface. You have to “tell” the software what the symbols in the CAD drawing mean. This is an up-front investment of time; obviously, after a first group of jobs, the bulk of such work is done. You might find yourself “telling” the software about only a handful of special symbols for jobs on down the line.
Additionally, you can create links between one layer of the CAD drawing and multiple items (or assemblies). Essentially, you can create an assembly “on the fly.”
SEE US IN BOOTH #101 AT IEC
The Independent Electrical
Contractors' national convention and Electric Expo 2007 will take
place later this month -- Oct. 24-27 -- in Houston. The Expo is now
a two-day show. You'll find McCormick Systems in booth #101
SAVE THE DATE - April 2-5, 2008
There's a lot more information to come, but we've nailed down the
dates for next year's McCormick Systems User's Conference -- April
2-5 in Tempe, AZ. Watch this space!
Guest
Commentary:
Perspectives on Two
Industry Figures of Note
(opinion posted by Joe Salimando to the EleBlog -- www.electricalcontractor.com.
Used with permission)
My Memory Of H
Leviton
[note: Harold
Leviton, age 90, died in September.]
Back when I was Publisher of Electrical Contractor -- which
makes this memory from 1997 or 1998 -- I was invited to Leviton's HQ
to make a presentation to the company's Distributor Advisory
Committee. I considered it an honor then, and I do now. The DAC
consisted (if memory serves) of 15 electrical distributors. I
honestly can't remember what my presentation was about (other than,
of course, that it contained a lot of data about electrical
contractors based on E.C. magazine's research).
Early during my presentation, Harold Leviton wandered into the room.
He sat down at a small table in the back (a table at which I had
left my computer bag -- this was a PowerPoint presentation, and I
lugged the thing). He smoked a cigar, which interested me; I was a
regular (1-2 per day) cigar smoker at the time.
I finished the presentation and answered questions. When done, I
went to the bag to pack up and leave. Mr. Leviton was still sitting
there. In a friendly way -- and with what sounded like a Brooklyn
accent to me (and I should know!) -- he peppered me with a few
questions. I remember thinking:
a. Jeez, these are better questions than
anyone else in the room had asked.
b. I hope to heck I'm still alive at age 80 or above.
c. There's no way I'm going to be this sharp if I live that
long.
I
also remember talking briefly about cigars. Needless to say, he
smoked a somewhat nicer brand than I did.
In short, I came away with the impression that Harold Leviton was
not only the oldest guy in the place, he also was the sharpest tool
in the shed. I came away humbled. I've long since quit the daily
practice of smoking cigars (my dad died of cancer as the result of
cigarette smoking) . . . but when you consider that Mr. L lived to
be 90, perhaps that was a hasty decision.
Ayers To Head BCTD
Here's a news "alert"
from Engineering News-Record, dated today (9/7) --
Building Trades Select IBEW's Ayers
as President
Construction union leaders have selected Mark Ayers, director of
the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers'
construction and maintenance department, to be the next
president of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades
Dept. Ayers, who was confirmed for the post by the BCTD board on
Sept. 6, will succeed the retiring Edward C. Sullivan as
president on Oct. 1.
Before heading the IBEW's
construction and maintenance unit, Ayers was business manager
and financial secretary for the union's Local 34 in Peoria, Ill.
He said in a statement, "I look forward to addressing the
challenges and seizing the opportunities that present themselves
to the union construction industry."
Sullivan, who has led the BCTD since
2000, announced his retirement in May.The building trades'
governing board is composed of the general presidents of the
BCTD's 12 affiliated unions.
There is a lot to say
here.
1 -- one of Ayers'
responsibilities at IBEW was to serve as a Trustee of the IBEW-NECA
NLMCC -- the National Labor Management Cooperation Committee. The
IBEW-NECA NLMCC markets union electrical construction to customers
and talks to the industry about itself and its future.
2 -- I've been the "marketing coordinator" (an independent
contractor) for the NLMCC since the fall of 1998. Ayers has been one
of the four Trustees since, I think, 2000 or 2001.
3 -- while there are 4 Trustees of the NLMCC, Ayers and Geary
Higgins (of NECA) are the people who serve as the "two-headed boss"
(my phrase) of the NLMCC. This means I have been taking orders from
Higgins-Ayers for more than 5 years.
4 -- I've formed an opinion of Mark Ayers in that time. He is
honest. He has integrity. He is creative. It is hard, sometimes, in
discussions about marketing issues (that's when I'm in the room!) to
remember that Mark started his IBEW career as an apprentice
electrician!
5 -- There are some very good things about the AFL-CIO BCTD naming
Ayers to this job. In my opinion, the creative stuff is going to
take BCTD to dramatic new heights. One other thing about Mark that
will probably be good in his new position: He's impatient to
succeed. That doesn't mean he screams and yells, and is temperamental.
It means he tries to remove roadblocks to success.
6 -- Among other things, the IBEW -- under International President
Edwin D. Hill and Mark Ayers -- has worked with NECA on something
called "The Florida Initiative." Thanks to aggressive adoption in
that state of new classifications for electrical workers
("construction electrician" and "construction wireman"), the union
electrical construction side has increased its market share in
Florida. According to what I heard at the IBEW Construction &
Maintenance Dept. conference this past spring, the IBEW-employing
electrical contractor market share in FL went from 6% to 20% in two
years.
That's astounding.
7 -- You don't have to take The EleBlog's word for what Mark has
wrought. There are two projects you can take a look at -- right now
-- that are unique in the electrical industry, wildly interesting
and informative, and successful:
a. the IBEW has an
internal communication TV show that it opens up to the public -- see http://www.ibewhourpower.com.
b. working through that NLMCC, IBEW and NECA have a separate TV show
aimed at construction project owners and others in the construction
community -- http://www.electricTV.net.
Take a look.
Where You Can See Us In 2007 Here are our scheduled appearances at industry events this year: Oct. 24-27, Houston, TX -- IEC Convention & Expo.
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