Civil 3D Quantity Takeoff Paper

I’m writing a paper to be certified as a Certified Cost Engineer (CCE). I’m planning on writing the paper on how to bring the information from Civil 3D into Success Estimator without manually typing the information.

In order to get information for the paper I’m looking for information from anyone who is using the Quantity Takeoff capabilities in Civil 3D 2010. Specifically on how you are using the information. Do you take the output and open it in Excel and then input the unit prices? Do you manually input it into a cost estimating program? How you are using data? Please leave me a comment or email me.

Here’s my draft abstract if you want more information on the paper’s topic:

Abstract

Despite a plethora of software packages available on the market today for cost estimating, interoperability between design software, takeoff software and estimating software appears to be lacking. The program developers have mostly left the transfer of data between programs to manual methods. With civil design software increasingly headed towards smart model based design rather than 2D dumb line work, the interaction between design software and estimating software should be considered. This paper will cover how information contained in the civil design software Civil 3D 2010 may be brought into the estimation software Success Estimator 6.8.7 by utilizing the Success Estimator application program interface (API).

Civil 3D 2010 included new quantity takeoff capabilities. Quantity takeoffs within Civil 3D allow the designer to easily create quantity takeoffs based on the design model. Design changes to the model are reflected when the quantity takeoff report is run at any point in the design. This provides the capability of conducting accurate quantity takeoffs throughout the design. At this time Success Estimator does not provide the ability to import data from a text document or other electronic format. Success Estimator does provide the ability, through the API, to create custom applications. A custom application may be created to import data into Success Estimator contained in the Civil 3D quantity takeoff report.

The Civil 3D quantity takeoff capabilities make it possible to easily perform quantity takeoffs of the design without taking the design into another quantity takeoff program. By performing quantity takeoffs on the model errors may be reduced. By creating a custom application within Success Estimator it is possible to import data from an external source. This ability could reduce errors caused by manual entry of information.