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About Countfire
True automated takeoff software that actually works. Save time, money and increase accuracy. Start your FREE TRIAL today.
The ease of integration, no software to install locally.
There is no 'back' button to help you correct mistakes - you have to rely on not saving changes which is not ideal.
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Filter reviews (211)
Amazing Software - Would definitely recommend!!
Comments: Great, efficient, time saver!!
Pros:
Easy & straightforward to use. Great user interface. Reliable automated counting (if drawings are half decent!)
Cons:
Copying symbol selection over to new drawings & also reviewing later revisions of drawings does not always work as it should with no real explanation as to why apart from it being something related to the drawing
Countfire Response
2 years ago
Thanks Kelly - appreciate you leaving this review! Really glad to hear you're getting on with Countfire so well. You're correct, copying symbols doesn't always work. Occasionally the revised drawings have been created slightly differently - there are usually 2 reasons why Countfire will not automatically find matches: 1 - The drawings have been converted to an image, removing the drawing layers - which means the symbols are not selectable 2 - When the original drawing was revised the symbols have been drawn differently or changed (i.e. the make-up of the symbols has different - for example the shape of a light fitting has changed).
Users Review of Countfire
Comments: I have been using Countfire for 8 years and is the best counting and measuring software on the market by far. Ease of use.
Pros:
Countfire has been developed specifically for take off from PDF drawings. The ease of take from PDF drawings and the export in Excel. The ability to create zones that match the tender breakdown/CSA. The exceptional level and speed of support is second to none.
Cons:
The estimating package need a lot of work to be used by major M&E companies. The left hand margin and contents are fixed. This needs to be flexible to move and change fonts etc. Can be slow for take with the background on. (Sometimes the background need to stay)
Countfire Response
8 months ago
Best counting and measuring software on the market by far – love it! Thanks Merv. You're spot on – Countfire has been designed by Estimators for Estimators with loads of features to help improve the speed and accuracy of your takeoffs. Our support is something we're really proud of. From online training sessions to our in-app live chat, we do our best to make sure all of our users get the most out of the software. Thanks for the feedback on the Estimating side of the software. We've recently added the ability to add prelims to your estimates and produce custom reports to suit your requirements. If you'd like to take a look, just let us know and we can set up a quick video call.
Great quality product
Pros:
The ability to select 1 symbol and count fire counts all of them.
Cons:
Either the loading time or the fact that sometimes it messes up the background and believes it is not background. Though I understand this is probably due to the drawings rather than countfire.
Countfire Response
10 months ago
Many thanks for your review Brody. Absolutely – when selecting your symbols Countfire searches for matches across all drawings in your discipline. When backgrounds aren't automatically hidden we have a number of options you can use by clicking the down arrow next to the background button. This allows you to: Customise – select parts of the drawing to hide with the default settings of your background. Restore defaults – return to Countfire's standard background settings. Restart – removes all background settings and allows you to start from scratch.
Commercial Manager
Comments: Generally very good and I have been using it on and off for the last 8 years.
Pros:
The speed in which we can turn around our take offs.
Cons:
The costs of the product. Sometimes the speed in which drawings are available when loading them onto the system. But that is probably down to the size of some of the drawings more than an reflection of the system.
Countfire Response
3 months ago
Thanks for the review Sean Great to hear you're improving the speed of turning around your takeoffs! Appreciate the cost of estimating software can seem high however Countfire helps you save money by allowing you to complete your takeoffs quicker and more accurately. When you upload drawings, they go through a preparing stage to get them ready to work on. Preparing can take up to 10 minutes depending on the complexity of the drawing however the majority of drawings prepare much quicker. If you're finding your drawings are slow to prepare, I'd recommend sending us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app. We can take a look and see if there's anything we can do to help.
Positive Review
Comments: Excellent, easy to use, helpful when requesting help.
Pros:
Easy to use, speeds up take offs and pricing
Cons:
I dont have any cons for this section...
Countfire Response
2 months ago
What a fantastic review – thanks George! If you do ever have questions or feedback, feel free to send us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app. Glad to hear you've found us helpful – from our in-app live chat to online training sessions, we're on hand to make sure you get the most out of Countfire.
Good job, keep it up!
Comments: the support team have been provided is brilliant, so a very good experience
Pros:
the ease with which the software identifies the icons once the parameters are set.
Cons:
where the same icon is slightly different the software can't yet differentiate
Countfire Response
4 months ago
Thanks for the great review Daniel! Awesome to hear you're finding it easy to count your symbols with Countfire. Glad to hear you had a very good experience with our support team! We're super proud of our support – we have a live chat to answer any questions you have and offer free online training to make sure you're getting the most out of the software. Sometimes symbols are drawn inconsistently when the drawings are created which can mean that you won't find many matches for your selections. I'd recommend sending us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner and we can take a look at your drawings to see if there's anything we can do to improve your matches.
first time using
Comments: SO FAR IT HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT POSITIVE SOME MINOR ACCESS ISSUES BUT WAS RESOLVED BY THE TEAM IN A FEW MINIUETS
Pros:
THE TAKE OFF ABILITY AND HOW QUICKY IT SYNCHS UP WITH OTHER ACCOUNTS ALMOST INSTANT
Cons:
IF THE DRAWING IS POOR IT WONT AUTO SELECT
Countfire Response
2 months ago
Awesome review – thanks Mitchell! Great to hear you're having a good time using Countfire. Sounds like you might have run into some images. Depending on the format chosen when the drawings were created, sometimes they are images rather than proper PDFs and unfortunately, you're not able to use the auto-count feature. Fortunately this is rare, and we do have manual counting tools to allow you to complete your takeoff even if your drawings are images. Glad our team were able to help you with your issues – you can send us a message on the orange button in-app and we'll help rectify any issue you're running into on your takeoff.
My review of countfire
Comments: Excellent. No problem is too much to ask for help from the team. They are very responsive and helpful.
Pros:
I like that it saves me time on larger projects that have a lot to quantify, as well as making measurements easier and quicker.
Cons:
I have had the odd drawing where it doesn't pick up the symbols very well.
Countfire Response
7 months ago
Thanks for the great review Caroline! Awesome to hear Countfire is saving you time and you're finding our support responsive and helpful. There are a few things that can cause your symbols to not be picked up well including the format of the drawings and the way the drawings have been created. If you run into this on a project, I'd always recommend sending us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app – our support team can take a look and see if there's anything we can do to improve the quality of the drawings.
Software that helps
Comments: This software has made the job of tendering a lot easier
Pros:
being able to import drawings with out any fuss.
Cons:
I don't see any negative points, as this saves time.
Countfire Response
2 months ago
Thanks for the great review Ian! Great to hear Countfire has made tendering a lot easier.
Countfire is a yes from UKE
Comments: I really rate countfire. it helps with everything leading forward installation as well as circuitry.
Pros:
I like the sheer ease of the product and its accuracy.
Cons:
Sometime it doesnt pick up everything if the drawings are badly drawn
Countfire Response
3 months ago
What a great review Alex – thank you! Awesome to hear you're finding Countfire easy to use and accurate. You're spot on – sometimes you might need to make additional selections to pick up all of your symbols if they aren't consistent on the drawings. Making a few selections is expected however if you find you're needing to make lots of selections, I'd recommend messaging us on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app. We can take a look at your drawings to see if there's anything our technical team can do to improve their quality.
Taking off made easy!
Pros:
Automatically counting multiple drawings at the same timeAbility to identify any issues/errorsConstantly adding new features
Cons:
So far we have had no issues wit the software. The only very minor issue was not receiving a notification of duplicate symbols on a set of drawings but still not really an issue
Countfire Response
2 years ago
Thanks Jake - really appreciate you leaving this review! Countfire's auto-counting feature is built on our own proprietary image recognition algorithm, this allows the software to automatically recognise selected symbols/text across all the drawings within that discipline. That's spot on - finding errors is easy! You can hide your counted symbols allowing you to visually check your work in the software. Once your takeoff is processed, we also provide a check sheet and pdf drawings so you can be confident your takeoff is 100% accurate. You're right, we are constantly updating and adding new features. To keep up to date with what we're doing you can read our changelogs here https://feedback.countfire.com/changelog Duplicates are a tricky one as it's essentially due to how the drawing has been created - there can be two separate symbols on top of each other and therefore counts as two in the final quantities. Although it rarely happens, when a project is processed we have safety measures in place that notify us if the software suspects any duplicates in your project. As soon as the duplicates get flagged we send out a message detailing where the duplicates have been found and how to fix them.
Alternatives Considered:
CountFire Automated Take-Off Software
Comments: I could not be more pleased with CounFire. It is fast, accurate, easy to use, and has cut my time to perform a take-off by a factor of 10. Some may question a factor of 10, but try it and see that drawing symbols when counted on one drawing are also counted on all other drawings within the project drawing package automatically. Orientation is not an issue, and items not picked up are easily identified and added to the correct symbol list. Check drawings are also supplied as part of the final report to assure all errors have been resolved.
Pros:
CountFire being a cloud based service gets you up and running quickly. CountFire Sales is there to get you started and introduce you to Technical Assistance and Training. The On-Line Help function is integral to the CountFire Platform allowing you to be able to function seamlessly as you work on projects. I can count drawing elements or make extremely accurate measurements in one tenth of the time I did manually without the cost of drawing reproduction. The Final Reports are perfectly formatted in MSExcel and ready for Bill of Material development.
Cons:
I am still looking for a Con. I thought that since CountFire is in Great Britain that communications might be hampered by five, (5) time zones, but this was not the case. CountFire was there 24X7 to solve my self-inflicted start-up issues.
Alternatives Considered:
Game Changer...
Comments: Using countfire has completely changed the way I do my job. I have gone from old school drawings and highlighters to paperless and streamlined. I would guess that it has increased my productivity by a factor of 3. Every day I learn of a new feature and if I have any questions or issues, they are dealt with quickly and efficiently by one of the superb and knowledgeable customer service gurus. I love that they are paying attention to what I am doing constantly and suggesting ways to improve how I'm doing it. Overall, this is a really great tool with FLAWLESS customer service, regardless of timezone issues. Thank you Countfire team.
Pros:
It's easy to use, functions really well and they've thought of (almost!) everything! It's really great that it puts all the information into a nice, neat Excel spreadsheet so I can easily add my costings and work out my prices.
Cons:
I'm only a couple of months into using countfire but there's nothing I don't like about it. I have made a couple of suggestions for features - I need to be able to switch from imperial to metric measurements at will being the main one. Autosave another. I think that these have been taken on board.
Countfire for mechanical users
Comments: The take off package is great and saves times and money on printing endless amounts of drawings. And also great service and very helpful.
Pros:
the main reason for using this is take off package which is very helpful and saves time at tender stage.
Cons:
Estimate side seems a bit over complicated for new users.
Countfire Response
11 months ago
Great review Wesley, amazing news that you find Countfire helpful for mechanical users. Really glad to hear Countfire's been useful during the tender stage– saving you time as well as money! Our support team would be more than happy to help you get to grips with our estimating tool. Please do reach out by using the orange button in-app. The estimating tool will allow you to work faster and increase accuracy.
An estimators dream
Comments: A company that provides a fully supported free trial of their software has confidence in its product. Safe to say that its not miss-placed confidence.
Pros:
Intuitive, accurate, superb customer support, simple to use, fully formatted downloadable reports.
Cons:
Hard to say what I like the least.............. That it wasn't available 30 years ago. :-)
Countfire Response
last year
Thanks for your great review Andrew! It's great to hear that you find Countfire intuitive and simple to use. It would have been great to be around 30 years ago so we could have been helping estimators increase their speed and accuracy for longer – if only we had a time machine 😄 You're right – we are confident that Countfire will help estimators speed up their takeoff and estimating process. We also want our users to get the most out of the software, so we offer free full online training and live support to all of our users – from free trial through to our legacy customers, as we are consistently releasing new features.
Time Saving Application
Comments: This lowers the rate of human error, whilst also saving on printing paper. Very quick turn around too :-)
Pros:
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.
Cons:
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 Response
last year
Great to hear you're managing to save time Nicholas! Our Floor plan, Overlay and Compare features are really handy for handling layouts split over multiple drawings, checking compatibility between services and handling revised drawings. If you don't have any linear measures on your drawings, you can control the size of the manual points by changing the scale on the drawing in the measure tab. You can also hide the points you've already counted using the check box next to each measure heading to make it easier to complete the rest of your takeoff. It's awesome that you're benefitting from lowering the rate of human error and saving on printing paper on your takeoffs too.
Impressive Software.
Pros:
Ability to quickly turn around project quantities and transfer onto Excel for all to use and review.
Cons:
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.
Countfire Response
last year
Wow, what a great review - thanks Ben! It's great to hear that you're able to quickly turn around your projects. You're spot on – sometimes symbols can look the same on your drawings but, when the drawings have been created, they have been drawn slightly differently. All you need to do to count all these symbols is make an additional selection. Countfire will then look for your selections across all of your drawings in the discipline. If you do run into this, it's always worth popping our support team a message, they'll usually have some tips to help you get more matches from fewer selections.
Countfire
Comments: Very good experience so far with a lot of support. Quite expensive cost wise.
Pros:
Easy to use for take offs and counts same symbols over multiple drawings in one go.
Cons:
Symbol recognition doesn't work properly sometimes.
Countfire Response
last year
Thanks for the review Rytis. Great that you're finding Countfire easy to use. Sometimes when the drawings are created the symbols can look the same but have been drawn slightly differently – Countfire doesn't automatically include slightly different symbols when you make your selection to aid the accuracy of your takeoff. All you need to do is make an additional selection of the different symbol and Countfire will automatically search for matches across all of your drawings for that selection too.
Countfire Review
Comments: It has been a great use so far, saves time greatly and eliminates the needs for printing and doing takeoffs manually
Pros:
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.
Cons:
No negatives at this time.
Countfire Response
last year
Thanks for the review Luke! Awesome to hear Countfire is saving you an incredible amount of time and making it easier to complete tasks. You're spot on – our support team are on hand to provide training and live support to make sure you're confident using Countfire and getting the most out of the software. No negatives at this time – brilliant! If you do come across anything, we always like to receive feedback from our customers. You can submit feedback using the orange support button in-app. It's great that you're benefitting from not having to print and store your drawings too. All of your projects are stored in your account so they're ready for you to dive back in as and when you need to.
A great product which makes my job easier.
Comments: Overall countfire has made my job as an estimator a lot easier and quicker. It helps me maximise the speed of my take offs whilst making sure the quality is up to standard.
Pros:
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.
Cons:
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.
New user review
Pros:
Its ease of use, it is very intuitive and quick to learn, support is always on hand for when you get stuck.
Cons:
Some features aren't available, e.g. moving all zones together at once, it would be great to have it available on an app too, so you can work on PC and iPad when travelling, although very easy to use, some tasks are time consuming
Countfire Response
last year
Really appreciate the review Ciaran! Awesome to hear you're finding Countfire intuitive and quick to learn. Our support response times are something we're super proud of and we're always happy to help 😊 Thanks for the feedback on the features you'd like to see in the app. We have a feature request for the ability to move zones in bulk – I can see your vote has already been added. You are able to work remotely on a different PC or a laptop but touchscreen support isn't available at the moment – I've added your vote to our feature request for "Touchscreen / iPad support". You'll receive email updates on our progress towards implementing this feature. It would be great to jump on a session to discuss the tasks you find time consuming and get those ironed out for you – pop us a message on the orange button to get this arranged.
Easy to use take off software
Comments: Great piece of software that not only speeds up the process but also helps with the reporting.
Pros:
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.
Cons:
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.
Countfire Response
2 years ago
Thanks Adam! Really glad you're getting on well with the software and find it easy to use - our support response times are also something we're super proud of! In terms of not having used any other takeoff software I can understand it can be tricky to see what features you'd find useful. With that in mind, we're always happy to receive feedback from our customers and you can view our feature requests by clicking on the orange button in-app and selecting 'Give feedback'! You're right, we are constantly updating and adding new features. To keep up to date with what we're doing you can read our change logs here https://feedback.countfire.com/changelog
Kevin McCormack, FES
Pros:
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.
Cons:
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.
Countfire Response
2 years ago
Really appreciate the review Kevin. It's great you find Countfire easy to use and our support team are always happy to help 😊 I see what you mean, it would be helpful to quickly check quantities in-app. There is a feature request for this, I have added your vote towards it and you will receive progress updates - so it's definitely on our radar! The overlay function allows you to see different drawings on top of each other, which is helpful when you need to see how different services / disciplines interact - for example overlaying a containment drawing onto your power drawing to help you visualise containment routes. To help you create zones across different drawings I'd recommend using our floorplan feature - this allows you to 'stitch' multiple drawings together to view the floor as a whole rather than as individual drawings. I'll reach out directly to arrange a quick training session to run through our overlay, compare and floorplan features.
Countfire 2 Year Review
Pros:
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.
Cons:
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.
Revolutionary takeoff experience.
Comments: Reduction in time in the estimation process (magnitudes).
Pros:
- clear cut user interface with everything hotkeyed, and the hotkeys labeled in plain sight - PHENOMENAL customer service and support (I requested and had a feature built and deployed overnight, etc., etc., etc.) - Documentation from another planet (over 25,000 words of concise walk through material - Redundancy (the way projects are delivered after being processed eliminates worry and most potential for error) - Data manipulation (the data spit-out from a project comes post-pivot table, saving us a step in formatting to get our numbers straight) the list goes on and on - simply amazing!! Will and the boys are a phenomenal team, awake at preposterous hours of the morning solving issues that could wait, etc. just amazing!
