Australian Construction Software Excels on an International Scale

Australian-developed estimating software has been selected for projects across six European countries. Benchmark Estimating Software was employed by Colas Group in Vienna, one of the largest road and construction companies in the region.

The product, developed by Sydney-based company Benchmark Estimating, provides users with a system for estimating the cost of construction and engineering products. Boris Grintal, Chargé de Mission for Colas Europe Centrale said he was impressed by the flexibility of the program.

““We could see that Benchmark would allow us to play with selling costs after estimating direct costs and factor in resource costs. It also allows us to manage composite items and several levels of sub items, and variations can be addressed in minutes.”

This is not the first time Australian-based estimating technology has been selected over international competitors. In January 2014, Australian company Extractal estimating responded to rapid international growth by shifting its London office to larger premises.

License numbers for Extractal’s software Cost X, increased in the United Kingdom by 400% during 2013. This is due to the increasing emphasis on Building Information Modeling in the United Kingdom construction industry.

Fast, accurate estimations are a major advantage for companies during the bidding process for projects. Experience using different estimating systems is highly valuable for employees seeking project management roles.

Mr. Grintal noted that Benchmark Estimating Software could be easily translated into several European languages.

“We saw the power of the Item library, the Routines and how Benchmark would be translated into the languages we needed”, Mr. Grintal said.

The software will be used across Hungary, Poland, Czeck Republic, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. Projects undertaken by Colas Group include road maintance, transport and infrastructure and recreational facilities.

Extractal has planned a range of activities with industry bodies in Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. 

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