XPRESS DELIVERY
Extract taken from Professional Builder magazine, September 2007
PlansXpress is the latest development from HBXL’s Adrian Wild, a former builder and designer of EstimatorXpress and Health and Safety Xpert. Lee Jones looks at the new software.
Although most builders will be familiar with a set of Cad drawings, and confident in applying them to the job in hand, the presentation skills needs to actually draught planning application and building regulation documents has always been the preserve of the architect himself. A builder’s design potential is then limited by his draughtsmanship skills, and the result is the need to resort to expensive professional consultants if they are to provide a full service, from the client’s initial aspirations to the final lick of paint.
Using traditional CAD software as an aid would be no solution since most on the market are incredibly complicated, and not designed with the tradesman in mind – until now. Since Adrian Wild, the founder of HBXL, first began designing software specifically for the ordinary builder his EstimatorXpress, has helped thousands provide professional and detailed quotes at the click of a mouse, saving thousands of man hours in scribbling handwritten estimates into the small hours. Health and Safety Xpert came next to successfully steer the tradesman through the legislation minefield.
The next step has been to simplify the whole process of designing complete houses and extensions with PlansXpress. In this simple piece of software practically all of the basic building components that make up a construction are illustrated on a simple toolbar on the screen. Pictures illustrate the various categories for easy reference, with all the technical information for Building Regulation compliance included automatically.
Plan Ahead
The distinction between this and traditional methods is that it brings together elements of the building rather than actually drawing them. If, for instance, you were designing a first floor extension or bungalow, simply use the toolbar to specify the wall dimensions, and the shape of the building will be already determined. Not only that, but all the necessary cavity width and foundation depth would be incorporated as well.
There is a huge library of potential options available to the builder, and the finished design can even be viewed in 3D. Walls, roofs, staircases, windows, electrics, plumbing, draining and more can be simply dragged and dropped into place. In fact, with a little practice it would take no more than an hour to produce a highly professional plan with which to impress clients, and gain that vital competitive edge.
It is also possible to make additions according to customer specifications, and incorporate all the latest building techniques from SIPS, to modern methods of construction, Beco blocks or sunpipes. Overall the software empowers the builder to give as much information as they choose, whilst keeping control of the whole build from the very first dig.
The contrast between this solution and the existing alternatives does not stop there. Not only is CAD software ordinarily a costly and complex tool, it will do nothing to cost the job. The HBXL system, however, is fully compatible with the company’s existing software package EstimatorXpress, which will allow users to automatically price up the building drawings from the original plans. The design and estimating process is then fully integrated for the first time. Even if the customer already has a set of plans, these can be imported into PlansXpress in order to provide a quote through the estimating package.
In fact, all of the company’s software is now linked meaning that CDM compliance on the original plan can be achieved with Health & Safety Xpert and all of your accounting needs will be catered for with Construction Industry Accounts.
WHAT NEXT?
Watch the PlansXpress Virtual Tour