Layers & Purchase Orders Idea

[Lloyd Bennett]

Hi John,

I was using Estimator today and I had an idea for an improvement which I thought worth sharing.

Currently I utilize the layer method to quantify the various types of timber. For example I will place all the 90×35 MGP10 on a layer and then all the 90×45 MGP10 on a layer etc. This is fantastic when I want to know the total length of a particular timber for estimating purposes, but when it comes to actually ordering the timber, in some cases, I will also want to be able to produce a cut-list or specific purchase order list based on each length. I find it too cumbersome to create a separate layer for every single length as this just takes too long and creates a very busy layers panel.

I thought that perhaps you might have a feature inside each layer which would list out and export a C.S.V of the length of each member within that layer. You could also allow the user to choose a series of incremental lengths and have the computer automatically round up each length to that length. For example in Australia we usually work in 300mm increments so I could set 2.1, 2.4, 2.7, etc and then have a cut-list produced with the cut-length and an order length also.

This can already be done using other plugins but if it were an option within estimator I think it would be a fantastic addition. The user could then easily generate custom orders and cut-lists based on the selection in the model. I would assume that to work out the total l/m on a layer the plugin must already be aware of, and adding together, each length.

[John Brock]

Hi Lloyd,

Let me give that some thought. The way I handle that, for example wall plates, I put all of my particular plates on their own layer, then in Layers tab of Estimator I use the attribute of FEET, in my case, and /16 as the multiplier to convert to number of pieces to order. Same for studs, etc. and all of my trim products. Would this not work for you?

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