Carlson Takeoff helps Akron contractor get it right every time

Just one time not getting a pond as deep as required was all it took for Tony Riter, vice president of A. Crano Excavation in Akron, Ohio, to know that he never wanted that to happen again.

That was three years ago, before the third generation family business started using Carlson Takeoff, the innovative CAD-based site estimating and data prep software solution from Carlson Software, Inc.

Carlson Takeoff 2009 calculates cut/fill material volumes and has 3D simulation and comprehensive reporting options. Working on AutoCAD® and with IntelliCAD® built-in, Takeoff’s critical drawing cleanup features and advanced 2D to 3D routines streamline the estimating process. It can input all data formats, including DWG, DXF, LandXML, and all formats of Centerline, Profiles, and Section Data.

“Retention of stormwater is a real big issue in the Akron-Canton area,” says Riter, “We need to be able to show the city exactly how deep the watershed ponds have been built so we use Takeoff to build our machine control files and to check them when they are done.”

Riter utilizes Takeoff for both estimating and for GPS control. He notes that it is an incredible time-saver for his company to be able to build the TIN files directly from the designers’ CAD drawings with Carlson Takeoff, and it’s much more accurate.

“Tracing the lines with a digitizer is very time-consuming and it’s easy to make mistakes,” says Riter. “Carlson Takeoff brings in all of the contour lines and sets them at the right elevations – hours of work take literally seconds.”

He then uses the design surface to put into his GPS for the bulldozers. “They can then go out there and cut that pond into the correct depth,” he says. “When they’re done, to check it, they drive the machine around the pond with the blade down and do periodic checks just to make sure.”

Riter says he can then print out the data for the city to show the line work and elevations. “It looks a lot more professional,” he says, “and everyone’s happy then.”

Riter also notes that the 3D aspect of Carlson Takeoff has come in handy to show both machine operators and clients how the finished product is supposed to look.

“It’s a lot easier to see something in three-dimensional: hills, valleys and terrain that you’re going through,” he says. “Plus, I can take this out to an operator on a laptop and show him what it’s going to look like when they’re done. It gives them a good feeling about what they are doing out there rather than just looking at a paper drawing.”

Also, being able to project the finished project in 3D prior to even starting helps in avoiding sometimes unforeseen errors.

“We were working on a parking lot that would have had a lot of slope to it,” explains Riter. “I knew they wouldn’t want it so severe so it was good that I could show them what it would look like if we did it as planned. Sometimes you have to see something to believe it,” he adds. “They thanked me.”