INES—An Interactive Estimating System

A possible effective application of computers in construction is to use them for cost estimating. Despite their wide acceptance for cost accounting and other bookkeeping tasks, their use in estimating has lagged considerably. The emergence of powerful and low cost microcomputer systems has made it feasible for a broad range of contractors to own their own system. As a result, it is now very common for even the smallest contractors to own a system whose primary function is bookkeeping. Once bookkeeping tasks are automated, however, a natural progression is to also use them for cost estimating. It has therefore become necessary to develop an estimating system which takes advantage of the great potential of the microcomputer. This paper proposes and describes one such system.