---
id: 2026-01-07T10:42:00
aliases: []
title: 2026-01-07 10:42:??
tags:
  - authorship/original
  - occupational
  - topic/estimating
  - type/periodic/timestamped
dg-publish: true
---
# 2026-01-07 10:42:??

When I got to work today Art admonished a fellow estimator
for not uploading _all_ of a project's drawings,
even those they did not intend to take off, to Trimble Connect.
Art suggested that the estimator should upload all the drawings,
but only add them to LiveCount as needed.

I take issue with the suggestion on principle
since doing so would not benefit the estimator or their senior
(if they aren't added, the estimator can do nothing with them),
but would require not-insignificant effort.
Effort that would ultimately benefit no one:---

Trimble Connect's ham-fisted approach to version control
means that the fewer times it must be used, the better.

> I'm currently dealing with the headache of an estimate
> where such caution was not applied.

The probability that any construction will be performed
according the drawings that we take off
(or even their immediate successors)
I suspect is slim to zero.
That Ops would have the patience to add the revisions,
fighting with Trimble Connect as they would be,
I suspect is even less.

> On my current project, after trying in vain to play by Trimble's rules,
> I started by deleting all the drawings I could
> (those without takeoff associated with them)
> then reuploaded the revised set.
> I'm confident that this would be the dominant strategy.

***

It's curious to me that the possibility of scope revisions
doesn't seem to be at the front of every estimator's mind
when doing takeoff or considering process changes,
like it was for my mentors and peers at Ace.
