---
id: 2026-03-13T09:47:42-0400
title: 2026-03-13 09:47:42
tags:
  - status/draft
  - topic/estimating
daily: "[[2026-03-13]]"
date-created: 2026-03-13T09:47:42-04:00
---
# 2026-03-13 09:47:42

I frequently have ideas of automation for [[construction-estimating]],
but I am often discouraged to the point of abandoning them
when considering the possibility that their use may not be permitted
because they can not be implemented with existing processes and tools.

For example, measuring unit subfeeds manually in LiveCount
is a monotonous and labor intensive activity
that could, as a single task, be automated very simply
with a search algorithm like [A*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm).
Such a program could also calculate voltage drop.

I think, though, I may have been unfair to my employers (current and previous).
Innovative methods will always be bottlenecked by [[accubid|Accubid]]'s strict input pattern,
but there are still opportunities for improvement
that can comply with existing expectations of evidence.

For the unit subfeeds example,
a program could be made to draw the paths
with colors by cable type
and a legend with counts and total lengths,
writing the markup to PDF or TIFF
which could be uploaded to Trimble Connect
and used as the `Drawing`
for takeoffs with lot **Length** and **Count**.