The integration adds cost and risk information to the BIM model and likewise opens up for integration to planning and other sources that are critical in the construction process.

Wakefield, Mass. – May 14, 2012 – Sigma Estimates, a technology company that specializes in cost estimation software for the construction, manufacturing and insurance industries, today announced the incorporation of its U.S. headquarters in Massachusetts.

Founded in 2003 in Denmark, the company’s success with more than 1600 customers throughout Europe, along with a $2 million investment from Vaekstfonden, led to its expansion in the United States. Since 1992, Vaekstfonden venture capital investment fund has helped to finance the growth of 3700 Danish companies with a commitment of approximately $1 billion.

Sigma Estimates differentiates its software by providing estimators, engineers, contractors, architects, and business owners with greater transparency and accuracy to determine the true cost of projects and their financial impact. This enables customers to save up to 85 percent of time previously spent estimating costs while preventing overages and project delays.

For example, spreadsheets are the most common approach to cost estimating. However, they can’t easily access historical company data on past projects, integrate with real-time, third party pricing databases such as R.S. Means, or perform “what if” scenarios based on architectural renderings. These actions require estimators create and reconcile various spreadsheets, which can take hours or days and can’t prevent human error. With Sigma Estimates, companies of all sizes can bring relevant project information to the forefront and quickly arrive at the most accurate cost estimates. This helps accelerate the cost estimating process to identify and pursue more lucrative projects, prevent against client dissatisfaction, and create a closed loop to track profitability throughout the engagement.

For insurers, Sigma Estimates helps agents, managers and adjusters determine estimates, appraisals, and renovation costs including replacement value and depreciation for billing and insurance.

“When we started developing Sigma Estimates software, it was to fill the widening gap in cost estimating that resulted in lost productivity and profitability for construction business owners,” said Magnus Therkildsen, co-founder, Sigma Estimates.  “As sales continued to grow beyond Europe and into the United States, we also realized the applicability of our software beyond the construction industry. While that industry remains a core competency, we are now also addressing the requirements of manufacturing and insurance companies that need to track lots of moving parts, more effectively manage projects, and manage toward greater profitability while also adhering to industry compliance requirements.”

Additionally, Sigma Estimates has named technology industry veteran Jeffrey Papows as chairman. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Papows has a proven history of success in both emerging companies and global organizations. Along with this new role, Jeff will remain president and CEO of WebLayers and continue to serve as on the board of The Cross Country Group. Prior to WebLayers, Jeff was president and CEO of Maptuit, a provider of real-time navigation software acquired by Telogis in 2012. Jeff was formerly the president and CEO of Lotus Development Corporation, which was acquired by IBM in 1995. Papows was also president of Cognos Corporation, which was acquired by IBM in 2007. Papows is the author of “Enterprise.com,” and “Glitch: The Hidden Impact of Faulty Software.”

Sigma Estimates will continue to develop its U.S. presence with the strategic hires of senior executives as well as marketing, sales, and technology professionals.

The result of this connections means that cost is being modeled in close alignment with the 3D model, monitoring not only the design related material cost but also wages, equipment, fees, site costs, etc.

The risk of errors around design and construction hereby become significantly reduced. Saving significantly on resources and money.

Read more about how here.

It was completely coincidental that Marck Hviid Borning ended up in an ERFA meeting where CodeGroup was presenting their calculation program Sigma® a few years back. However, it was to be a fateful meeting. Marck Hviid Borning already found Sigma promising then, and when he was hired as department manager in LK Gruppen few months passed before the upgrade from Excel to Sigma was made.

Sigma is built in a Microsoft © Windows tree structure which facilitates the structuring of a cost estimation significantly. The simple structure makes the program very user friendly, and this was one of the things Marck Hviid Borning was very excited about from the beginning.

“I am not a programmer, and if a program is logically structured so anyone can go in without training, like we did, then it is because it is a good program,” says Marck Hviid Borning.

Realistic cost price has advantages
User friendliness is not the only Sigma feature Mark Hvid Boning emphasizes
“What I like about Sigma is that it lets you know your true cost price before you enter your coverage in the end,” The department manager explains.

“We are only four people in the tender department, who use Sigma on a daily basis, but we use it for practically all tenders, which is to say for a couple of hundred cost estimates a year,” Mark Hviid Borning explains.

“When a case is won it typically passes to a manager, but he doesn’t need to look at the case digitally every day. Only if, for example, som data concerning specific jobs needs to be adjusted.”

For Marck Hviid Borning it is crucial that he can do more than just count on Sigma. “It is about figuring it out too! How do we structure this better than others? It is best not to win by more than a dollar,” Marck Hviid Borning laughs and explains that he simply has a better gut feeling when things are calculated in Sigma.

“At the same time, it is a much better building management tool for the jobs we have gotten. We have all the data we need to make money on the job.”

Hundreds of hours saved
The greatest gains LK Gruppen have experienced have been the result of their decision to build their own experience library, one of the great strengthening possibilites Sigma provides.
“We simply sat down and entered all the unit prices right away. Excavators, dump trucks, gardeners, carriers and so on,” says Marck Hviid Borning.

“It means we can calculate a job in “five minutes”, because the heavy lifting has been done by entering quantities in advance.”

For Marck Hviid Borning, time is clearly a great gain in their choice of costing program.

“The libraries have saved us hundres of hours and we use them constantly. Now it takes a quarter of the time to type something in,” says Marck Hviid Borning.

Marck Hviid Borning from LK Gruppen

Only approximately 30% of Gazelle companies are named more than once, it has happened to only 4.600 companies within the last 16 years.

Gazelle companies comprise less than one percent of the Danish business sector, so we are very proud of the result. Especially because it is the second time we achieve this feat.

It is a result we never could have achieved were it not for the great trust our clients show us.

The possibilites have become practically endless! One user used the feature to see which windows faced North, South, East, and West and which stories they were located on.
Because the function has been developed far beyond simply restructuring by activities, it has been renamed Sigma Insight™, and with it you get many new possibilities. Among other things, it is now possible to filter your data so all construction parts, or tasks to be completed by masons or by carpenters are sorted by total cost under a specific header, to name just a few of the possibilities.
Setup and configuration have also become much easier with the preview function and all columns can be sorted.
For example, you can get calculations sorted by price as a standard, so you can quickly see how large posts are and get the best possible overview. Sigma Insight is also the “motor” of all integrations with other applications, systems, XML exports etc, which allow for easy integration with, for example, ERP systems.
- Understand the calculation better – helps ensure correct calculation
- Extendable to other systems, people, processes
- Saves time and errors on integrations
SigmaScript creates new posibilities
Sigma’s built-in script language has been expanded greatly.
The language is used for Intelligent Construction Parts and User Specified pages in Sigma. The latter is also utilized in the new Sigma, which now allows you to enter customer information and much more. The language allows you to configure Sigma 100% to your needs.
- The expert can now share his knowledge with others
- Manage all information in the project and customize the rest of your file systems
- Ultimate weapon
Gather your documentation in your cost estimate
The possibilites for adding pictures to cost estimates have been expanded to allow you to add all types of files. These may be conditions, assembly manuals, offers from subcontractors etc. They can easily be grouped and Sigma even allows you to elegantly merge attached PDF files in you transcripts. This way you can gather all relevant documentation in one spot and get even more professional printouts.
- Get all the documents into your calculation: Offer List, Guides, Communications, …
- If someone else opens the calculation, they can see all supporting documents.
- Attachments can be included as part of printouts, for example. for internal documentation
- Insert the professional and relevant promotional material in customer quotes

Speed has been greatly increased
The calculation core of Sigma has been stripped down and rebuilt in a smarter way, vastly increasing the speed of the program. Even the big calculations with thousands of seperate posts work faster in Sigma 2010®. Text searches have also been greatly improved.

Key figures – super functions
Two new universal key figure functions enable you to find any number in the calculation. So if you, for example, want to see the gross margin for all the cement work finished in Building 1, it is easy to set up. It also makes it possible to show key figures in transcripts, on the key figure page, and in the new user-defined pages.
- View concrete volumes, hours, discounts, etc.. in the blue bar
- Pull the relevant figures directly into the text of transcripts
- Get integration to Excel sheet where appropriate key figures are automatically transferred
New column: Absolute cost price, Absolute amount, …
Sigma fundamentally works in proportions – when excavating 675 m2, you enter the quantities for machines, salaries, etc. based on the requirements per m2.
It’s useful to reuse, adjust quantites and more. But it can also be advantageous to see how much a vibrating drum really costs for the excavation you are looking at – or how long it will be used. The new absolute columns can show you this:
- View the actual quantities to use intuition and experience for improved control
- Do not count ‘backwards’, enter the total directly
- Make transcripts and views easy to understand for others, for example, the construction team
And you can even fill in you own information in them – if you think 15 is the right amount of days, Sigma will simply calculate a new amount…

All the columns you want
Sigma can work with many columns (text, quantity, unit price, etc.), and many have been added through the years. However, it is now also possible to create your own columns and have them appear on the content page. This last feature is particularly new and makes the new columns much more useful. Among other things, it has proven useful for handling things like DBK (Danish Building Classifications), species estimations, phase-divisions of the building and much more.
- View estimation types, DBK code, name of subcontractor, etc.. directly in the content page as a column
- Regroup entire calculation of this information – For example by subcontractors
Strengthened import – and export
The possibility of importing other data has been strengthened with an expansion in the import module. Now all columns can be defined based on external data, so that sales prices, notes, estimation types, and more, can be imported directly to Sigma. By the same means, it has become possible to export all data, even in several layers!
- Export data directly to other systems
- Easily import tender lists, machine lists, calculations from other programs
- Export all data to recipients in, for example, Excel format

A lift for all transcripts
The new program also brings new and improved transcripts, which meet wishes from many users.
You can also make your own transcripts
- Possibly with help from a supplier or from CodeGroup
- Get better transcripts with contract notes and premises
- Make a professional impression on customers and partners
- Save lots of time on letter writing
Contact CodeGroup to hear about the possibilities, and get off to a good start
Call us at: +45 70 26 25 75 or contact your usual CodeGroup contact person and we will have a talk about how a workshop can help you, and what it will involve.

Which direction is the IT market moving?
Where we have been seeing large complete solutions, based on one softwareprogram which had to cover practically all needs within a company, the IT market is moving towards more specialized solutions, based on several software programs. We are talking about programs with complete focus on solving one specific task optimally! And since programs today can be integrated with each much more easily than before, it means less whether everything is from the same manufacturer and we can therefore create strong and more effective solutions for the professional tasks.

Because of this, we will be seeing more and more optimal and “best practice” solutions in terms of differect products’ ways of working together while at the same time keeping up with the complete workflow of customers. In the long term, this will be based more on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Cloud computing, but the function of the program and the value it creates for the customer will determine the decision.

“In project based companies the alpha and omega is entering the right projects on the right terms. People who aren’t thinking in terms of calculation today, are facing a great challenge”, says Magnus Therkildsen from CodeGroup.

What is CodeGroups strategy in relation to the evolution of the market?
We have to solve problems for our clients and give them the greatest possible value with our solutions. Therefore, creating generic functions which can create the results customers are hoping for and expecting is of great importance to us.

The new functions in Sigma 2010 are a great example of this (read more about the new features in “Sigma 2010 – New functions”, ed.). We are working in more and more integrations and working with open standards at the same time, like the Sigma Live project, which is already planned, which will be taking Sigma online.

Today we have very good experience working with integration where we are personally involved (Autodesk Revit, Microsoft Project, Excel, e-conomic, Axapta, Navision, etc), as well as integrations our customers have made to their ERP and document management tools.

How can Sigma stay the most popular cost and risk estimating program on the market?
Sigma can accomplish a lot, while at the same time being very user friendly. Less is more, which is to say that all the intelligence and the systematics are packaged to make them easily accessible to the user. That is a user demand today – no one wants to spend time reading manuals.

We want our customers to get everything they want out of Sigma, and that is only possible if the product is sufficiently easy to use. So we have extreme focus on user friendliness, which is also decisive if you want to reach the best savings by getting everyone on board from the beginning.

Another reason for Sigma lasting popularity is its flexibility. We always consider when clients need to run a standard, and when they need a unique solution. Sigma DOES give you room to be unique, for example when it comes to transcripts, key figues, integration and other factors which are specific to work methods, project types, and taste.
What needs to be a constant is that the program – unlike, for example, spreadsheets – is robust and recognizable.

How do you, at CodeGroup, predict the market for cost estimating programs will evolve in the future?
I’ll put it this way: those who are not thinking in terms of cost estimating today, face a great challenge. In project based companies, entering the right projects on the right terms is alpha and omega. And cost estimating is 90% of that decision. They can use Sigma or something else, but if they aren’t focusing on going through the project and calculating the right prices, it will be a miracle if the survive in the long run.

“The projects don’t have to be very big, for starting up Sigma to pay off time-wise,” says Jakob Steen Jensen, project manager of the New Construction department of Skælskør Anlægsgartnere A/S. He has been in the company for four and a half years and has the main task of cost estimating offers. He is also Sigma liable so he has extensive knowledge of the program.

“Like any other IT system, it has taken some time to get to know the program – and to build up the libraries and create print materials, and so on. But Sigma has the great advantage that it can be configured to fit our needs completely,” Jakob Steen Jensen explains.

Faster work methods
Although it can feel like a great upheaval to go over to a professional IT solution, it usually does make good sense. This was also the case for Skælskør Anlægsgartnere A/S. Whereas the older members of the team were calculating with pen and paper, and the younger were working in Excel, they now only have to enter information once. And this saves them a great amount of time in their work day.

“Now we can import tender lists, calculate the offer, and pull out all possible data in our calculations. It’s much faster to work with,” says Jakob Steen Jensen.

Much of what had to be done manually before, can be done by a single click of the mouse now. And this is just one of the advantages of Sigma.

“I also use it to create scenarios. What should a subcontracter be given? What should be charge for the project? Sigma is a good tool for regulating and controling your calculations. Also when it comes to prices of materials. You can regulate the prices as you go, if there are central changes to the soil prices or wages, for example,” Jakob Steen Jensen explains.

Sigma helps the knowledge sharing process
Jakob Steen Jensen reports that the economy department has gone over to a new enomy management program recently. “They are still in the beginning phases, but the plan is to have everything working together.”
And one of the big advantages with Sigma is that it meets future requirements and can be easily integrated with a long list of other programs, such as Word, Excel, and Navison.

The project manager admits that getting started can seem overwhelming at times. He is therefore especially excited that even those of his colleagues who are over 50 have expressed a desire to get on the Sigma wagon.

“We work with everything that has to do with landscaping and are typically involved in the big projects, after the house and everything have been completed. We regulate soil, pave, sow grass, build playgrounds and fences and so on – to make the surroundings live up to the appearance of the house,” explains Jakob Steen Jensen.

Depending on the season, we employ about 250 people, out of which about 25 are spread out over three offices in Skælskør, Odense, and Ølstykke. On top of that there are the subcontracters tied to each project. “My hope is that we can all start using Sigma, so everyone can get at look at each project’s materials and see how projects are connected,” is Jakob Steen Jensens closing remark.
- Jakob Steen Jensen – Skælskør Anlægsgartnere A/S

When Anni Vinhardt started as tender liable in the demolition and construction firm G. Tscherning A / S four and a half years ago, the calculators had just said farewell to cost estimation in Excel. The old-fashioned spreadsheet was giving way in favor of a professional cost estimation tool.
“Today we say that everything has to be calculated in Sigma®,” says Anni Vinhardt, who personally works with all kinds of cases, from tender registration and cost estimation to delivery to the customer.

Set routines
Although G. Tscherning A/S is a large company with many employees, they have only two people in the tender department. This means that when business really gets heated, the project managers also have to cost estimate. And this works just fine, among other things because G. Tscherning A/S has introduced Best Practice. In plain terms, it means that employees all follow the same method.

“I create an offer to make a tender, cost estimate, and go through everything with a colleague or a manager. There always have to be two sets of eyes on anything before it leaves the house, so everthing is included, but not too much. It is a safety measure to have two people go through it.” Anni Vinhardt says abour the work method in Tschernings tender department.
“After the offer has gone out and become an order, I sit down with the project manager and have a talk about the cost estimate. I explain the thoughts that lie behind it and show a resource sheet from Sigma with waste, manpower, machinery and so on. That way he knows how the project should be executed. He knows the figures and ideas behind the project.”

Effective knowledge sharing
after this it is up to the project leader to make the technical details fall into place. The numbers from the resource sheet are entered directly into the case and finance managing system.

“Sometimes it is faster than others, but there is always a transfer. And no one doubts that it works that way. The upside is that even though I’m not there, someone always comes in a takes over,” she explains, and thereby highlights one the the great advantages of having Best Practice in cost estimating.

Because with Sigma it is possible for, for example, a manager to evaluate and make decision on a project, no matter how much or how little he or she has been involved in the actual cost estimating. Endless discussions about how you estimate become superfluous if everyone in the company costs on the same basis. A common company policy and a common cost estimation tool, such as Sigma, unite management, administration and execution in the company and creaty flow in the work place.

“For us it means that the manager on site is more involved in the cost estimate now. He spars with the project managers,” Anni Vinhardt explains, and emphasises that this has great value because the administration doesn’t have quite the same insight as the production.

Financial gains
The effective transfer in the beginning of a project has far reaching positive consequences for the subsequent proceedings, according to Anni Vinhardt. She attributes a great part of the project managers ability to work effectively to Best Practice.

“The transfer gives you a good start on the execution. It is important that the order is passed on in the system quickly, so the project manager has time to plan startup. We have become very good at that,” Anni Vinhardt tells us.

The good work processes also have a more direct advantage, as Anni Vinhardt points out.
“The sparring with the practical work force, who provide the project manager with feedback, show up in our finances when we follow up on the case all the time. We do it once a month and everything should be following the time plan, and so on.”

The tender liable manager has felt the benefit of a Best Practice solution, which has allowed employees to sound the alarm, before a project has gotten off track.

“If something looks diferent than what we projected, we can go in and ask ourselves “what’s happening here?”. It is important to follow the project closely, and our project managers keep in very close contact to their projects, so it is possible to make corrections before things get too far off track.”

This way Tscherning ensures that good projects don’t turn into bad business.

1. Avoid loss-making projects
A few bad projects will often drag down a year’s results because they eat up the profits created by the good projects. The loss-making projects will usually be the result of insufficient cost estimation and lacking reservations regarding risks involved with the project. By cutting these projects, a business can ensure a significantly improved bottom line. But, obviously, they also need to be replaced by good projects to keep the company up and running with regard to personnel, depreciation of machinary and so on. This means that a greater number of projects must be cost estimated, and still with the necessary quality, so all relevant reservations a taken into consideration. [read more]

Figure 1. With the right tools you can avoid bad projects and instead focus on the profitable ones. This makes it possible for you to optimize and create an upwards spiral…

2. Use time better
Many people in the industry complain that they spend too much time on costing. But if you work effectively and utilize your resources better, you can solve many of the problems that cause this. For example, you avoid trivial entries and repetition, and you can avoid hiring new employees who need to be trained, or hiring expensive outside consultants. All of which are things which would require time and money. That is why it is important to find an effective way to save time.
Sigma® is a so-called “turn-key” solution to cost estimation. That means that when you take it out of the box, it requires minimal work to get started. In this way it differs from, for example, Excel, where you have to personally make formulas, set-up and etc. So you save a significant amount of time in both the start-up phase and subsequent maintenance.

According to users, Sigma usually gives time savings of 60% – 85%.
“To break it down: Sigma has made our work process easier, and because of this we can get through more offers. And when we make more offers, we gain more income. All in all, it is about the bottom line. Nothing else.”
- Henrik Sørensen, Grønbech Construction A/S

“If everyone uses the same program, they can calculate uniformly and share calculations with eachother. Or they can calculate the same project seperately and combine the calculations, if they are calculating a bigger project,” explains Henrik Bo Jensen.

Besides making it possible for all parties involved to combine parts of the calculation quickly and easily, it also becomes possible for the department manager to evaluate thoroughly and decide on a project, though he has only been minimally involved in the actual cost estimation. This is just one of Sigma’s many strengths.

3. Overview and reuse
Another typical challenge is lacking overview of cost estimates and minimal reuse. In Sigma you can avoid this difficulty because you work with building blocks. These building blocks can range from small structures of a single line, to larger structures composed of many objects. Besides allowing you to collect your own experience in databases of building blocks and personal resources, you will be able to add data from V&S PrisDatabaser and Exact databases among others.
The point is to allow you to take blocks/templates from a database or from earlier projects in order to reuse knowledge. Knowledge which can be shared between co-workers, putting the power of the individual where it benefits everyone. This is a large advantage which will save you much time and minimize the risk of errors.

“What you win by using Sigma is time, and the fact that you can reuse so you get more exact results. And it is easier than starting over each time. It means that we can make more quotes, and more exacts quotes…”
- Hanne Bak, Kingo Karlsen A/S

4. Important knowledge stays in the company
Many companies are vulnerable because important knowledge too often is lost, for example because of staff turnover or succession. You can avoid this by using the databases in Sigma. They make it possible to gather knowledge in the company and create flexibility because internal information becomes accessible to everyone.
The databases aren’t just an advantage when it comes to saving time and ensuring quality. They also make the company less vulnerable and guarantee that important knowledge is not lost if an employee should leave the company. Read more about using databases [read more]

5. Communication and reporting
You become able to take care of more calculations when you build up databases with price libraries, or use purchased price libraries. This means that you can avoid problems such as being without a shared price list.

And Sigma has many other time saving functions. With the program’s transcript templates, for example, you get professional looking transcripts for internal use and for customers. You can create templates for all imaginable transcripts directly from the information in the cost estimate. This way you avoid double entries in a word processor.
A uniform format ensures quality and that all reservations are brought into the equation. You save many hours of work and can avoid many mistakes. With a single click of the mouse you can get professional transcripts of, for example:
- Ressourcelists
- Material lists
- Tender
- Offer Letter
- Internal report

“It is a great tool. It is so good, I’m almost sorry to recommend it to by competitors.”
- Carl Ole Holbøll, C. Holbøll & Sønner

6. Common cost estimating tool creates best practice
A common corporate policy and a shared costing tool, such as Sigma, unite management, administration and execution in the work-place and create a consistent flow in the company. This results in best practice, which directly strengthens the bottom line. Endless discussions and misunderstandings are greatly diminished when everyone has a common understanding of the task. A common understanding which must be founded on the projects price quotes in order to control economy and risks.
Likewise, colaboration between companies is easier if all partners in a project use Sigma. The head contractor can exchange files with subcontractors seamlessly, and the seperate parts can be joined into a unified cost estimate in a single move.

The exchange of information, be it internal or external, could for example encompass:
- Price lists (fx from PDF, MS Excel)
- Quantity indications (fx from MS Excel, IFC/AD, Revit/DWF)
- Project management / planning (fx MS Project)
- Financial Management / Account Plans (fx PDF, MS Excel)
- Material Lists (fx PDF, MS Excel)
- Reporting (fx PDF, MS Excel)

“Sigma thinks like we do.”
– Per Damsted, K. Damsted. Joinery, Carpentry, and Bricklaying business

Happy New Year 2010!
Do you want to get a handle on the market development or let yourself be controlled by it? This a question many companies will need to ask themselves in 2010, if they are to ensure a profit.
Tendering and costing are some of the most direct and fundamental elements that affect and determine the company’s positive development. For over 1000 companies – including some of the most successful – this will be done with Sigma calculation.