iScaf, Smart Scaffolder and Avontus

[Rickyt28]

Good evening from Australia, Chaps!

I've been slowly working my way up the ladder (no pun intended :toung and have recently found myself plonked in the office with the company I have worked for for the past 3 years, as estimator/sales rep. The tool belt has not seen much action for a month now and although I am very sad about this, I am really enjoying estimating and pricing for a decent sized and growing company in Sydney.

I have been asked by my boss to research drawing and estimating software.. I am well in tune with computers (I'm 29) and have some previous experience with autocad and various other non-scaffold related technical software.

We're doing apartment blocks up to 10 storeys which can be quite complex. I want to be able to import the entire building and then play around with the scaffold to suit the Architectural drawings.

I have very briefly trialled Smart Scaffolder last week and I felt a little disappointed to be honest. To be fair, it was only a few hours I played around with it, but I felt like I could not control where I wanted Scaffold on the Building I was drawing, and more so that the scaffold would just automatically follow the building.. Has anybody else experienced this? (Bear in mind I am using the Kwikstage (system) version). Also, there only seems to be a selection of how the scaffold should be built to suit the structure, and no way to freehand/modify the scaffold to suit the way I want to build.

I have also looked at iScaff (again very briefly) and it is a very old iScaff Lite (2004 I think) version that I have played around with. This seems a lot more versatile but I have not been able to get hold of a recent trial as of yet. Have any of you guys used it? Do you recommend? I really would like to play around with this on Autocad.

Finally, Avontus do a software that looks quite interesting and very user friendly, but I am worried that it may be TOO user friendly. Anyone used it? What are its capabilities?

If any of you guys have any other suggestions I would be glad to hear them. Have a good day lads

 

[paulmac72]

Ive tried most of these and I have say that by far the best software is smart scaffolder. With anything like this you need to spend time learning how to use right. Smart is quick and easy to learn. The fact that it deals with the scaffold layouts automatically makes using it so much better for me. Their technical support service is great and they'll give you web training if you need it. A good outfit, great software and well worth sticking with.

I hear avontus is pants. Not scaffolder friendly at all, load lists don't work properly and the drawings are just basic sketch. Not cheap either when you look at it compared to smart.

You get what you pay for in my view.

 

[Binthere]

You couldn't have given a better appraisal if you were part of their sales team! You aren't are you?

 

[paulmac72]

def not :amuse:

 

[SCWhyman]

Having worked for, and used both systems, I actually think you have your software mixed up!

Avontus is focused solely on System Scaffolding and is incredibly flexible and easy to use.

What I would say ... in a totally unbiased way, is to try the systems. Avontus offer a 14 day trial with free training so take it up and have a look at it!