Estimators who use McCormick for electrical, plumbing or mechanical bids have a new shortcut for the odd items that never seem to be in the parts library. McCormick Systems, the Chandler, Arizona, company behind the takeoff and estimating software, released a feature called Instant Temporary Parts on Oct. 28, and it comes at no extra charge for existing McCormick Pro users (via McCormick Systems on Newswire).
The problem it's going after is familiar to anyone who bids MEP work. A takeoff runs off a permanent database of standard parts and assemblies, but real jobs throw in an upgraded fixture, a special receptacle or an assembly you'll only build once. Adding that to the master database clutters it up for every future bid. Working around it takes time.
With the new feature, an estimator can take an existing item, tweak and rename it, and save it as a temporary, job-specific part or assembly. McCormick's example is a specialized receptacle built by modifying a standard receptacle assembly. The company says the process drops from 20 to 30 steps down to two or three clicks.
Those temporary parts live in a separate database tied to the job, so the permanent price database stays clean. They show up with green item numbers, which makes them easy to spot when someone reviews the estimate. Parts already sitting in the audit trail can be converted, so an estimator doesn't have to redo a takeoff to fix an item after the fact. There's also a settings option to answer recurring system prompts once instead of every time.
"Every job is unique and comes with its own requirements," said Paul Wheaton, McCormick's president, adding that estimators need room to adjust bids without giving up speed.
McCormick has been around since the late 1970s, when founder Jack McCormick introduced an estimating product for electrical contractors. Foundation Software, which makes back-office software for contractors, bought it in 2021, and McCormick continues to serve electrical, plumbing and mechanical contractors.
Why it matters for Contractors
This is a small update, not a reason to switch estimating platforms. But if your shop already runs McCormick Pro, it's free, and it targets a real time sink: the one-off items that either bloat your parts database or get fudged in the bid.
For a small electrical, plumbing or HVAC shop where one or two people do all the estimating, keeping the master database clean matters. Pricing gets harder to trust when it's full of one-time items with stale costs. Keeping specials tied to the job, and flagged in green, also makes it easier for a second set of eyes to check the unusual stuff before a bid goes out.
If you're on McCormick Pro, ask McCormick support how to start using it and set up the new prompt options. If you're on another platform, it's a fair question to ask your vendor how it handles job-specific parts.