Finally, an easy way to create structured cabling and AV estimates

Countfire is for estimators pricing structured cabling, data and AV work: specialist cabling contractors, ELV and ICT integrators, AV installers and the data teams within larger M&E contractors. Companies including Sudlows, Wesco and The Cabling Group use Countfire for exactly this work.

Because it is fully cloud-based, teams use Countfire globally from single-office fit-outs to data centre and campus-scale projects.

If you spend your time measuring containment routes, counting outlets floor by floor and reconciling it all in Excel, Countfire removes most of that manual work.

Structured cabling estimating software takes you from drawing to client-ready proposal in one workflow:

1. Upload your drawings. Add the full project drawing set as PDFs.
2. Count point items automatically. Automated takeoff counts every outlet, faceplate, WAP, camera and AV device across all drawings in one pass.
3. Measure cable runs. Use the linear measurement tool to trace structured cabling and containment routes, drawing straight lines or bends to follow the actual route. Each measurement is itemised, so your proposal can show individual runs or total lengths.
4. Check for gaps. Calculate coverage radius and measure areas to spot missing items, then add them to the drawing so everything appears on the final estimate.
5. Price and export. Reuse prices for regularly specified items, complete the estimate and export a clear breakdown, with a digital record of every version saved to the cloud.

The result is an estimate you can defend line by line, because every quantity traces back to a marked-up drawing.

Countfire covers the point items and linear measurements that make up data and AV proposals, from individual outlets to full containment routes. The two core categories are below.

Structured cabling

Take off data outlets, patch panels, cabinets, racks and wireless access points automatically, then measure horizontal and backbone cabling runs with the linear measurement tool. Containment such as basket, tray and trunking can be measured the same way. Each run is itemised, giving you a clear, defensible breakdown of cable quantities rather than a single estimated total.

AV

Count screens, projectors, speakers, microphones, control panels and other AV devices across every drawing in the project, and measure the cabling that connects them. For room-by-room fit-outs, the ability to split quantities by area makes it straightforward to present pricing the way the client wants to see it.

Cabling and AV estimates are slow for two reasons: lots of repeated point items, and lots of measuring. Countfire automates both. Symbol counting happens across the whole drawing set at once, and linear measurement replaces scale rules and manual markups with itemised digital measurements.

The compounding savings:

• Measure once, itemise automatically. Every cable run is recorded and itemised as you draw it, so there is no separate step to log measurements in a spreadsheet.
• Reusable pricing. Intelligent pricing applies rates from previous estimates to your regularly used items.
• Design-as-you-go flexibility. Spot missing items with coverage and area tools, add them to the drawing, and they flow straight into the estimate.
• A digital record of everything. When a client asks how you arrived at 4,200 metres of Cat6, the answer is on the drawing, not in someone's memory.

As Paul Williams at Eclipse put it, Countfire is the biggest time-saving system his business has ever implemented.