# New ipad roofing app!



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

Hi Guys,

My name is Ken Brown President of a new software company called AnyMonkey Construction Software Solutions. I am also the Senior estimator for Mack Kirk Roofing & Sheet metal in Vancouver BC

We have been developing an app called "Site Visit" which is used to gather all of the information you need while on site. With this app you are able to:

* draw a roof based on a satellite image (google or other) with your finger. It is scaleable so all you need is 1 dimension and it calculates all of your square footage and lineal footage for hips, ridges valleys etc

* take photos and make comments on them and also insert arrows or circles on them to highlight certain conditions or areas. (this is also great for servicemen to do maintenance reports)

*load pdf specs into the app and use your finger as a highlighter (anything you highlight will print on a seperate page later)

*quickly and easily count your roof protrusions as you walk around the roof with easy to use drop down menus that you configure initially (this comes in really handy on large strata type properties)

*make random sketches using different colors and line sizes (great for flashing details)

The app is also server based so the reports that you create are stored online which means that anyone in your company can log in and start estimating once the site visit has been performed.

Essentially it starts like this. Once a new call or invite comes in your office staff will log in to your account, add the pdf if any and add a satellite photo from google or local orthophoto of the property. They selct the agent who will get the project and click email to agent and presto the agent logs into ipad app and downloads the info and hes all set.

Pricing will be as follows

$1299.00 for the core program and setup
$299.00 per registered device (you can have unlimited agents at no extra cost you only pay for the ipads that you have the software downloaded on)
$159.00 per year per company for server charges und upgrades

for those of you that use Roofcad with satellite digitizer you probably paid $5000.00 for your program and all you can do is draw the roof... with this app you can draw a roof also in a fraction of the time and just as acurately and you get all of the other options as well.

Anyways the app is nearly ready and the website work will be underway shortly as well at http://www.anymonkey.ca but all there is now is an under construction page. I am hoping to have the app ready to launch by Jan 01 and i will be offering a pre launch/beta test price of $599.00 for core program if anyone is interested please feel free to contact me at [email protected] and i can give you some screen shots of the demo app i have so far.

Regards,

Ken


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

sorry about the html tags..... im really not sure what went wrong there


----------



## dallasroofing (Nov 12, 2012)

Do you have any screenshots of the app's GUI?


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

I have some.. as I said it is not quite finished but I have a few you can look at... sorry I am new to this forum stuff how would you like me to share them? also you can log into our test server and look around at http://184.164.156.55/webservice/Sitevisit/adminpanel/

username [email protected]
pass roofing

there is a standard list of materials and categories that i am told will be added this week but it is not there yet but please feel free to poke around and try things out. This is where you would add new customers and projects

Ken


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

oh i just checked it actually and the standard materials are now there


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

ok i figured out how to upload some pics.... please have a look at attachments.

Ken


----------



## vtroofing (Sep 27, 2009)

I changed your password to something I could remember.


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

lol... funny... good thing im a super admin


----------



## BrandRoof (Dec 13, 2011)

sounds pretty steep if you ask me.


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

yes this is not a $20.00 app that you can buy on the app store that is practically useless.... this is a program that will save you hours of work each week... I am an estimator and i built a program that will help me do all the things i need to do all in one large software bundle. As i said we spent 5k on just roofcad alone... we spent another $800.00 on software to make roof maintenance reports with photos and my service manager uses that all day every day. This program combines all of that and more. And not only that if you lose your ipad with all the other apps out there you are SOL all your info is gone.... because this is server based all you need is another ipad and you are back in business. Time and efficiency is money in the bank.... the next time you spend 2 hours trying to do a photo report for your customers using microsoft word, please remember that you could have done that same report and emailed it to your customer before you even left the roof.

Regards,

Ken


----------



## BrandRoof (Dec 13, 2011)

It really doesn't seem much different than roof snap which costs $10 per roof which I rarely use. 

Good luck with this.


----------



## dallasroofing (Nov 12, 2012)

You're charging 20 per roof or 20 for the app it's self?


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

BrandRoof said:


> It really doesn't seem much different than roof snap which costs $10 per roof which I rarely use.
> 
> Good luck with this.


 
It is kind of funny that you mentioned roofsnap because it was that program that got me thinking about all of this..... I offered them $500.00 for an unlimited use version of his program but he turned me down. I think you are confused though on the concept of our two apps so i will try to explain a bit better. First off in my opinion the amount that roofsnap charges makes it unattractive. Lets say you are a mid sized roofing company getting 3-5 calls per day for estimates. If you used roofsnap for each of these you would pay $30.00 to $50.00 per day..... so in less than a month you would have paid more then my app for unlimited use for years to come so to compare the two prices in the way you have is a bit near sighted. 

The other thing that you do not take in to account is all the other features and functions that Site Visit has to offer and once again if you lose your ipad that all of the roofsnap info is on you are out of luck, you lose it all. But with Site Visit it is all stored on our server and you can log in via PC or ipad or anything with an internet connection to view it.

Also roofsnap is not scaleable... you have to take whatever measurements they give you. With my app you can do the drawing in your truck if you like and wait until you get to the site to take 1 long measurement and set the scale for the entire roof. You can also add waste factor and have a completely accurate take off in seconds. roofsnap gives you the raw square footage and lineal footage so you still have math to do when it is done.

I am not trying to knock his program... i think he showed great foresight in making it and i think it is ahead of the curve for its time but i think he left some important features out and he charges too much money for it (in the long term)

now getting back to my program.... lets take the roof draw portion out of it for a minute and focus on the photo area of the app. Traditionally if you are doing a written maintenance report for a custmer complete with photos you would have to go through a proccess similar to this.

drive to jobsite with camera (or phone) in hand as well as a note pad to take down information.
take photos of roof deficiencies and make notes on what you are going to do to solve them.
leave the roof and drive back to your office
make a new folder on your pc and upload the photos
open microsfot word or other office document maker
upload the photos 1 by 1 to word, resize them, format them and place them one at a time where you want them on the page
type your notes for each picture, add your comments and price 
save your document as a pdf or whatever 
open your mail client and type your message
browse to your file and email to client.

how long did this just take you? 3-4 hours? then if you do the repairs and your customer wants after photos you have to do it all again.

or you can do it like this.

go up to the roof with your ipad... take a photo.... talk into your ipad and have the words automatically appear in your comment box (must have ipad 3 for this)
take more photos and repeat proccess as required
when you are done taking photos you can drag them into any order that you like in mere seconds.
add some additional comments and price
click on create report (a pdf is created)
click send to customer
climb down ladder and you are done

time = 15-20 minutes (plus driving time)

now when customer wants after pictures

go back to site
take photos of the afters
drag the photos so they are right next to the befores (takes seconds)
click create report
send to customer

both reports are stored on server for future use.

Rooflogic has something similar to this.... you should find out how much they want for theirs. It is thousands of dollars plus hundreds a year in upgrade fees. Oh and you can also seperately buy their roofcad satellite software for about $5000.00. I should know, I own it, and that is for a single user license.

again not knocking their program but man thats alot of money.

another thing my app does:

if you get specs from a roof consultant or general contractor you know that the traditional way to do things is to take a yellow highlighter and as you read the spec you highlight the important parts and you go back and find them later when you are doing your quote. and yes we all make mistakes so sometimes you do not find them all again later and you miss something. my app will allow you to highlight things with your finger.... then when you click create report in pdf section only the things you highlighted will print out for you. Anyone who does a lot of spec work like I do knows how awsome something like this could be.

ever tried to make drawings on paper or take notes in the pouring rain?.... well if you buy a $100.00 case from best buy for your ipad you dont have to... because my app has a drawing/note taking function that allows you to do all of this in multiple colors with your finger.

anyways my point here is.... this is not just a glorified roofsnap... when the app is finished in a few weeks ill let you try it out if you like and you will see what i mean.

Regards,

Ken


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

dallasroofing said:


> You're charging 20 per roof or 20 for the app it's self?


 
Hi Dallas,

roofsnap charges $10.00 per roof drawing that you do

mine has higher initial costs but you save alot of money in the long run plus it can do much much more than roofsnap can.

Ken


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

I just got a new demo today with some updated features... looks like the app is still on target for a jan 01 launch. The pdf highlighter option is now complete and works great and i can also attach arrows and circles to my photos to highlight areas of interest on the photos.... this also works very well now. The roof draw portion still has quite a few tweaks left to work out but it is getting there. Grumpy I am curious if you have access to an ipad? I was thinking since you are a long term, high volume posting member here if you wouldnt mind doing a review of the app for me when its ready

Ken


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

Hey guys,

just so you know my email has now changed to [email protected] and my nwe website will be up tomorrow at www.anymonkey.ca if anyone wants to check it out and get a bit more info on the app.

Ken


----------



## BrandRoof (Dec 13, 2011)

Your mistaken, you don't lose it all if you know how to take a screen shot of your iPad. Regardless I don't use software to estimate any longer, too many flaws; from trees and other obstructions to missed calculations; I do MUCH better measuring from the ground when it comes to steep roofs which is the only reason I would use this sort of software to begin with. I measure on average 2 roofs a day and I can tell you I have no use for such an overpriced product. I find it very neat but it really seems like your trying to reinvent the wheel. Again, good luck.


----------



## AnyMonkey (Nov 26, 2012)

hey it is up to you how you want to estimate.... maybe you are better off the way you do it, it certainly isnt for everybody but I am an estimator also and i use satellite photos and digitizer programs every single day and i would not go back to the old dinosaur way (that I also used to do) for a million bucks. no matter what method you use there is always room for error. if you measure it by hand at some point you still have to add it all up and the more difficult and steep a roof is the more likely you will be to make a mistake. I personally trust apps that calculate all of that for me alot more than i trust my sometimes distracted brain any day.

At any rate from your comments it seems you still can not get past the fact that this is more of an app than just a roof draw program and I also assume from your comments that you do mostly small residential housing rather than large tendered projects that require you to take many photos and notes. This is the place that this app really shines. I built it this way because this is what I want when i go to a site visit.

With the current software i am using i was able to take off a 600 square complex today in 4 hours and all i had to do was go onsite to take 1 measurement from the ground and check for some of these hidden features that you mentioned in your post. My app allows you to do the exact same thing... only i get to stand right at the site while im doing it and have all my photos, my hardware, my notes, my spec and my sketches all in the exact same place when i get back to the office.

It is not even physically possible to go up on 8 different fairly cut up buildings of around 70 square or more, measure them all by hand, calculate your squares, eaves, hips, valleys, ridges, rakes, step flashings, wall flashings backpan, leads, vents etc etc in anywhere near that time (30 minutes each) and because people tend to round up their tape measurements i would bet that it would be even less accurate than my way. (which is probably why i get a lot of phone calls from other estimators wanting square checks after bids close)

anyways there are lots of other cool programs out there too that do alot of awsome things..... xactimate is awsome but it costs you $2500.00 per year and is more of an all round construction program than a roof specific one. Roofcad is great too but again its $5000.00 for 1 license and 250 a year to maintain (this is not a guess... this is what we pay/paid) Roofsnap is a handy little app too if all you want to do is draw a roof but if you make 5 drawings a month with it you will pay $600.00 a year and thats if you barely use it uggghhhh. Eagle view is a good service if you really trust someone else to do your take-offs for you and has no liability when they are wrong. They are also not cheap and if you use them 10-15 times a year only you can get up around $1000.00. Pictometry is also cool but again not cheap and they try and sell you every extra service under the sun... so im sorry if you think my approx $1500.00 app (for 1) $900 ea (for 2) $700 ea (for 3) that is also connected to a server and stores all of your information is overpriced but I and the 4 companies that have asked me to come over and see them this Saturday do not.

Regards,

Ken


----------

