Our premier Scratch Builders provide:

An estimator with Chain Link Scratch Builder can figure a large commercial chain link fence including single swing, double swing, rolling, and cantilever gates exactly down to the last nut, bolt, and tie wire in about two minutes. Scratch Builder then presents a wide range of reports including specification sheets, shop drawings, gate fabrication sheets, proposal/contracts with a job sketch, and exact packing lists with a job sketch (a one-page worksheet for your installers) at the click of a mouse. Scratch Builder can generate reports at cost, cost plus any percentage of markup, retail or discounted down from retail. You can get at any number you want from the bottom up or from the top down. The only thing it won’t do is let you sell below your cost.

The program calculates concrete, can save and recall estimates, allows you to edit your estimate on screen, convert to an invoice, can alert you to inventory shortages, and will deduct sold jobs from inventory. Job Sketch enables you to detail job layouts on your computer. There are tools for adding horizontal and vertical text, drawing buildings, roads, existing fences, trees, shrubs, hedges, dogs, horses, symbols for utility features, and a compass.

Have you ever spent half an hour figuring a six-foot chain link estimate only to have the customer ask: “What would that cost eight feet tall?” Using QwikDraw if there
are multiple fence heights and/or styles, Chain Link Scratch Builder can recalculate the job including taller posts, fabric, gates, tensions bars, and more bands, bolts, and tie wires in a few seconds. With Chain Link Scratch Builder you can estimate a job half a dozen different ways, produce a proposal package for each in less time than it previously took to produce a single estimate, and look like the ultimate professional while doing it.

We have been producing a Pre-Built Vinyl (PVC) Scratch Builder for many years. It is currently configured to estimate the leading vinyl fence products in the industry including Bufftech, Poly Vinyl Creations, Country Estate, and Legend. With the cooperation of these vinyl fence manufactures, their product lines can be plugged into your CFS system and be working for you in minutes.

When estimating high-end fences, like vinyl, customers often want a variety of estimates. Vinyl Scratch Builder, especially combined with QwikDraw, can calculate alternate estimates in seconds.

Over the past couple of years our Vinyl Fabricator has grown along with the whole vinyl industry. Vinyl Fabricator knows about everything there is to know about virtually any vinyl fence style. It figures Flat, Arched, Scalloped, Double Arched, Double Scalloped, Down Sloped Ends, Up Sloped Ends, Alternate Picket Height, Peak, Valley, and Custom fence styles. It actually produces a Shop Drawing on screen as you spec it out. You can combine up to 5 different pickets into a pattern, each with an optional cap. Pickets can insert into or attach to rails. Different pickets can have different spacing. These programs calculate picket lengths and spacing for unlimited variations of designs (study the graphics on the previous page). It also calculates waste and controls inventory. We have plug in modules available for most extruders and accessory suppliers.

If you only fabricate vinyl fence you should be looking at Vinyl Fence Toolbox.

PVC Scratch Builder can calculate each stretch on the job independently in any of five different post spacing options: Proportional, Field Fit Proportional, Remainder, Round to Full Section, and Feather.

We can provide import modules for product lines from the below vinyl manufacturers as well as others not mentioned here:

We have been producing a pre-built Ornamental Scratch Builder for many years. It has been configured to estimate the leading steel and aluminum fence products in the industry. Import modules for Ameristar, Alumi-Guard, Monumental Iron, Classic Premium, Elite Aluminum, Echelon Aluminum, SpecRail, Statesman, Guardsman, Ideal Aluminum, and Today Fencing are currently available. Most product lines are updated annually. These entire product lines can be plugged in to your CFS system and put to work in minutes.

When estimating high-end fences, like ornamental steel and aluminum, customers often want a variety of estimates. Ornamental Scratch Builder, especially when combined with QwikDraw, can calculate alternate estimates in seconds.

Ornamental Fabricator is the latest in our new generation of Scratch Builder fence estimating programs. It figures every piece of steel or aluminum, finials, caps, and accessories. It calculates fabrication labor, welding, and coating charges. It produces a detailed Shop Drawing for a sales and fabrication tool. It even produces a Parts Catalog Section with a drawing of the section, the section pricing, and can also list all of the component parts individually. Personally, I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. But, I produced all of these designs in minutes with the ornamental fabricator. It’s so easy, and it does so much.

Our programs have always been “fence smart”, but these new fabrication programs are “fence brilliant.” This is a totally new approach to fence estimating & design. It enables you to quickly produce custom designs with a few clicks of the mouse. How can it be so easy? These programs “know” how to build fence. Artificial fence intelligence enables Ornamental Fabricator Scratch Builder to estimate millions of variations of ornamental fencing. Of course, for all of your standard styles, you just design each fence once and save it as a Standard Specification. You can have up to 99 Standard Specifications for each height of fence. The drawing that Ornamental Scratch Builder produces can convert into a Shop Drawing, be exported as a .bmp file, and the drawings associated with your Standard Specs can be used as a graphic in the Fence Parts Catalog.

There are many similarities between the Ornamental Fabricator and the Vinyl Fence Fabricator. Nearly every feature found in one can be found in the other.

Long used throughout Europe and the rest of the world, wire mesh panel fencing is a relative newcomer to the North American fencing market. Because of security concerns in this new and dangerous world we live in, wire panel fencing has become a growing market segment. Wire mesh panels, built with the correct gauge of wire and proper mesh size, are highly secure and can even resist intrusion with bolt cutters. We addressed this new fence product with its own Wire Panel Scratch Builder estimating program.

The Wire Panel Scratch Builder can add either barbed wire or a fence section-type topper to an estimate using either a bent post or a barb wire arm. It can calculate the material needed with panels figured between posts or as continuous fence, where the panels have connectors to hook them together. The Wire Panel Scratch Builder uses brackets to attach panels to posts – most commonly a tamper resistant U-Bolt assembly or a bracket similar to a tension band (depending on the different styles of wire panel).

Because most of the brackets for wire panel fencing allow a certain amount of “play,” where they can be adjusted to make the section fit correctly, the program has a fudge-factor built in to accommodate “play”. The program calculates either remainder or proportional spacing and can automatically set the on-center spacing for a particular style of wire panel. Naturally, the Wire Panel Scratch Builder interfaces with QwikDraw.

We currently have inventory modules set up for Omega and Deacero brands of wire panel fencing. If you use a different wire panel product, please contact us with your supplier's information, and we will contact them and encourage them to participate in the program. A bit of pressure from you, their customers, also goes a long way in affirming that their investment would be worthwhile.

Wood Scratch Builder has the versatility to adapt itself to any type or style of wood fencing. It operates in three distinct modes: Pre-Built for companies that install wood panels and/or pre-fab them in the shop, Scratch Built for those that stick build on site, and the new Wood Fabricator mode which can do both and much more.

Since wood fence varies so much from region to region and even company to company, it requires more setup then our other programs. We send it out with a generic setup for both types of construction. You adapt it to your exact ways of producing wood by customizing the inventory and running the Wood Scratch Builder Setup program. Wood Scratch Builder can estimate unlimited combinations of vertical and horizontal board fences. It can combine the two into one design. The program accommodates custom cut pickets and can estimate trim pieces like lattice toppers, facia boards, and post caps. You determine the hardware and framing method for wood gates. It will store up to ninety-nine standard specifications for each height of fence, which can be called up with one keystroke.

Miscellaneous Estimator has taken on a new level of importance with the introduction of multi-height and multi-style QwikDraw. Since QwikDraw can channel estimates through several different Scratch Builder fence estimating programs, Miscellaneous Estimator has become the place where multi-jobs are merged into a single estimate. It can then generate contracts, work orders, or any report you might need.

Miscellaneous Estimator works almost identically to Cash Register; you can use it when you are not ready to create an invoice. When used in conjunction with our exploding additional pricing functions, it can also be used as an estimator for alternate products like farm fence, barbed wire, and guard rail.

If you have questions about CFS and how it can help your business, 
reach out to us today; we’re here to serve you!