A common thread running through many Windows estimating programs is the use of a three-tiered scrolling menu for quantity takeoff. Any time you need to find a specific item in the database, you're never more than three mouseclicks away — from Division to Phase to Item level, successively. Chosen items are then added to a running list on an estimate screen. Most programs using this scheme, however, don't display both the database and the estimate on screen at the same time. To some estimators, this is merely an annoyance, but to others, the ability to refer easily to the estimate during takeoff is a necessity that helps to maintain continuity. Easy access to the full estimate not only
