
What would it mean for your business if you could reduce takeoff errors and cut your time spent on estimating?
For Al White, the sole estimator at Lassiter Electric, that’s exactly what happened when they switched to Countfire. By moving away from time-consuming manual takeoffs and adopting automation, Al was able to save valuable time, dramatically reduce errors and bid on $50 million worth of work each year – single-handedly. Here’s how he made it happen:
About Lassiter Electric
Lassiter Electric is an electrical contracting company based in Basalt, Colorado, just outside the well-known ski town of Aspen. The company specialises in high-end residential, commercial and retail remodels, often working on second homes for clients in the Aspen ski resort. Despite its relatively small size with around 30 employees, Lassiter Electric handles a large volume of work, and has built a strong reputation completing a number of high profile projects including the Wheeler Opera House.
Before switching to Countfire, Lassiter Electric relied heavily on Microsoft Excel, Bluebeam, and manual takeoffs using printed plans and highlighters which Al describes as “difficult, time consuming and leaves too much room for errors”.
Al estimated that manual methods could sometimes result in an error rate of around 10-15%, so it became clear that the company needed a more efficient and accurate way to manage their projects.
Finding Countfire
Al was introduced to Countfire during a casual lunch with one of his vendors. While he wasn’t actively searching for a software solution, the vendor mentioned they were exploring Countfire to help support their own customers. “That’s when I took the opportunity to take a look at it and thought, ‘this could really save me a lot of time’”.
Since then, Al says Countfire has become an essential part of his workflow used from the moment a new project comes in. He found the transition to Countfire seamless and easily integrated into his usual processes; “The way it colour codes everything really helps me to visualise that I didn’t miss anything. It helps me to get bids out more quickly and accurately.”
Measuring impact and achieving business goals
On many of the high-end commercial projects Lassiter Electric handles, Al often receives multiple sets of drawings, including power and lighting plans. With Countfire, Al explains how he can now auto-count across all sets simultaneously. "I only have to do the work once, and Countfire captures everything at the same time."
Lassiter Electric has seen a notable increase in productivity. The company continues to manage a high volume of work efficiently, maintaining both output and accuracy, and according to Al, “I’d say it’s easily doubled my speed.”
With the boost in productivity and output, Lassiter Electric has made savings of around $75,000 this year alone – a real tangible difference.
Accuracy has also improved significantly, with Al noting a dramatic reduction in errors since moving away from manual takeoffs:
“When we first started using Countfire, I definitely went back and did a lot of double checks myself to check its accuracy. I found probably a 1% error rate, and that came down to the drawings itself, not the software! It’s taken us down from a 10-15% error rate in the manual takeoffs that we were doing before – that’s a significant improvement.”
Al explains that, thanks to Countfire, Lassiter Electric is completing work faster than ever. The company has effectively halved its workload, allowing him to take on twice as many bids as before as a sole-estimator, all while maintaining high efficiency and positioning the business for long-term success.

The automation experience
Countfire has integrated well into Lassiter Electric’s existing workflow, particularly with the ability to generate outputs by zones, which mirrors how the company has traditionally structured its estimates. This allows Al to present a detailed and itemised scope of work to general contractors, giving them confidence that nothing has been missed. According to Al, this level of detail “gives us the edge over our competition.”
Al also emphasised the importance of being able to quickly track and review the history of changes across multiple takeoffs:
“When it comes down to updated plans, being able to actually go through and review that history is important. General contractors will ask me where a change came from and it’s a lot easier for me to just go ‘right here’. So that really helps out a lot."
Closing thoughts from Al
Al believes that Countfire has helped Lassiter Electric simplify the estimating process while dramatically reducing errors, and helping the company to win a high volume of bids. The software’s alignment with their existing workflow, along with the benefits of powerful automation tools, has made it an indispensable investment for the business.
“I think it’s a fantastic product, and well worth the cost, I would absolutely recommend it to other folks in the industry.”
See how Countfire can work for your business – start your free trial today.