How Better Choice Development Reduced Estimating Time by 60%, Increased Awarded Work by 60%, and Supported 400% Business Growth with Estimating Link
Watch the Full Customer Interview
Interview published July 21, 2026
This customer success story follows Javier Ornelas, a heavy civil estimator with more than 30 years of experience, as he explains why Better Choice Development replaced Excel spreadsheets with Estimating Link and the measurable business results that followed.
This customer interview discusses heavy civil estimating software, construction estimating software, replacing Excel spreadsheets, bid accuracy, proposal revisions, estimating productivity, and business growth.
Contractor: Better Choice Development
Estimator: Javier Ornelas
Industry: Heavy Civil Construction
Experience: 30+ Years
After more than 30 years estimating heavy civil construction projects, Javier Ornelas knew spreadsheets had reached their limit. Broken formulas, slow revisions, and hours spent checking calculations were holding his team back.
After implementing Estimating Link, Better Choice Development reduced estimating time by approximately 60%, increased awarded work by approximately 60%, completed revisions in minutes instead of hours, and supported 400% company growth.
Measurable Results
| Result | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Awarded Work Increased | ↑ 60% |
| Estimating Time Reduced | ↓ 60% |
| Large Project Estimate | 10 hours → Under 4 hours |
| Company Growth | 400% in one year |
| Proposal Revision Time | Minutes instead of hours |
| Estimator Experience | 30+ years in heavy civil |
Customer Quote
"We're probably getting about 60% more awarded now than we were before."
— Javier Ornelas
Better Choice Development
What Is Estimating Link?
Estimating Link is heavy civil estimating software designed specifically for contractors performing earthwork, underground utilities, paving, grading, concrete, bridge, highway, airport, site development, and other civil construction projects. Designed by contractors and trusted for nearly 40 years, Estimating Link helps estimators improve bid accuracy, reduce estimating time, standardize estimating processes, respond to revisions faster, and win more work.
Why Javier Recommends Estimating Link
"I'm not going back to spreadsheets anymore."
"The support has been amazing."
— Javier Ornelas
Better Choice Development
Ready to Estimate Faster and Win More Heavy Civil Projects?
Schedule a personalized demo to see how Estimating Link helps heavy civil contractors estimate faster, improve bid accuracy, and win more work.
Read the Full Customer Interview Transcript
Prefer reading instead of watching? Below is the complete transcript of our interview with Javier Ornelas from Better Choice Development discussing his experience with Estimating Link.
The Weight of Every Bid
“I feel the elephant in the chest every day from, gotta go get bids. I gotta go get work because, you know, there's a train of people on it and If we don't get work coming in, the train will stop eventually because it won't have enough work to support itself."
"So I would say we're probably getting about 60% more awarded now than we were before. And it's just been because of accuracy and also being able to return a proposal back in time a lot faster.”
30+ Years of Heavy Civil Experience
“My name is Javier Ornelas, been with better choice development for 2 years, and prior to that, I've been doing civil work for about 30 plus years now. I've been estimating for the last probably 15, 18 years now.”
Why Excel Was No Longer Enough
“I spent hours and hours chasing bids, chasing numbers on spreadsheets, and then there could be this formula, that got the wrong link or the formula is correct, but now it's not linking correctly to my other spreadsheet that I have. The other 100 tabs that I had on my other calculation somewhere."
"But I was awarded a project, and I looked at it, and I was like, wait a minute, that's not enough money for what I need. What's going on? The link broke between one file to the other. So data was not being pushed forward. So at that point, I was like, you know what? I think I am ready for software because it is too much to keep track of and try to check everything.”
The Decision to Replace Excel with Civil Estimating Software
“I need to spend less time checking my spreadsheets to make sure that they were right rather than doing this, and I need to put that energy into just estimating a project. My own spreadsheets that I still have, somewhere, uh, buried in all my files, but that's where they're going to remain taking the rem buried, because I'm not going back to that anymore.”
Cutting Estimating Time by 60%
“If I have to put it in percentages, I think I would say, we've cut down the percentage by 60%. It is hours. When you're talking about a bid that is up in the $400,000,000 project, right?"
"It used to take me every bid of 10 hours to build a project that big. I could say that all the same components can be done in 4 hours or less in the software now.”
Growing the Business
“In one year, we grow up 400%. It's a contribution of everything. pushing out their accurate numbers and just getting more work and then having the efficiency to bid faster, it helps us win projects faster.”
Fast and Easy Revisions
“So. When a customer or GC comes back to us and says, hey, let's do a change on the proposal to something. It used to take me hours to go back on a revised a bid. I almost had to redo the whole thing just to do revision."
"Now it's just like, okay, what line item are we talking about? Okay, well, let's talk about the underground. Okay, well let's do these. And we'll start playing with it right away. Reprint the bid and send it within minutes. And it's so much better and faster that way.”
Templates, Assemblies, and More
“Overall, I really enjoyed the software, how everything is so integrated with once I enter my line items in bid or in the software, I can use in the tools.
"You know, we can customize everything as we go and we have templates that we use now."
"We have assemblies that we have already built into our software, so it's just, it speeds up things so quickly."
"We're flying through that. It's like so fast and we love it. It has been amazing.”
Why Estimating Link
“When I saw the pricing versus other softwares out there, And I can get the same result or even better. That was one of the decision factors because it was better valued and I was getting greater support and I was getting also the backing of trade. And immediately. So it was great."
"Coming in from spreadsheets, it felt very similar. The way everything was bid, you know, poor line items, because that's how I bid everything from my Excel spreadsheets. So I felt very, um, like a glove, it just fit right in in my mind. It's like, okay, this is going to be good. It's gonna be great. So, That was one of the decision factors"
"And also, the other one was, It was just easy to use. Very easy.”
Amazing Support
“The support has been amazing. There's times where that I'm like, okay, I know I can do these faster. How can I do it? So I just call immediately support and it's right there alive, just amazing."
"Keep doing the great work and we appreciate all the support and You guys are there every time we guys need you. Thank you so much.”
