Is SureCount part of IntelliBid?

ConEst presents them as two products. According to its IntelliBid page, IntelliBid handles takeoff entry, phasing and item-level takeoff tools, and SureCount adds on-screen takeoff from drawings: automatic symbol counting, measurement, area selection and revised-drawing overlay comparison, written straight into IntelliBid. IntelliBid itself is priced by edition and number of users.

Does Mirage replace IntelliBid?

No. Mirage has no material database, no labor units, no pricing and no proposal output. It counts devices, measures conduit and wire runs, traces homeruns and reads panel and luminaire schedules, with every line traced to the sheet it came from, then hands those quantities to the estimating system you already price in.

Does Mirage check electrical drawings against the NEC?

No. Mirage counts and traces quantities and flags where the drawings disagree with each other, such as a luminaire schedule against the plan count or a homerun with no panel tag. It does not check a design against the National Electrical Code: that stays with the engineer of record and the plan reviewer.

Has Mirage run electrical takeoff in production?

Mirage has not published an electrical deployment yet. Its takeoff agents in production run on other work: three agents at OCBM, with every quantity traceable to its source drawing, and piping takeoff at John Cockerill, where the time spent fell by 80 to 90%. An electrical engagement starts with a proof of concept on one of your own sets, one week after the first meeting.

All Comparisons/Comparison

Comparison

ConEst alternatives

Mirage vs ConEst IntelliBid

ConEst IntelliBid is a complete electrical estimating platform for electrical, low voltage, datacom and solar contractors, with on-screen takeoff from its companion product, SureCount. Mirage is not another platform. It is a takeoff layer that reads the drawing set and hands traced quantities to the estimating system you already price in, IntelliBid included, so the right alternative depends on whether you are replacing the platform or the counting.

At a glance

Aspect	Mirage	ConEst IntelliBid
What it is	A takeoff layer in front of your estimating system, deployed and run by Mirage engineers	Electrical estimating software for electrical, low voltage, datacom and solar contractors, in three editions: Standard, Plus and Pro
Material database	None: it feeds yours	Over 140,000 NEC-friendly electrical, low voltage, datacom and solar items, more than 500,000 pre-built assembly kits
Labor units	None: yours stay in your estimating system	Pre-installed industry standard labor units, six levels of labor difficulty, Auto Labor Factoring
Material pricing	None	NetPricer, EPIC and TRA-SER integrations (pricing services licensed separately); price comparison across up to 10 local suppliers
Takeoff	Devices, conduit and wire runs, homeruns, panel and luminaire schedules, read from plans, one-lines and schedules together	Takeoff entry in IntelliBid; on-screen takeoff from drawings with SureCount, which has a patented auto count
Homeruns	Traced from each device to its panel, flagged when the panel tag is missing	Not described on the product pages
Drawing formats	PDF, DWG and IFC, scanned and vector sheets in one pass	Not listed on the product pages
Revisions	The delta between two sets: which quantities changed, on which sheets	SureCount overlay: additions in green, deletions in red
Into the estimate	An Excel or CSV file laid out for your estimating system's import, not a live link	SureCount writes straight into IntelliBid, drawings and phases synchronized
How it is run	Inside your environment, built and operated by forward-deployed engineers; a person reviews exceptions and signs off	Software your estimators run, installed on a local PC or office network, or through CE Cloud
Track record	No electrical deployment published yet; takeoff agents in production at OCBM and John Cockerill	Trusted by electrical contractors since 1989, according to its site
Published pricing	No: scoped after a proof of concept on your own drawings	No figures: priced by edition and number of users

Summary

A search for a ConEst alternative usually starts from one of two problems. Either the estimating platform no longer fits (its database, its deployment, the way it is licensed), or the platform is fine and the takeoff in front of it is where the hours go. The answers are different.

If the platform is the problem, the alternatives are other electrical estimating platforms. Trimble Accubid and McCormick Systems are the most direct: each sells a material database, labor units, takeoff and bid assembly for electrical contractors, as ConEst does. Vision InfoSoft's Electrical Bid Manager is a lighter program in the same category. None of them states a larger database than IntelliBid's 140,000 items and 500,000 assembly kits, so a team that depends on its low voltage, datacom and solar coverage should check that first.

If the takeoff is the problem, look first at SureCount, ConEst's own on-screen takeoff: patented auto count, measurement, overlay comparison of revised drawings, and results written straight into IntelliBid. Where that is not enough, Mirage is built for the other path: keep IntelliBid, and put an agent in front of it that counts devices, measures runs, traces homeruns to their panels and returns every line with the sheet it came from, as a file laid out for import.

Mirage does not maintain a material catalogue or labor units, does not price and does not assemble the bid. It has not published an electrical deployment yet; its takeoff agents in production run at OCBM and John Cockerill. Those are the limits to weigh it against.

Key takeaways

IntelliBid is a complete electrical estimating platform with the largest stated catalogue of the three; Mirage is a takeoff layer that feeds one.
If the platform is the problem, compare Trimble Accubid, McCormick or Electrical Bid Manager: Mirage does not replace an estimating system.
If the takeoff is the problem, check what SureCount already covers, then add Mirage where sets are mixed-format, revised often or inconsistent.
Mirage exports an Excel or CSV file for import, not a direct write into IntelliBid, and does not check drawings against the NEC.

Key differences

An estimating platform, or a takeoff layer

IntelliBid holds the database, the assembly kits, the labor units, the supplier pricing and the bid. Mirage holds none of them. It produces quantities, with their sources, for the platform that does.

SureCount into IntelliBid, or Mirage in front of it

SureCount writes its takeoff straight into IntelliBid, with drawings and phases synchronized. Mirage returns a file for import instead. In exchange, it reads the one-line, the panel schedules and the plans together, traces homeruns to their panels and flags where the sheets disagree, across PDF, DWG and IFC, scanned or vector.

Software you run, or agents run with you

IntelliBid is software your estimators operate, locally or through CE Cloud. Mirage is deployed by its own engineers inside your environment: a proof of concept on your drawings one week after the first meeting, then the first workflow in production in 4 to 6 weeks, with a person reviewing every exception.

Advantages and limitations

Mirage

Advantages

Leaves your IntelliBid database, assembly kits, labor units and job history where they are
Reads plans, one-line diagrams and panel schedules together, and flags where they disagree
Traces homeruns from each device to its panel
PDF, DWG and IFC, scanned and vector sheets, in one pass
Every quantity traced to its sheet, detail and schedule reference, with confidence flags

Limitations

Not an estimating platform: no material database, labor units, pricing or proposal
No direct write into IntelliBid: an Excel or CSV file for import
No low voltage, datacom or solar catalogue of its own
No electrical deployment published yet
Does not check drawings against the NEC, and has no published price

ConEst IntelliBid

Advantages

Over 140,000 items and more than 500,000 pre-built assembly kits, low voltage, datacom and solar included
Industry standard labor units with Auto Labor Factoring for height, floors, run length and multiple runs
SureCount takeoff written straight into IntelliBid, with overlay comparison of revisions
Supplier pricing through NetPricer, EPIC and TRA-SER, compared across up to 10 local suppliers
Installed locally or run through CE Cloud, in three editions

Limitations

On-screen takeoff from drawings comes from a second product, SureCount
Pricing services are licensed separately from IntelliBid
Its product pages do not describe homerun tracing or list the drawing formats takeoff accepts

Use cases

Keep IntelliBid as it is

Clean vector sets, standard devices, estimators already working in SureCount: the takeoff is not the bottleneck, and adding a layer in front of it may not be worth it.

Keep IntelliBid, add Mirage in front

The counting is where the hours go: large or mixed-format sets, scanned sheets next to DWG, industrial or infrastructure work with non-standard assemblies, frequent revisions, one-lines and schedules that disagree with the plans. Mirage counts and traces; IntelliBid prices.

Move to another estimating platform

The platform itself is the problem: its database, its deployment or its licensing. Then compare Trimble Accubid, McCormick and Electrical Bid Manager on their own terms (see below). Mirage does not solve that.

Low voltage, datacom and solar work

IntelliBid's catalogue covers low voltage, datacom and solar items, which Mirage does not maintain. A contractor whose bids lean on that catalogue keeps it, whichever takeoff sits in front of it.

Mirage products

Electrical takeoff

Device counts, conduit runs, homeruns and panel loads read from the drawing set, every line traced to its sheet, exported for import into Accubid, McCormick, ConEst or your own cost database.

See the page

Takeoff and estimating

Mirage's quantity takeoff across trades: plan, section and detail sheets read together, every quantity returned with its source attached.

See the page

How to choose

Name the problem first. If it is the estimating platform, the alternative is another platform, and the comparison is database, labor units, pricing feed, deployment and how your estimators work in it. If it is the counting, the alternative is a different takeoff, and the platform can stay.

Check what ConEst already offers before buying anything else. SureCount adds automatic symbol counting, measurement and overlay comparison of revised drawings, and writes straight into IntelliBid. On clean sets with standard devices, that may already cover the need.

Mirage is aimed at the sets where counting is not the whole job: scanned and vector sheets mixed with DWG or IFC, homeruns that have to be traced to a panel, schedules that disagree with the plans, revisions that would otherwise be recounted. Ask for a proof of concept on one of your own sets; it comes one week after the first meeting.

Other electrical estimating platforms

If the platform is what you are replacing, these are the alternatives to compare with IntelliBid, each described from its own vendor's site.

Trimble Accubid. Two products. Classic is the original full-featured electrical estimating solution, from estimating to purchasing, project management and billing, with over 42,000 items and 13,000 assemblies and labor units built in. Anywhere is cloud-based, for electrical and industrial mechanical contractors, sold as one subscription, with Trade Service pricing and LiveCount takeoff linked both ways to the estimate.
McCormick Systems. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical estimating with built-in takeoff. For electrical work: over 55,000 items and 25,000 prebuilt assemblies, trade-specific labor units from NECA, PHCC and MCAA standards, auto-count and a patented Auto Home Run, cloud-based, with databases for the USA and Canada.
Vision InfoSoft Electrical Bid Manager. A lighter program for electrical contractors of all sizes: over 10,000 items and assemblies, three columns of labor units per item, integration with PlanSwift and On-Screen Takeoff, QuickBooks job costing. Its site says you can get started for less than $1,000 a year.

Where Mirage fits on US and UK projects

On US work, Mirage's electrical takeoff is a quantity list, not an estimate: devices by type and circuit, conduit and wire by run, homeruns by panel, panel and luminaire schedules, each line with its sheet reference. It goes into the estimating system the contractor already prices in, IntelliBid, Accubid or McCormick, as an Excel or CSV file laid out for that system's import. Labor units, assembly kits and prices are applied there, not by Mirage.

Mirage does not check drawings against the National Electrical Code. It counts and traces what the drawings show and flags where they disagree with each other. Whether the design complies with the NEC stays with the engineer of record and the plan reviewer.

On UK work, note that ConEst describes its items as NEC-friendly, which is a US code. Mirage's quantities can be prepared for NRM2 measurement instead of an estimating system's import; its NRM page says plainly that this would be its first UK NRM deployment, built on the takeoff agents already in production. See NRM quantity surveying

The counting itself

How an electrical takeoff is done from 2D drawings, and what to check before it goes into the estimate. See the guide to electrical takeoff from 2D drawings

Homeruns, measured by hand and traced automatically. See the home run calculation guide

A long branch or feeder run raises the question of conductor size. See the voltage drop calculator

Sources

Every statement about ConEst, Trimble Accubid, McCormick Systems and Vision InfoSoft on this page comes from the vendors' own product pages, read on 1 October 2026. Performance figures vendors publish about their own products are not repeated here.

Checked 1 October 2026: ConEst IntelliBid, ConEst SureCount, Trimble Accubid Classic, Trimble Accubid Anywhere, McCormick Systems, electrical estimating, McCormick Systems, estimating software, Vision InfoSoft, Electrical Bid Manager

FAQ

It depends on what you want to replace. If it is the estimating platform, the closest alternatives are Trimble Accubid and McCormick Systems, which each sell a material database, labor units, takeoff and bid assembly for electrical contractors; Vision InfoSoft's Electrical Bid Manager is a lighter program in the same category. If the platform works and the takeoff is where the hours go, keeping IntelliBid and putting a takeoff layer such as Mirage in front of it avoids rebuilding your assemblies, labor factors and job history somewhere else.

Not as a direct write. Mirage returns the takeoff as an Excel or CSV file laid out for your estimating system's import, mapped to that format as part of the deployment, and your estimators bring it into IntelliBid, where labor units, assemblies and pricing are applied. ConEst's own SureCount writes takeoff straight into IntelliBid with drawings and phases synchronized, which a file export does not.

Related comparisons

Accubid alternatives

Trimble Accubid against the other electrical estimating platforms, and where Mirage's takeoff fits in front of it.

Read the comparison

McCormick alternatives

McCormick Systems against the other electrical estimating platforms, and where Mirage's takeoff fits in front of it.

Read the comparison

Mirage vs PlanSwift

Mirage's takeoff agents against PlanSwift's on-screen takeoff software.

Read the comparison

Mirage for electrical takeoff

Electrical takeoff

Device counts, conduit runs, homeruns and panel loads read from the drawing set, every line traced to its sheet, exported for the estimating system you already price in.

See electrical takeoff

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