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Instant Estimator Software to Be Released by Upperspace Corporation

Instant Estimator scheduled for retail release in November 2000.

PRYOR, Okla. – October 13, 2000 – Upperspace Corp. today announced a third program for the “Instant” family of products, Instant Estimator.

Upperspace Corporation has announced that Instant Estimator will be released and start shipping November 1^st to retail stores. It’s the third member in the “Instant” family of products: Instant Architect, Instant Engineer, and Instant Estimator, and will sell for under $40. These “Instant” programs are expected to be offered through retailers carrying other Upperspace software. Upperspace software is currently in CompUSA, Micro Center, J & R Music World, and TigerDirect catalog and online. Instant Estimator offers features including an up-to-date product price listing, customizable data fields, import bid data from CAD programs, AutoCAD compatibility, labor and markup options, print detailed or customer copy bids, and HTML support.

Over 4,000 items are included in the construction list organized by categories. These categories include cabinetry, carpentry, landscaping, masonry and more. Users can download a web update with current prices by selecting the Web Update command from the Help menu. This feature will be offered for the life of this version of Instant Estimator.

In addition to updating the construction list through Web Update, Instant Estimator allows users to easily customize data fields. Users can add a special item to the construction list for a single bid, or can make a global change where an item and its price is added to the main construction list where it can be used again.

Instant Estimator can import bid data from CAD programs including DesignCAD 3000, DesignCAD LT or Express, Instant Engineer, Instant Architect, and AutoCAD. For current DesignCAD users, bid data can be imported from a material list or an ASCII text file. These material lists can be created with little effort by assigning an attribute to the symbols used within a drawing. AutoCAD users can insert an included block into their drawings, which prompts them for each property of the Bid Item on the AutoCAD command line. When finished inserting blocks, they can browse to the included template file to export their data into a attribute file, which Instant Estimator can read. Most CAD programs will export an ASCII text file of the material list, making it easy for users to import bid data for practically any CAD program.

“The Labor and markup options make Instant Estimator a good choice for builders and contractors. Instant Estimator pulls prices from the construction list and allows users to assign the markup they want to use. So you could enter a 2% markup for the adobe outdoor tile, a 20% markup for a Kohler sink basin, or a 5% markup for the rest of the

bid items” says Steve Ledbetter, product manager. Users have the option to make markup changes to items in the construction list or bid items.

Both detailed and customer copy bids can be printed. A detailed bid for a subcontractor will display item markup and labor costs. Customer bids list final itemized pricing. In addition to printing these bids, they can be posted on the web because Instant Estimator supports HTML.

Instant Architect and Instant Engineer are both based on the DesignCAD platform. Instant Architect offers 150 pre-drawn floor plans to customize and a 1000-piece symbol library. Instant Engineer comes with a 1000-piece symbol library and can be used to create electrical plans, maps, diagrams, and more. These programs can be found at most retail software suppliers at a street price under $40.

All DesignCAD products including DesignCAD 3000, DesignCAD 3000 Express, Instant Architect, and Instant Engineer support the DWG, AutoCAD file format. Mike Webster, president of Upperspace says, “We are founding members of the OpenDWG Alliance and believe that offering AutoCAD compatibility in DesignCAD software continues to be important because of the sheer number of offices using AutoCAD and the vast number of people who don’t want to pay AutoCAD prices for their home PC. It’s simple – people appreciate being able to import AutoCAD drawings, get some work done, and then export the drawing so they can open it again in AutoCAD”.

Upperspace was recently incorporated in March 2000. It is composed of the original developers of DesignCAD software formally sold by ViaGrafix/Learn2.com. DesignCAD software has been offering CAD designers all around the world software with a powerful price/performance ratio since the late 1980’s. On June 24, 2000, DesignCAD 3000 was released followed by the release of DesignCAD 3000 Express on August 21, 2000. Instant Architect and Instant Engineer were released September 15, 2000. Retailers who have already begun to offer DesignCAD software within the first 4-month startup period include CompUSA, J & R Music World Computer World, Micro Center, and TigerDirect. DesignCAD software is distributed by Navarre.