Troy Blass

## Key Points - Freelance mechanical estimator, essentially in-house at a client now. Midwest-based. Very detail-oriented ("nuts and bolts OCD"). Previously owned a company for 9 years. - Power user of STACK (7 years, before that eTakeoff). Everything cloud-based. Loves STACK's integrated library of product lines and costs -- no rounding errors, no copy-paste mistakes between Bluebeam and spreadsheets. - Bills ~50 hours/week as a consultant. Found via Reddit by current client. Charges enough that they don't bother him. - Only 40% of his time is actual on-screen takeoff work. 60% is logistics/fluff: getting files organized, parsing addendums, uploading to STACK, spec review. ## Pain Points Mentioned - Logistics burden is "parasitic" -- "running through quicksand, making progress but don't really know." 4 hours/day wasted on file management: - Download zip, extract, find mechanical sections, identify spec changes across addendums, print to PDF, upload to STACK, highlight - Managing 4-6 jobs simultaneously, some need to be abandoned partway through - Multiple file sources: email, Microsoft hosting, two different plan rooms, BuildingConnected - Change orders: RFIs come with 3 addendums, 2 have plan changes. How to search what's pertinent? Overlay feature in STACK exists but is manual. - Contractor turnover: 3 project managers in 1.5 years. People are overburdened and churn. Hard to find people who put up with the chaos. - STACK doesn't integrate with regional warehouses despite having an API. ## Product Feedback - Automated change detection across addendums: "That shit would be crazy." Trying to hire someone just for this. Even if someone else used the software, it would be worth it. - Would pay $500/week for something that handles the logistics burden (file organization, spec parsing, addendum tracking). - Wants: extension/plugin that monitors for updated plan sets and gives revision notifications. "All the stuff right there." - STACK + Procore plugin exists -- likes the direction of updated plan sets with revision tracking. - Mentioned mBEX as the best plan room he's ever used. ## Next Steps - Key insight: the real pain isn't takeoff speed, it's the 60% logistics overhead (file management, spec parsing, addendum tracking, plan room monitoring) - Industry shortage: estimators are isolated, haven't updated pricing in 1.5 years, living in their own ecosystem - Potential champion for mechanical trade expansion