Case Study: KNI (Northern Ireland telecommunications contractor) cuts estimating time from days to hours with Countfire

How KNI uses Countfire to go from tendering to installation

KNI, a Northern Ireland telecommunications contractor supplying structured cabling, telephone systems and IP integration, was struggling with slow, manual take-off processes. Estimator Mark Tomlinson was spending 2–3 days per estimate—often a full day just printing drawings—which hurt tender response times and limited the company’s ability to grow and win work. They turned to Countfire for a digital solution.

Countfire’s automated take-off software was adopted into KNI’s pre-sales workflow, eliminating printing and cutting estimate turnaround from days to hours while improving accuracy. Using Countfire’s demarcations and colour-coded outputs, KNI not only sped up bids but also improved job design (e.g., identifying a third communications room in a hospital tender), used counts as transparent spreadsheets for subcontractors, and ultimately won more jobs thanks to clearer, verifiable totals.

KNI

Mark Tumilson

Estimator