Automated pricing system

An automated method for creating a price schedule for one or more construction plan elements of a construction project comprising:

• (a) providing on a local computer an architectural software design tool and a construction plan drawing having at least one construction plan element, wherein the construction plan drawing is created with the architectural software design tool;
• (b) providing on the local computer an add-on computer software code that runs as an internal component within the architectural software design tool, and that includes a palette containing one or more parametric symbols, and optionally one or more corresponding parametric symbol values, wherein the palette includes a parametric symbol for each of the construction plan elements;
• (c) selecting one or more of the parametric symbols that is included in the palette for insertion into the construction plan drawing;
• (d) optionally, selecting one or more parametric symbol values for one or more of the selected parametric symbols;
• (e) optionally, selecting one or more types of manufacturers or distributors for one or more of the selected parametric symbols;
• (f) inserting one or more of the selected parametric symbols into the construction plan drawing;
• (g) using the add-on computer software code and an Internet connection, transmitting data corresponding to each of the inserted parametric symbols from the local computer to a remote server system;
• (h) using a zip code, the add-on computer software code and an Internet connection, accessing price data from a web site present on the remote server system that includes price data for a purchase of construction plan elements corresponding to inserted parametric symbols from one or more available manufacturers or distributors in a geographical location within the zip code;
• (i) determining from the price data a price for each of the construction plan elements corresponding to an inserted parametric symbol;
• and
• (j) using the add-on computer software code, creating a price schedule from the prices, wherein the price schedule includes a total cost for all of the construction plan elements corresponding to inserted parametric symbols, wherein the price schedule can include one or more construction plan elements, and wherein the price schedule may be immediately used on the local computer to place an order to purchase one or more construction plan elements that are present in the price schedule.