Resumen
The purpose of this study was to investigate the utilization of information technology in the estimating functions, related to the scale of operations, by Pennsylvanias home building contractors. Firm size was examined as to its impact on three issues in construction cost estimating practices; type of estimating technology, whether or not the primary estimating function was computerized, and if computerized, the primary program used for the estimating functions by home builders. Significant differences existed among firm sizes in the information technology used for estimating costs. Secondly, significant differences existed among firm sizes as to the use of a computerized estimating system verses a manual estimating system. Larger firms utilized more advanced technology. However, the results revealed that there are not significant differences among firm sizes in the primary program used for estimating when a firm has a computerized estimating procedure. Small firms that are computerized in many cases are taking advantage of the same software used by larger firms.