Basic Software Toolkit for Valuation Engineers

Here is a short list of the main software tools used in my office:

Statistics

• MARS
  • Salford Systems MARS ($15,000) or
  • R-Language Earth Package (Free)
• R-Language – Hundreds of other useful statistics, graphing and related products.

GIS

• Quantum GIS https://www.qgis.org/en/site/ (Free)
• ArcGIS ($$$)
•  

CAD Software for Building Floorplans

• Chief Architect Home Designer Pro (You can always upgrade to Chief Architect Premium)  (Cost $499)
•  

Computer Programming

• JetBrains
  • Rider (C#)
  • PyCharm (Python)
  • CLion (C/C++)
  • Intellij (Java, …)
• Microsoft Visual Studio (C#, Python, …)

Database

• PostgresSQL (free)
• SQL Server (May cost)
• Oracle MySQL (free)
• Oracle SQL
• SQLite (free)
• …

Microsoft Office 365

• MS Word 
• MS Excel

Adobe Creative Suite

• Acrobat DC
• Photoshop 
• Also recommend the Adobe Creative Suite Full Package – if you can use the other Adobe products).

Other

• IrfanView (free) for bulk processing of photos
• Notepad++
• 1Password to manage passwords
• WordPress for websites