Approximate Project Cost

Approximate Project Cost

Building permits and some other construction costs are often based on the 'bottom line' cost of the project. To make it easy to calculate them, The BidMagic construction estimating software stores the Approximate Project Cost as a separate dimension.

If the Project Cost field is locked, the most recent Bottom Line amount will be used as an approximate project cost.
Locking the project cost field sets up a 'circular reference,' since changing any item changes the bottom line, which changes the cost of building permits, which changes the bottom line, which changes building permits, and so on.

Each time you choose Calculate, the overall price will change, although the difference in price will be smaller each time.

If the price change is greater than 10% when you Calculate, The BidMagic estimating software will alert you and allow you to Calculate again, to make sure that costs based on the overall Project Cost are not too far off.

HINT: Normally it is best to lock the Project Cost field, since BidMagic will then always use the most recent project cost.

If you unlock the Project Cost button, enter your own estimate of the overall Project Cost. This value will not change when you Calculate, so you'll need to change it yourself if the overall Project Cost changes drastically.

HINT: Unlock the Project Cost button if you are doing many 'what if' calculations (see page 119). If you don't, left-over changes from the previous Project Cost may distort the 'what if' price change.