Updating Construction Unit Costs

Changing Unit Prices

To make more accurate changes to material unit prices in the BidMagic estimating software, adjust the individual material unit prices found in the Price Book.

NOTE: If you are using MacNail Customizing, you can use that program to update material unit prices very efficiently (see page 393).

If directly updating material unit prices in the BidMagic construction estimating software, follow these steps:

1. Open BidMagic or an estimating template that you have created from it.
2. If asked to enter a project name, click Cancel so you can work on the template itself.
3. Choose Specifications from the Navigate menu.
4. Click the Right Arrow button to move to the next available Specifications card.
5. Click on one of the pop-up buttons in the first subcategory, then choose Edit Unit Prices from the bottom of the pop-up menu.
6. Select the first item in the list at left.
7. Enter a new material unit price in the Material Price field at right. NOTE: To calculate a new material unit price, add up the cost of each material that will go into one construction unit, and figure in a waste factor of between 2% and 15%.
8. Click on the next item in the list at left, then repeat step seven. Repeat until you've finished every item in the list.
9. Choose the next cost subcategory from the pop-up list at upper left.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 until you have changed prices in each subcategory.
11. Click the Save and Return button to accept the new unit prices.
12. Click the Right Arrow button to go to the next Specifications card.
13. Repeat steps 5 through 12 until you have entered new material prices for each item in BidMagic.