This lesson shows you how to use Goldenseal project
estimating software to create estimates and budgets for construction work, or any other type of project.
When to Use Estimates
Use Estimates whenever you need to figure the cost of a project— whether it’s
for someone else, or for your own company.
You can use the Goldenseal estimating software for firm-price bids and quotes, or for ‘ballpark’ rough
estimates and budgets.
Using Estimate Item Breakdowns
If you use unit costs, you can get very quick and accurate estimates
by using an Item breakdown. Item break–downs ‘look up’ unit costs to calculate the cost of
each project component, so you don ’t need to work so hard.
HINT: You can use dimensions to calculate
the quantities in an item breakdown, and save even more time (see Lesson 4).
To create an estimate
with an item breakdown, follow these steps:
- Choose Estimates from the Income menu.
- Click the New button. If it shows you a list of templates,
choose New Empty Estimate from the popup menu. HINT: For more about templates, click
here.
- Check the
Breakdown popup field on the left side of the window. If it doesn’t already say Items, click
on the field and choose Items.
- Enter an account, a brief description and a start
date.
- Click in the first column of the breakdown table, and enter a cost area. You can
use an assembly, labor, materials, equipment time, or another cost area.
- Press the Tab key to move to the next column, and enter the category. HINT:
If you don’t
know the names of the cost categories, click on the popup button to see a list of categories. If
you don’t know which category to use, just skip to the Cost Item column.
- Press the Tab key, and enter an optional subcategory.
- Press the Tab key, and enter a cost
item or assembly. HINT: You’ll only see Cost Items that belong to the entered
category. To see all available items, leave the Category
column blank. If the list is very long, it may take a few seconds to display.
- Press the Tab key, and enter the quantity of
this item that will be included.
- Press the Tab key, and enter a location for the item (if you want to
track costs by location). Notice that Goldenseal
automatically calculates the line item cost, and the total cost for all breakdown items.
- To add another item, press the
Return key (Macintosh) or Enter key (Windows), then repeat steps 5 through 10 for each
additional item of work in the project.
- You’ll end up with a detailed description of the project, and an accurate
calculation of the total cost of the
work.
Using Category Breakdowns
If you don’t want to use unit costs, you can still use a Category breakdown to type in a list of project
components. To use a category breakdown, follow these steps:
- Choose Estimates from the Income menu.
- Click the New button. If it shows you a list of templates, choose New
Empty Estimate from the popup menu.
- Click on the Breakdown popup field (at left) and choose Category.
- Enter the cost area for the first item— you
can use labor, materials, equipment time, or another cost area.
- Press the Tab key
to move to the next column, and enter a category.
- Press the Tab key, and enter an optional subcategory.
- Press the Tab key, and type in a brief description for
this item.
- Press the Tab key, and type in the cost of one item. Press Tab again and enter the
unit size for this item, then tab and enter a quantity.
- After you enter cost and quantity,
Goldenseal automatically computes the total cost (unit cost times quantity).
- Hit the Return
key (Mac) or Enter key (Windows) to add a new row.
- Repeat steps 4 to 10 for each component in
the estimate.
- Enter an account, a brief description, and a project start date.
- Click the More Info button to enter
additional billing and job cost details for this project.
- Click the Cost Summary
button
to see totals for labor, materials and other costs.
- To print
the estimate for a customer, choose Print Forms from the File menu (see Lesson
19 for more about
printing).
Simple Estimates
For very simple estimates, you can just type in a price and brief description,
and not use breakdowns at all.
HINT-- Goldenseal estimates come in three sizes, just like the three bears
who used to hang out with Goldilocks. One of them
will be “just right” for each project that you need to estimate!
To create a simple estimate for a prospect, follow
these steps:
- Choose Estimates from the Income menu.
- Click the New button. If it shows you a list of templates,
choose New Empty Estimate from the popup menu.
- Click on the Breakdown popup field (at left) and
choose None.
- Enter an account, a brief description, a price and project specifications.
- Click the More
Info button to enter additional info about this estimate.
Estimating Templates
Most Goldeneal starter files include templates for typical projects.
A template lets you start out with a full list of components— which saves you time, and helps you
to remember all of the details that need to be included. For example, the Construction Starter File includes
estimating templates for new construction and remodeling projects.
To create an estimate from a template, follow
these steps:
- Click on the template button (the small triangle to the right of the New button).
- Choose
a template from the list of items.
- Goldenseal will show you a new estimate that already includes
all the items from the template.
After you create an estimate, you can use it as a template for future projects. To do so,
follow these steps:
- Open the desired estimate.
- Choose Template this Item from the Options menu. HINT: For more about templates, see Lesson
24.
Basic Cost Areas
You can assign estimate breakdowns to any of these basic expense types.
- Assemblies-- An assembly is a combination of several of
the basic expense types-- for example, labor and materials. It is not available in category breakdowns.
You can also include just the labor or material portion of an Assembly.
- Assembly Labor-- Just the labor cost of an assembly. Use it if you are installing an item that someone else provides.
- Assembly Materials-- Just the material cost of an assembly. Use it if you provide materials that someone else
installs.
- Equipment-- For equipment usage.
- Labor-- For employee labor.
- Material-- For materials.
- Subcontractor-- For subcontractor costs.
- Other Cost-- For other costs.
HINT: In category breakdowns, you'll type text into the Cost Item cell for these items.
In item breakdowns, you'll choose specific cost items or assemblies from a clairvoyant field.
More Cost Areas
Goldenseal includes several other cost areas for miscellaneous costs in an estimate. For some cost
areas, you type in a description and an amount.
- Commission-- An amount to cover commissions paid to sales reps, brokers, or others
who collect a commission. NOTE: For more about paying commission to your sales
reps, click here.
- Contingency-- An amount to cover unexpected problems, forgotten items, and similar
contingencies.
- Delay-- A delay entered for scheduling (see Lesson 5).
- Delivery Charge-- An amount for shipping or delivery charges.
- Overhead-- An amount that you type in to cover overhead expenses. HINT: If
you calculate overhead as a percentage, use Percent of Hard or Percent of Total instead.
- Percent of Hard-- A simple percentage of all hard costs (assemblies, equipment, labor,
materials, subcontractors and other costs).
- Percent of Labor-- A simple percentage of all labor costs (direct labor costs, and
the labor portion of assemblies).
- Percent of Material-- A simple percentage of all material costs (direct material costs,
and the material portion of assemblies).
- Percent of Total-- A simple percentage of the complete estimate cost. HINT: You
can use the percentage options for 'markup', or for specific expenses that are a percentage of your actual costs.
- Profit-- An amount that you type in for profit. HINT: If
you calculate profit as a percentage, use Percent of Hard or Percent of Total instead.
- Reminder-- A reminder you'd like to get during this project.
- Sales Tax-- An amount to cover sales tax that you pay to vendors.
- Soft Cost-- Any other cost that you want to add to the estimate.
- Tool-- A tool that you'll use during this project.
- Unlisted Items-- In Item breakdowns, you can use one of the five Unlisted choices.
They give you a type-in field so you can enter your own text, rather than choosing from a clairvoyant field.
Some cost items refer to other transactions, and fill in a calculated value:
- Allowance-- You can enter any allowance that has not yet been awarded. There is more
about allowances in the next section.
- Bid-- You can enter any bid that you have received for this job. There is more about
bids later in this lesson.
- PO & WO-- A cost from a purchase order or work order.
Inserting Rows
To add a new row at the bottom of the table, click in the bottom row and hit the Return key
(Macintosh) or Enter key (Windows).
To add a new row in the middle of the table, click in the row
where you’d like the new row to appear,
then choose Table from the Edit menu, and choose Insert Row from the submenu. You can also hold down the Option
key (Macintosh) or Control key (Windows) and click on the row where you'd like to add a new empty row.
Removing Rows
To remove a row from the table, follow these steps:
- Click in the Item column of the row, and use the backspace/delete key to erase the
contents of the cell.
- Click in the Quantity column of the row, and enter zero quantity.
- When you leave the record, Goldenseal will not store the contents of the row, so you
won't see it when you come back to this record.
Navigating in Tables
If you enter more items than are visible on the screen, you can click on the
up and down scrolling arrows on the right side of the table to move up or down in it. You can also drag the
moving 'thumb' to move up or down.
When entering data in a table, the Tab key moves you to the right, the Return
key moves you down one row, and the arrow keys move you to the next editable cell in that direction.
Changing Row Order
To change the order of items in a breakdown table, follow these steps:
- Hold down the Control key and click in the row you'd like to move.
- Keep holding down the mouse button, and drag it to a new location.
- Lift up the mouse button. The row will 'drop' at the new location.
To sort the table into a different order, follow these steps:
- Choose Sort from the Edit menu.
- Click on the Sort Items popup, and choose Breakdown Rows.
- Choose a column to determine the sort order, then click OK.
Printing Estimates
To print an estimate, choose Print Forms from the File menu, and enter Estimates
into the Transaction popup field). You can choose from several different forms
in the Form Type popup field-- they each show the estimate breakdowns in a different format.
You can also print an estimate report-- reports look less like business
forms, and give you more control over the appearance of what is printed).
HINT: You can use the Custom Layouts command to design
your own estimate forms and reports, if you don't like the appearance of our stock forms.
Updating Estimate Prices
If prices change after you start an estimate but before you submit it, click
the Update Prices button to use the most recent unit costs.
Submitting and Awarding Estimates
To mark the progress of an estimate, click on the Status popup on the left
side of the window, and enter Submitted or Approved.
If the estimate results in a project that you will do, create a Customer account
and a Project account, and enter the estimate into the Estimate field in the project. Goldenseal
uses the estimate price in the project, and automatically marks the estimate as Awarded.
If the estimate results in a sale, create a Sale transaction and
enter the estimate into the Estimate field. Goldenseal uses the estimate's price in the sale, and marks it
as Awarded.
If the estimate is not needed, change its status to Void, or delete it.
Locked Estimates
Once an estimate has been awarded, it is 'locked' and you can no longer make
changes to it that affect its price. To change the price of an awarded estimate, follow these steps:
- Open the Project account that uses this estimate.
- Remove the estimate from the Estimate field, and hit the Enter key to save
the project.
- The estimate record will now be editable. Make any changes, and click Enter
to save them.
- Re-enter the estimate into the Estimate field in the Project.
If you have finalized the price of a project and want to make changes after
you have started work on it, use Change Orders.
Tracking Estimate Expenses
If you have the complete version of Goldenseal, you can use the Job
Costs command
to track actual expenses against the original estimate.
Billing for Estimates
If you have the complete version of Goldenseal, you can bill for projects,
using the estimate amount for draw schedule payments or progress payments.
Estimate Templates
Once you've created a few estimates, you can save them as templates so
it's easier to bid on similar projects. You can create templates for each type of project that you do.
Finishing Up
This lesson has shown you how to create estimates.
As practice, you might want to use the Goldenseal estimating software to create some sample
estimates now. If you don't have your own examples, try one of the following:
- How much would it cost to build a house for your pet flamingo? Don't forget
to make it hexagonal (flamingoes don't like square corners). And remember, traditional
flamingo housing includes gargoyles on the six corners of the roof.
- This might be a good time to call your local wax-fruit supplier, so you
can try an itemized estimate for that chic Carmen Miranda hat that you've always
thought about building. HINT: A good rule of thumb is to order twice as many wax
cherries and bananas as you might otherwise expect.
- Did you know that with enough duct tape, a live flamingo can be fashioned
into an extremely chic, pink and silver hat? Just be careful not to go near fruit
trees or salad bars. And better stay out of buses, too-- their beaks are sharp, and they may
annoy the other passengers.
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