When Not to Use Unit Costs

The HyperEstimator, HyperRemodeler and MacNail construction estimating software programs are all "unit price" estimators. They assume that you will have a fairly consistent cost per unit for each piece of work that goes into a project. The unit may be a square foot, a lineal foot, or some other measurement, depending on the specific item.

NOTE-- We retired the MacNail and BidMagic estimating programs in 2000, and replaced them with Goldenseal construction estimating software. We keep these instructions online for our die-hard BidMagic MacNail users! Goldenseal is an integrated program that also includes accounting, scheduling and contract writing. It provides more tools for assembling estimates, so you can easily choose the best line items to use to calculate pricing.

Unit price estimating works very well for a wide range of items, and in fact nearly all human and computer estimators use some form of unit pricing. The method does have its limitations, however, and you should keep them in mind when calibrating and using our estimating programs.

Be aware that unit price estimating may not work well in any of the following situations:

• Very small jobs. If you do use unit pricing for very small jobs, be sure to add additional labor to account for the additional time it takes to "get organized" on small projects. You may be spending more time setting up and running back to the shop than you do actually working!
• Very custom or unusual jobs. You'll probably also need some "head scratching" time when using unit pricing for highly custom or unusual items. You can either adjust labor units upwards, or add the additional time as a separate line item. For example, you may want to type "extra framing time" into the "other" row under one of the framing categories, and figure in a few hours of skilled labor. If there isn't room in the "other" row, choose *Add Rows from the Edit menu to add a blank line at the selected row.
• When a small number of units are involved. The labor to per square foot to hang 5 square feet of wallboard will never be the same as when you're hanging 5,000 square feet! Material costs may also go up when small quantities are involved-- for example, you'd probably use bagged concrete mix to install 5 lineal feet of footer , rather than bring in a ready-mix truck.

If you are uncertain about the accuracy of any of our unit price calculations, double-check the calculated cost, and adjust it if it doesn't seem to be correct. You can also use MacNail's "other" row (or the Other Specifications card in the HyperEstimators) to hand-estimate items that can't be unit priced, using whatever estimating method you find to be appropriate.

In general, you can count on unit price estimating to handle anywhere from 75% to 99% of the estimate on nearly any project. Where your own estimating skills come into play is in handling the remaining items!