Using a Price Master

NOTE-- We retired the MacNail estimating program in 2000, and replaced it with Goldenseal construction estimating software. There are still a significant number of die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal is an integrated program that also includes accounting, scheduling and contract writing. It has a much simpler system of updating prices for your project estimating, and there is no need for anything like the MacNail Price Master in it.

Estimating Price Master

If you choose to use one or more Price Masters, you'll have a 'central repository' for unit price information for each of the line items that you use in your estimates. A Price Master is a permanent cost database that you'll be able to use for many years to store construction unit costs in the MacNail construction management software.

To update material costs in the Price Master, type the latest costs into Price Sheets, use the Update Material Prices command to calculate the latest unit prices, then use the Move Prices Command to get them into the Price Master.
Customizing Worksheets Page 177

To update labor costs in the MacNail construction estimating software, change the person-hour per unit quantities in the skill and unskill columns.

To feed back actual cost data from job cost files, choose Feedback Job Costs from the Data menu.

To add additional items to the Price Master, use the Add Rows Here or the Add Rows at Bottom commands. To remove one or more rows from the Price Master, use the Delete Rows command. To 'erase' one or more rows, use the Clear Rows command.