Job Costing Feedback Options

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. Goldenseal includes several job costing reports that compare "estimated vs actual'" and show itemized expenses.

Turn on the use subcategories button if you have been conscientious about breaking job costs down into cost subcategories as well as cost categories.

Turn on the include subcontractors button if you'd like to include subcontractor costs along with labor and material costs. It's worth doing so if you've been careful about tracking subcontractor costs. If you turn on both this and the subcategories button, be sure when job costing to assign all your subcontractor costs to cost subcategories. If your subcontractor invoices aren't itemized in that much detail, you should divide them up anyhow, even if it 's only guesswork.

If change only items actually used is turned on, a Project List or Schedule will be opened, and only those items listed in it will be updated. If this button is turned off, all items in each category or subcategory will be updated, using the 'estimated versus actual' ratios from the Cost Control sheet.

The default experience factor controls the amount of influence the 'stock' prices in the MacNail construction management software will have on items that have not yet received any feedback from job costs. If this number is set to one, they'll weigh as heavily as one project's costs. If set to a greater number, the original MacNail prices will count as much as if resulting from that many projects. Using a high default experience factor will slow down the impact that the job cost feedback will have on your unit prices.