Manual Job Costing Feedback

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.

When checking Cost Control worksheets during the manual feedback process, it's helpful to ask yourself 'Why is this price off?' before using it to adjust your permanent estimating price book. If it's off because of a data entry mistake or because of a non-repeating cost disturbance (bad weather, for example), then ignore it, since future jobs in the MacNail construction estimating software will probably not have the same problem.

HINT: To check why a particular cost was high or low, look at the actual cost items in the MacNail Ledgers or Logs. You can use the Query Box to quickly find all the items-- just type in the project name or number and the cost category you 're looking for.

When to Use Manual Feedback

If you only have a few Cost Control worksheets to use, it is best to use the manual feedback method, since it is less likely to accidentally throw off your pricing. If you think you may have been sloppy about getting information into your Cost Control worksheets, it's also a good idea to use the manual method, since you can use your judgement on whether each of the numbers are really good, or not.

If you have more than a half-dozen Cost Control worksheets for finished projects and have been even moderately careful about entering job costs, then it is much quicker to use the 'prompted' or automatic methods instead-- although it still helps to double-check your Cost Control worksheets and adjust any numbers that seem to be off, before using the worksheet for feedback.