Entering Material Costs

NOTE-- We retired the MacNail estimating program in 2000, and replaced it with Goldenseal construction estimating software. We keep these instructions online for our die-hard MacNail users! Goldenseal is an integrated program that also includes accounting, scheduling and contract writing. It automatically updates material price data when you enter material purchases.

Once you have current prices in hand-- either 'on the fly' information, or printed price requests that have been returned to you-- it's time to type them into the computer.

You'll enter most prices into the MacNail Price Sheet (or some other Price Sheet if you are using more than one of them). Prices that you want to compare between different suppliers will be entered into the MacNail Comparisons file instead.

Basic Prices

Before typing prices into the MacNail Price Sheet, choose Sort Special from the Data menu to alphabetize the worksheet, so the right location will be easier to find. If you are entering prices 'on the fly', sort by category and/or source. If you are entering prices from a printed price request sheet, use the same sorting sequence that you used before the Price Request file was created.