Moving Construction Unit Costs

NOTE-- We retired the MacNail estimating program in 2000, and replaced it with Goldenseal construction estimating software. There are still die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal also includes accounting, job costing and payroll, plus some project management features. Goldenseal automatically updates construction pricing when material prices change, so you don't need to do manual transfers like in MacNail.

Moving Unit Prices Between Worksheets

The MacNail construction management software makes it easy to move price information between Estimates, Estimators, and Price Masters. You'll only have to add new items or enter new prices into one file, since you can use the Move Prices command to 'share' the change with other any files where it may apply.

NOTE: Because large amounts of information are being moved, moving prices may be a fairly slow process. Fortunately, we've set things up so moving prices doesn't require your presence. You can do it during your lunch hour, overnight, or at any other time when the computer is idle.

For example, you might think of changes to make to your 'price book' while you are putting together a project estimate. First make the changes, then choose Flag Items from the Formula menu to 'flag' each change in the estimate file. Later on, when the computer isn't busy, you can move the changed items to an estimator or Price Master.

If you have seasonal slow periods due to bad weather or a bad economy, you'll have a good opportunity to 'tidy up' your unit prices, and then use the Move Prices command to put the improved version into all of your estimating files.

You can move any type of price information from any MacNail Customizing file to any other Customizing file. The next few sections cover a few common examples of price movements you might make.