Estimating Specifications

NOTE--We retired MacNail back in 2000, and replaced it with the Goldenseal project estimating software. There are still many die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal is a complete small-business software package that includes estimating, accounting, job costing and project management features. It manages project specifications by listing them in a breakdown table, within an Estimate record.

Project Specification Basics

After you have entered Fixed Costs and Dimensions for your project, choose *Specifications from the MacNail menu to get to the top of MacNail's Specifications List. Specifications are the largest part of the MacNail construction estimating software-- they include all of the estimating unit costs.

Most of MacNail's actual calculations take place in the Specifications list. It is a scrolling list of construction items, grouped into categories. In the multiple-window display, Specifications is in the upper right window.

Each item in the Specifications List includes unit prices for three items--skilled labor, unskilled labor, and materials. Each item also includes formulas that will add that item to the actual construction bid.

You control whether an item is actually included in the bid, and how much of it is included, with its 'units used ' cell (column D). This is where most of the action is.

To exclude, include or fudge entire sections of the specifications list, use the section controls. See page 99 and/or 179.

Getting Started

When you set up a new project estimate, you should scroll down through the entire Specifications list in the MacNail construction estimating software. It makes a good 'check list' that will make it much harder for you to forget any construction items.