Using Estimate Allowances

NOTE-- We retired MacNail Spec Writer and the MacNail construction software 2000. It has been replaced with Goldenseal, an integrated software program for Macintosh and Windows that handles contract writing, plus accounting, construction estimating, and project management, Goldenseal tracks allowances when they are included in an Estimate, similar to the way it's handled in MacNail.

Including Allowances from an Estimate

The MacNail construction management software lets you 'flag' items as an allowance in an Estimate, Project List, Schedule or Spec Sheet.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the file, and select any cells in the row or rows you'd like to allowance. You can select more than one block of rows by holding down the Command ( ) key while you drag the mouse through each block.
Page 70 Contracts and Subcontracts
2. Choose Set Flags from the Options menu.
3. Click on the type of allowance you'd like to use, or click No Allowance to remove any existing allowance flags. Then click OK.
4. Labor and Material allowances will be flagged by having L&M ALLOW: added to the title. Material Only allowances are flagged with MAT ALLOW: in the title.

You can also flag allowance items while you are using the MacNail construction estimating software. See the Estimating Manual for instructions.

NOTE: Items flagged by Estimating 3.3 and earlier use the word ALLOWANCE instead of L&M ALLOW or MAT ALLOW. All items flagged that way will be treated as a Labor and Materials allowance.