The AccountPro Construction Estimating software module is a powerful estimating  program which will help to standardize your estimating, eliminate the tedious task of extending and summarizing totals, and in addition, analyze cost and labor units. The construction estimating software program may be used to estimate residential home, commercial, industrial, institutional construction projects or manufacturing costs. Takeoff are done using normal methods and entered into the construction estimating software program without adding totals first.

• More Info and Pricing

The following is a summary describing some of the features of the Cost Estimating software module. Should you have further questions, please contact our office through one of the available contact options.

Overview

• The AccountPro Construction Cost Estimating module may be used as a standalone module or interfaced with the AccountPro Purchase Order and Job Costing modules. Interfacing with the Purchase Order and Job Costing modules is automatic if installed and requires no additional setup.
• The number of Estimates you may establish is unlimited as are the number of takeoff products you may place into each estimate.
• Distribution breakdown by division (job phase) and sub-division (job sub-phase) of takeoff products within any estimate is unlimited and are all user definable.
• On screen estimate inquiries include pop-up window selection of estimates for viewing, editing and entry of takeoff products.
• To speed up entry of takeoff products into an estimate, user definable settings may be used to bypass fields not normally required at time of entry, such as, for example, drawing number or reference number.
• Control is maintained by the estimator over unit costs, labor units and factors.
• Quick changes may be made without the need to recalculate extensions, supplier discounts, overhead, profit, bonding, etc.

Master Estimate

• Each estimate master contains the following details:
  • An estimate number of up to 8 alphanumeric characters
  • A description of the estimate
  • Location
  • Number of units, such as, for example, square feet, meters, suites, etc.
  • Unit description
  • Estimate type, such as, for example, commercial, residential, industrial, manufacturing, etc.
  • Construction Starting date
  • Scheduled Completion date
  • Client Name including:
    • Business phone number
    • Cellular number
    • Residence phone number
    • Fax number
  • Tender Due date
  • Estimator's name
  • Bond Required
  • Labor Units used in this estimate represent:
    • H = Hours
    • D = Dollars
  • Quoted amount
  • Contract details if estimate is accepted

Master Item Cost Database

• A database of cost products may be built without limitation to the maximum number of products the database may contain. Takeoff products may consist of actual products to be used in the estimate, contractor/sub-contractor quotations, supplier quotations, etc.
• Takeoff Items in the master database may be:
  • Displayed in a pop-up window for editing or selection into an estimate.
  • Added to as required without limiting the number of products the database may hold.
  • Updated:
    • By Item.
    • Globally for each product within a Class.
    • From a third party pricing service, supplier or manufacturer supplied pricing updates (requires one our optional pricing service update interfaces).
    • Deleted if not required.

• Standard industry coding may be used in the construction cost estimating software module to identify products or defined by the estimator. Each product may consist of:
  • A Product ID of up to 20 alphanumeric characters
  • A description to 45 characters
  • 3 costs per product (useful when pricing change orders)
  • 5 labor units per product allowing for various levels of installation difficulty
  • Separate conversion factors may be used on a per product bases for cost and labor, to convert, for example, feet to meters, meters to feet, yards to meters, etc.. allowing for standard published costs and labor units to be used without having to convert take-off units.
  • The factor may also be used as a waste factor, for example, use 1.05 to allow for a 5% waste.

Takeoff

• At time of entering takeoff products into an estimate, the estimator has a choice of using one of the cost columns 1, 2 or 3 as established in the Item Cost database, or override the cost for special, or quoted costs.
• When overriding established costs, the estimator has the option of entering a cost per unit, or total costs for the takeoff product and quantity entered.
• A special code may be used to indicate that the takeoff product(s) is supplied by others.
• For the labor component, the estimator has a choice of using one of the labor columns 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 as established in the Item Cost database, or override the cost for special, or quoted costs.
• When overriding established labor units, the estimator has the option of entering a labor unit for the takeoff quantity measure, or total labor for the takeoff product and quantity entered.
• A special code may be used to indicate that labor is supplied by others.

Distribution

• The estimate take-off may be broken down into as many divisions (job phases) and sub-divisions (job sub-phases) as the estimator defines. Divisions may represent trades, contracting out, sections of work, supervision, or whatever the estimator defines. Divisions are pre-defined globally and do not have to be defined on an estimate by estimate bases. Once defined they are available to all estimates.

Overhead / Profit Margins

• Separate overhead and profit margins are maintained for each estimate, and each change order within an estimate.
• Different overhead and profit margins may be applied to:
  • Material
  • Subtrade, subcontractor
  • Rental
  • Other
  • Labor

Changes

• Changes to an estimate may be made at any time and as often as required. To keep track of changes to an estimate, the date and time of any changes made are recorded.

Supplier Discounts

• Supplier discounts are maintained by Class. Using discounts by class allows for maintenance of costs using standard supplier pricing for products in the product master database, eliminating the need to manually convert published pricing to net costs, and also allowing for quick and easy last minute changes to net costs just before submitting final tenders.

Change Orders

• Change orders may be priced using regular supplier pricing with or without discounts, or by using special discounts for change orders, all without changing the change order takeoff, or pricing in the master cost product database.
• Separate overhead and profit margins are maintained for each change order.
• Change orders may be printed in detail or in summary format with options to suppress the printing of unit costs, labor units, line totals, etc. Often breakdowns are required by the owner, architect or consultant and these option allow for varying degrees of detail to be printed based on what you wish to show, or not show, in the breakdown of the estimated change order.

Assemblies

• The Assemblies option may be used to create assemblies from any number of products (components) from the master product database. Entry of an assembly ID into the estimate will automatically place all of the required components into the estimate complete with pricing and labor units from the master takeoff product database.
• Cost levels may be predefined, for each of the components in the assembly, by one of 3 cost levels.
• Labor units may be predefined, for each of the components in the assembly, by one of 5 levels of installation difficulty.

Reports

• The construction estimating software module has numerous reports and each may be printed with or without suppliers discounts or taxes and reprinted with a different supplier discount all without changing the estimate (important when printing out change orders).
• Various details may be suppressed, such as, for example, costs and extended costs, when printing the estimate in case a copy of the takeoff must be provided to 3rd parties.
• Retains full detailed history of takeoff.

Bill of Material

• From the construction estimating software module a bill of material may be printed with, or without estimated costs ready to fax to suppliers to obtain quotations. Great time saver when quotations are needed, either before or after tendering an estimate.
• Options available allow a bill of material to be broken down by:
  • Material Class
  • Drawing number
  • Division
  • Subdivision or subtrade
  • Location
  • Reference
  • Change Order number

Audit Trail

• A comprehensive audit trail is maintained indicating details such as, for example, drawing number, reference, division, sub-division, takeoff sequence line number, date & time of takeoff entry, date and time takeoff sequence line number has changed, etc.

History

• Full detail is kept for each estimate for as long a period as the user wishes to keep an estimate on file.

Interfacing to Job Costing

• Estimates may be exported to Job Costing, allowing for comparison analysis of Actual, Estimated & Committed (purchase orders) Costs and Labor Hours.
• Orders from the Purchase Order module are reflected in the Job Cost module as a committed cost.