I am pretty sure Addons has been around since the first DOS version of HeavyBid. In my recent blog I covered how to use an Addons entry to calculate G&A expenses so that they are separated from markup. Many companies calculate it on “Job Value” or sales which is an accounting standard procedure. First understand the “Job Value” is not the final price in the Pricing screen but it is the Balanced Price in the Summary. It is important to understand what happens when you have multiple addons with the basis of “JOB VALUE”. Since it is a recursive calculation you might be adding dollars that you might not be aware of. Here is an example that better shows this. Below is just one entry based on “Job Value”. I did three entries but the first is the only one that is calculating.

You would think if I put 5% on the next two entries the resultant would be $76,279.25 but since it calculates 5% on Job Value it has to add the Addons too! So here is the results of 5% for Addons 2 & 3.

Addons

Surprise! The result for each is $85,303.71. But the calculation is correct because it has to add the Addons 2 & 3 to the sales or job value and then add it until it reaches its terminal value. On a large project you can imagine the additional dollars that might be unintentionally added. So what is my recommendation? Try to stay with only one Addon with “Job Value” and the rest use other basis (like Total Cost).