Notes from 2014 UGM Class by Mike Rydin
As far as I know this was the last class topic taught at a UGM by the founder of HCSS, Mike Rydin. This was a popular class, and I just found the notes for it and thought it was worth publishing here. If there is…
Ranking Efficiency and Accuracy in HeavyBid
It is relatively easy to rank methods of creating an estimate in HeavyBid as I have seen them all, and I have been training now for 23 years if I count my time training in the 90s. What is “efficient”? In HeavyBid it is the…
DOT Bidder? Watch this!!
I keep running into estimators who, in AASHTOware or any of the state DOT’s formats (there are many), export to Excel first. THIS IS VERY INEFFICIENT!!!! (I think I am trying to make a point here). Watch the video linked below even if you are…
Reindexing HeavyBid
I always preach good maintenance of HeavyBid. It cannot just run on its own and one thing that should be done on a quarterly basis (my opinion) is reindexing the Master and System-Wide files. Reindexing can make HeavyBid run faster especically in a multi-user system….
Change Material Costs Throughout the Estimate
It has been a while since I posted anything about this feature. A must use in HeavyBid but many estimators with years and years using HeavyBid under their belt don’t know about the screen. Vastly superior to the Local Material screen. Here is a video…
Best Practice-Enter Rate of Production
In my HeavyBid training I emphasized with users that just inputting total crew hours instead of a production type and rate should be avoided. I always have known by intuition that entering production type and production (ie Units per Hour) is superior to just entering…
Attached Documents
The subject of where do the attached documents reside was discussed among the HeavyBid trainers the other day. A preview of the attachments or links is not printed out with the cost report however if you want to see where they are located it is…
Master Estimate Code – Best Practices
I had a blog a while back on best practices for coding estimates but this blog is on actually coding Master Estimates. When I am setting up a new company I always recommend not using the “ESTMAST” estimate as the default Master estimate for the…
Part II – G&A Expenses in HeavyBid
In Part I, I outlined the reasons to separate markup from your general overhead expenses (all costs that are not allocated to an individual job). There are two areas in HeavyBid where I recommend putting this cost. The first option is to put the G&A…
Part I – Allocating G&A Expense in HeavyBid
One subject I always introduce in my HeavyBid training is separating markup and G&A (general and administrative expenses). Every company should know what their total overhead expenses as a percentage of total sales or some other measurable cost like yearly total labor. If you don’t…
HeavyBid – Basics and Beyond is devoted to everything HCSS HeavyBid and estimating. Updated regularly with helpful insights and tools of the trade, this blog is designed to make your estimating easier and more successful.
