Setting up same piece of equipment with weekly and monthly rates
The trend I am seeing is that contractors for outside equipment (not owned) want the option in an estimate to select either a weekly or monthly rate quickly. Problem is in the equipment setup you would have to input a new rental rate if you…
HCSS Support Options
This is new (at least new to me). It gives the HCSS customer a one page summary of all the options available to get help for any of HCSS products. Share this with your estimating team. LINK Help Summary
Activity Codes – Lessons Learned
Lately I have been working on codebooks for a number of companies. I have come to a couple of conclusions and offer these thoughts to those who are making an activity codebook or recoding your current one. Don’t include letters in the codebook – use only…
Single Users Version for Multiple Users
When I am estimating I sometimes use my own single user seat of HeavyBid. I am HCSS Customer No. 81 so I have been using it a long time. So when I am in my office I move my current estimate to my desktop to…
Deleting Resources and Crews
In a training the other day the question was asked how to delete crews in the estimate setup. You can delete any resource as long as it is not in the estimate. In the Crew Setup there is an option tab that is very handy…
Setting up HeavyBid for New Users
New HCSS customers who are setting up HeavyBid are many times overwhelmed on what to do first. So here is a sequence that I recommend: Labor, Equipment, Crews – this should get the highest piority. Initially you might for equipment just get the codes and…
Checking Automated Backup Settings
The automated backup feature can be a lifesaver. For a company using HeavyBid at least one estimator should be familiar where the autobackup is stored (hopefully not on the server) and they should know how to restore an estimate. One setting that you should check…
Training a New HCSS Customer in HeavyBid – Lessons Learned
It is very typical that a construction company has a core group of estimators (usually at least one) and then project managers who estimate but they will use HeavyBid most of the time to cost out change orders. I always suggest for the initial training…
System Wide and Local Files – Know the Difference!
There are two types of data files in HeavyBid. Local files that reside in an estimate that typically are setup in the Master Estimate. Then there are System Wide files like the Material Codebook and Activity Codebook. To truly understand HeavyBid an estimator must know the difference…
Display Option-Don’t Show Resources in View Panel
New users have a tendency click on every drill down “+” symbol they see. In the Tree View on the view side you have the option (user preference) to now allow resources to be displayed in the view side of the screen. Here is the issue….
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.
