Video on Alternates
Alternates in HeavyBid is a powerful routine that can save you time and increase accuracy. In this video, I provide an overview of Alternates and some workarounds that will make it easier to use. Youtube Link Alternates is only available in the Advanced and Comprehensive…
Quick Parent Child Relationship (Setup Biditems)
If you setup Biditem Parent-Child relationships, you should try the “Quick Parent-Child Relationship Setup”. It brings up a dialog box where you can simply drag and drop child items into Parent Biditems without even setting the biditem as a Parent (dragging it to a biditem…
HeavyBid Takeoff Integration
This is a fairly new feature that, if you get takeoffs after you have started the estimate, is definitely worth taking a look at. It is part of the PreCon integration with HeavyBid. The video is on the HCSS Academy. If you don’t know your…
Outline Activities First
Many of HeavyBid users do not use an Activity codebook. Nothing wrong with that but creating one activity at a time you can get lost in the forest because of the trees. Create an outline first of your activities than proceed with filling in the…
Best $39 (per Year) Software – Snagit
This might be an exaggeration but I have found Snagit by Techsmith to be a great productivity tool. Sure, there is a free one built in Windows, but it doesn’t have any of the great markup features that Snagit has. Working on plans and need…
April Webinar (2025) PreCon Example
The April webinar featured an HCSS customer example of how PreCon and Estimate History are being used. HCSS PreCon is free and well worth trying out to see if it fits into your workflow. Typically I ask people how they keep track of upcoming bids…
Quickly check “Reviewed Required” [Activity]
A customer showed this to me a few weeks ago. When you are in Tree View and an activity is open, you might want to quickly check or uncheck the “Reviewed Required” box. Sure, you can use the mouse and click the box, but you…
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…
That would have saved me 3 weeks!
The other day I was doing a pre-training session remotely. I start before on-site training discovering what features in HeavyBid will save the estimating team time and increase accuracy. After about 30 minutes of showing them available features the comment was made that just those…
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.
