Accurate Estimation of PM/Super Costs
One of the challenges of moving PM and Superintendents out of G&A overhead to be charged to a project is how much time to charge in an estimate. I was at a customer’s office that had an elegant solution that I think for many companies…
Equipment Setup in HeavyBid
In my travels training estimators, there is a level of frustration with the rising labor, fuel, and material prices. But less than 30% of HeavyBid users have EOE broken out to a fuel burn per hour. If fuel usage is set up then it is…
Colors in Tree View
Most estimators spend a lot of time in the Tree View screen so take advantage of some of the customization you can do in the way of colors. One way is to add a color block to distinguish between resource types. An example is below:…
Summary Screen – Update Settings
To start off the Year 2022 why not take a look at the default settings in the Summary Screen for Master Estimate you are going to use for the new year’s estimates? So often when I am in a client’s master estimate they really haven’t…
HCSS Success Team – Your Team for 2022
There is a Customer Support Team at HCSS that takes over when the Professional Services Team completes the initial implementation training. Their goal is that every customer is successful in implementing whatever HCSS product they purchased. The web page that will lead you to “Your…
Where are the Calculations?
I see a lot of estimates in HeavyBid in my travels. From my perspective estimators, today juggle more tasks than ever before. One quantification of a good estimator is they take their responsibilities seriously and while there is a shortage of estimators the ones I…
Alternative to Tree View
For a change from the Tree View try the Spreadsheet View. Everything you can do in Tree View is available in this view and it does have one advantage over the Tree View. You can also toggle the “Show all Biditems”. What is really useful…
(Video) Viewing Margin in HeavyBid
In the main screen of Summary HeavyBid calculates profit using Markup which is a percentage of cost. This will never change but there are ways to see and even calculate profit using Margin which is the percentage of the price. I have finally decided on…
(Video) Billable Rate Estimates in HeavyBid
I train companies that use composite labor and equipment rates in their estimates. The problem with this method of bidding is that the estimator does not know true costs (for budget) or a real profit margin to evaluate the project. That is why companies that…
Change Orders in HeavyBid
This is an article from my friend Ray Zannon who was at one time an estimator and now works for HCSS. He is located in Houston. The article addresses using HeavyBid to do change orders. I am going to try to do a Youtube video…
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.
