Setting up Key Performance Indicators
This Youtube video is Part 1 of setting up KPI’s. In the Advanced and Comprehensive versions you can customize these values and even send these up to Insights to compare across estimates. Highly recommended. Be looking for Part 2 in this Youtube series. Youtube Video
Youtube Video – Setting up Parent Child Biditems
I could not find this subject on the HCSS Academy, which is my first rule for my new effort of making Youtube videos. There are many reasons for setting up parent-child biditems; now you can even price the first child biditem. Some of the reasons…
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…
Night Pay Adjustment to Labor
Sometimes, an estimator knows that the crew will be working at night and the pay rate will be increased. A simple way of doing it is to create a labor code like “NWORK” which will be the pay rate differential. Then add it to the…
Youtube Video – Coding Crews
My first Youtube video in quite a while. If you have a lot of crews to code here is my opinion on how to code them and the Excel spreadsheet that you can use. Youtube Link Download Spreadsheet Link
HeavyBid Documentation
I get a lot of requests for a HeavyBid Manual, and my reply is there is not one. But two documents, while somewhat dated, are still useful and worth reviewing by any estimator new to HeavyBid. The links are down below: LINK – HeavyBid 101…
Hand Sketches – A Podcast
One skill that, at a minimum, estimators and field personnel should have, is the ability to do hand sketches whether it be on paper or a tablet. Scott Jennings recently did a podcast on this subject where he covered good practices for hand sketches. Gone…
A Better Path for Implementation
Most companies that implement HeavyBid go with the model of gathering the data necessary to set up HeavyBid and then just wait until the trainer arrives at the office before even opening up the program. There are more proactive ways that will accelerate the process…
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…
Percent Biditem – Options
I was training at a large national contractor this week and at lunch one of the experienced HeavyBid users remarked that he wished in HeavyBid you can exclude the % biditem from the calculation. In other words he wanted to maximize the biditem to a…
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.
