{"id":4652,"date":"2026-01-05T12:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/?p=4652"},"modified":"2026-01-05T12:47:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:47:05","slug":"review-heavybid-for-the-new-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/05\/review-heavybid-for-the-new-year-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Review HeavyBid for the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Year, and time to go through your HeavyBid System so that the estimating team can be more accurate and efficient. This is not a complete list as I don’t know your company nor your estimating workflow but it is a starter:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Master Estimate:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Is your master estimate named \u201cESTMAST\u201d? I recommend naming it with the year in the code. For example, for my company, it is EWKS-MAST26 (maximum 12 characters). Dashes are optional.\u00a0 Having a unique named Master for each year is critical. It makes everyone aware that labor and equipment rates should be revised for each new year. If you don’t account for rising labor and equipment prices, then it just comes out of profit.<\/li>\n
  2. Review the equipment fleet and make sure you have any new pieces included in your setup. Check your setup for fuel prices.<\/li>\n
  3. Check Labor rates and update. Also good time to check the labor tax and burden values. I always recommend checking with the payroll department and really drill down into the details as labor rates and burden are so critical to any estimate.<\/li>\n
  4. Review crew setups. Are there crews that everyone modifies time after time for each estimate? Then create crews to eliminate this. Do you have too many crews that just make it confusing to the estimators? Need to revise equipment pieces to reflect the added equipment in your fleet? Now, if you have an activity codebook, this does add an element of complexity, but it is easily handled with an export to Excel, modifying crew codes, and importing back into the codebook.<\/li>\n
  5. Add\/Delete Calendars in the setup. I suggest checking the Overtime rules also just to make sure overtime is being calculated correctly.<\/li>\n
  6. Check worker comp rates – these vary year to year based on your company’s safety history.<\/li>\n
  7. In the Estimate Information Screen, check the calendar, overtime rule, and workers comp defaults. Also, Sales Tax defaults. Usually, you want the “do not apply sales tax on EOE” checkbox checked.<\/li>\n
  8. Bid Summary – Check the bond rate with your bond company to make sure it is still correct. Review “Key Performance Indicators” and add\/delete as necessary. I would really drill down in the Summary and make sure everyone understands Spread Overrides, and also discuss the Addons screen, as most companies should be using this tab. Make sure Standard Spreads are correct.<\/li>\n
  9. Revise user defaults in TOOLS>USER>PREFERENCES.\u00a0 Set up the new master estimate as the default master (this is user-specific). COLORS setup for each user? Now is a good time to make sure the team is taking advantage of Display Options in the Tree View.<\/li>\n
  10. Still not using an Activity Codebook? Or the Biditem Codebook? Copying from other estimates can be up to 10 times slower than using codebooks. Buckle down and start setting up these two essential codebooks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    System-Wide Setup<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. If not already using setup Tags. Up to six are available, and they can be instrumental in filtering.<\/li>\n
    2. Make sure you have the current release of HeavyBid or at least the one previous.<\/li>\n
    3. Evaluate your HeavyBid version and see if it is not time to upgrade to the next version or maybe look into the HCSS Cloud? Upgrading many times will pay for itself in increased productivity.<\/li>\n
    4. Not using Activity and\/or Biditem codebook? Book a time with me and we can discuss the options and pros\/cons of developing this.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Other\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Setup Estimate History if not done so. Best new feature for HeavyBid in the last five years.<\/li>\n
      2. Start using the free version of PreCon. Very easy to set up and use and it will make your HeavyBid workflow<\/li>\n
      3. Evaluate your HeavyBid version and see if it is time to upgrade to the next version, or maybe look into the HCSS Cloud? Upgrading many times will pay for itself in increased productivity.<\/li>\n
      4. Consider HeavyBid training options. I offer 4-Hour remote sessions which is perfect for a in-depth checkup of your system. Two and three day trainings are also available (but limited).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        In conclusion be proactive and don’t slip into this new year without evaluating and modifying your HeavyBid setup.<\/div>\n
        <\/div>\n
        <\/div>\n
        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        A New Year, and time to go through your HeavyBid System so that the estimating team can be more accurate and efficient. This is not a complete list as I don’t know your company nor your estimating workflow but it is a starter: Master Estimate:\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1,68],"tags":[73,38,61],"class_list":["post-4652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-try-new-things","category-uncategorized","category-updates-heavybid","tag-heavybid-2","tag-hcss-heavybid-help","tag-heavybid"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4652"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4678,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4652\/revisions\/4678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavybid.ewksol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}