Fast Estimate - construction estimating software
Program Help
 

THE BILL PAGE

This is the window where most of your pricing work is carried out. Fast Estimate has been designed to make it as easy as possible to perform all the major functions with the minimum of keystrokes, helping to keep you focused on the pricing and not be distracted by the tools.

Bills are organised in a hierarchical manner to allow you to structure your Schedule in away that makes it easy to view, edit and print.

Main Features

  • Multi-line item Descriptions
  • A wide selection of document views for 'at-a-glance' pricing information
  • Item Review highlight to mark items for later checking
  • Auto and manual page breaks
  • Auto page numbering
  • Graphic data views
  • Structured layout
  • Nested Dims (qty calculation) sheets
  • Full page layout and font control
  • 'Rogue' item support
  • Full editing functions
  • Copy items from/to your library

There are two main methods for adding items to the Bill Page. You can add them directly (with or without build up) or you can select existing items from your item library.

To add an item directly onto the Bill Page:

  • Click on the Description cell of the empty row at the bottom of the current Bill Page to select. The text editor is automatically loaded and 5 lines of text are opened for your use (truncated on exiting).
  • Type in a description for your example item e.g. Excavate pit for manhole n/e 1000mm deep. Press your Return key to save and move onto the next cell.
  • Now enter a Unit for this item e.g. m3. Note that is changes the item from being a simple text item, to a fully rated item.
  • Leave the Qty value for now, we'll add this later.
  • We now have to apply a rate for this item. This is based on completing a single Unit of this task, in this example m3 of excavation.
  • If we are in a hurry we can simply type the rate directly into the Net Rate cell e.g. 10. This keeps the pricing very simple and quick. However it does not allow Fast Estimate to give us a complete resource requirements list at the end of the job.
  • Now add a Qty for this item, say 100. The program than simply multiplies the Net Rate by the Qty to give us 1000. Easy. However note that the resource has been added as simply a Lump Sum, a 'catch all' type.
  • Continue adding items until you are familiar with the approach.

Now you know how to price a job directly onto the Bill Page. However for most people a little more sophistication is required in order to fully exploit the program features.

To add an item selected from the library.

  • Select the next blank row at the end of the current the page
  • Run the Select From Library function (button or right-click menu).
  • Select Library (Items). We'll ignore any other options for now.
  • This opens the Library (Items) Making Selections table, ready for us to select the item(s) we need.
  • The selection process is very similar to the one we explained for selecting item resources (See Library Item Buildup), just tag the items you need from any Subsection you want.
  • Tag some sample items then Save & Close to return to the Bill Page, placing a copy of each item selected onto the page.
  • You can now add a Qty to each item selected to fit the job requirements.

This is a good time to consider some useful facts about pricing on the Bill Page:

  1. Items selected from the Item Library are COPIES. This means that any changes made to the original in the library will not update the Schedule copy. The reverse is also true.
  2. The resources used in the copied item are of course also copies, so any price changes entered in the resource library will not update the Schedule Resource. Updating the Schedule Resources is discussed later.

Local Functions

As you might expect in such an important table, Fast Estimate gives you a range of tools to help you complete the job with the minimum of fuss.

PASTE

The paste function on the Bill Page has some unique features. It offers the option of pasting an item complete, or pasting only part of the item such as the Rate Buildup. This is especially useful when you have typed in a number of items and their rates vary only slightly for each. You can price one of the items and paste only the Item Rate to the others and make the adjustment.

Try using the Copy/Paste functions on the sample Bill until you understand the options available.

MATCH TO LIBRARY ITEM

Allows you to copy a library rate to a bill item. Mostly used for imported, unrated bills. See Matching Items for more

CHANGE ITEMS STATUS

This can be a useful tool if you make a mistake and enter a unit against a text-only item. With this, you can reverse it. Another useful function is the expansion of a composite item (made up of several simple items) into it's component parts.

TOGGLE REVIEW

This is as discussed in the Item Library tutorial

TOGGLE PAGE BREAK

Fast Estimate will automatically paginate your Schedule during preview/print. However if you want to force a break at any point (e.g. To mirror a client bill you have been supplied with) use this function to Insert/Undo a manual break.

Auto Page Break - These are inserted by Fast Estimate when it calculates that no more items can be added to the page. Displayed as a RED line after the last item on the page.

Manual Page Break - You can add/remove these at any time - just right click and select the Toggle Page Break and choose. Fast Estimate will automatically recalculate all auto page breaks to make sure you pages look the way you want them to. Manual breaks are displayed in BLUE.
To remove a manual page break simply right click on the item (below the blue line) and select the option. Fast Estimate may recalculate the position of forced (auto) page breaks.

GOTO PAGE

When reviewing a large Schedule you can use this function to get to a specific page without scrolling.

RESEQUENCE PAGES

Use this function to change the way the Schedule is printed.

QUANTITY CALCULATION (Advanced)

This is covered in detail later in this section.

N(et), G(ross), (P)rofit

These stand for (N)et, (G)ross and (P)rofit views for this Bill Page. If you have applied profit to the Schedule (See Schedule Profit) you can view the effect using these buttons. Profit is covered more fully later in this section.

VIEW SETTINGS

Although View Settings appears in many tables there is one option specific to the Bill Page, the Multiplication Factor. This is discussed more fully here.

VIEW CHART

To help you see how bill pages are structured in a visual way, Fast Estimate has supplied a graphic view for some tables. Selecting the View Chart option here will display a chart visually showing the breakdown of the entire Bill Page in terms of Resource Type.

Within the chart view you can select views based on Net or Gross values

Tips

  1. Build item rates directly onto the Bill Page or copy from your library. Enter them directly if you don't have time to consider library items.
  2. If you enter an item rate directly (i.e. no resources) then you will not of course get a meaningful resource breakdown for this Schedule. The value is simply added to a resource called 'Direct Rate' (Resource Type = Lump Sum).
  3. Use the Structured (View Settings) option to indent items and make your bill more readable
  4. Items may be indented/outdented either singly or by block
  5. Apply font attributes using the Schedule Details form
  6. To save time when Browsing Schedules/Bills, double-click the item you want to load.
  7. To change an items position, drag it in column 1 (a bar appears on your pointer)
 

Related Items

 

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