software consulting, custom reporting, financial resources

Articles:

Credit Card Transactions

Entering Fixed Assets as Journal Entries

Estimating

Estimating-At-A-Glance

Estimating, Project Management Overview

Paying Liabilities and Transfers Between Accounts

Payroll Overview

Profitability

Proposals

Profits - Strategies to Improve

Responsibility As A Motivator

Risk Management

Schedule Variance

Take Your Business to the Next Level

Teamwork As A Motivator

Time Management

Time Management Matrix

Timetable of Procedures

The Balance Sheet, Part 1

The Balance Sheet, Part 2

The Balance Sheet, Part 3

The Balance Sheet, Part 4

Training Saves Money

Value As A Motivator

Year-end Close

Master Builder Estimating At-A-Glance

You don’t need to use the Master Builder Estimating module in order get a large amount of value from Master Builder. What’s necessary is a Budget, which is the job estimate, summarized by Cost Codes. You can use any estimating method to create the estimate: yellow pad, Excel, or a third party estimating program. But if a budget for the job is not entered and followed when creating job costs, at least half of the value of Master Builder is lost.

Having said that, the rest of this article will focus on Master Builder’s Estimating module.

If you do use the Estimating module, you can save a large amount of data entry time for each job on an overall basis. This is because the Estimating module (also known in Master Builder as Takeoffs) allows you to export Budgets, Proposals, Purchase Orders, Subcontracts, Change Orders, Requests for Proposals and Service Work Orders. It also allows you to export templates of parts of the estimate or the whole estimate to a holding file, the import the file contents back into a blank screen. This feature of being able to re-use previous work with minor changes will, in the long run save you potentially hundreds of hours of work.

Other features include:
1) using Formulas to create dependent entries by declaring variables and applying simple math formulas;
2) declaring Global Variables to be able to use declared variables throughout the job estimate;
3) entering Scheduling Tasks which work together with the job Schedule to produce an automated project Scheduled Cash Flow Report;
4) entering insurance, use tax and binding costs independently based on declared increments;
5) marking up the estimate for bidding by a global percentage or declaring a bid amount independently of the estimate.

There are at least a dozen more useful and interesting features relating to item/part databases.

There are three basic ways of using Takeoffs. All of them can make use of and include the numbered features above:

1) Descriptions only – no parts database is set up; item descriptions only are used. As stated, Export/Import, Formulas, Global Variables etc. may all be used. This is the easiest way to get started with estimating in Master Builder.

2) Parts (database) only – create or import a database of Parts (items). In addition to materials items, this may include items such as labor, subcontractors, equipment, general conditions costs (e.g. permits), your estimating costs, etc. Setup will require time.

3) Assembly-based estimating – assemblies are groups of parts, and may contain formulas within themselves. You are limited only by your imagination. Particular care and thought should be used prior to starting to create assemblies, although modification is easy. In the long run, the time-saving possibilities are huge, but the initial setup is considerable.

To re-cap, here is a checklist to help easily understand the features:

Save a large amount of data entry time for each job on an overall basis
It’s a trade-off: the more time you spend on setup to begin with, the more time you’ll save in the long run
You can start simply, then increase complexity
Data can be re-used and entered only once, then exported
You can export templates of parts of the estimate or the whole estimate to a holding file, the import the file contents back into a blank screen
You can export Budgets, Proposals, Purchase Orders, Subcontracts, Change Orders, Requests for Proposals and Service Work Orders

Other features:

1) using Formulas to create dependent entries by declaring variables and applying simple math formulas;

2) declaring Global Variables to be able to use declared variables throughout the job estimate;

3) entering Scheduling Tasks which work together with the job Schedule to produce an automated project Scheduled Cash Flow Report;

4) entering insurance, use tax and binding costs independently based on declared increments;

5) marking up the estimate for bidding by a global percentage or declaring a bid amount independently of the estimate.

Three basic methods:
Descriptions only – no parts database is set up; item descriptions only are used. As stated, Export/Import, Formulas, Global Variables etc. may all be used. This is the easiest way to get started with estimating in Master Builder.
Parts (database) only – create or import a database of Parts (items). In addition to materials items, this may include items such as labor, subcontractors, equipment, general conditions costs (e.g. permits), your estimating costs, etc. Setup will require time.
Assembly-based estimating – assemblies are groups of parts, and may contain formulas within themselves. You are limited only by your imagination. Particular care and thought should be used prior to starting to create assemblies, although modification is easy. In the long run, the time-saving possibilities are huge, but the initial setup is considerable.

If you'd like to discuss implementing Master Builder's estimating module and related project management features, please contact:

Andy King
T: 805-771-8400
service@missiondevelopment.com