Goldenseal Estimating Software Topics-- Calibrating Construction Line Items

Calibrating Line Items

When you are making a comparison estimate to match expenses for a past project, you may need to add some line items for types of work that you do, that aren't included in the original estimating templates.

Hard Costs

The Starter Files in Goldenseal estiating software include a good, basic selection of construction unit costs. They are a good starting point, but you'll probably want to add more Cost Items and Assemblies, to get a closer match with the exact types of work that you do.

Here's the easiest way to add a new Assembly:

Open your Goldenseal Company file.
Choose Assemblies from the Costs menu at the top of the screen.
Choose Find from the Edit menu.
Click in the Menu Name field, and type in a word for the work you want to add (e.g. Tile).
Click the Find button.
Goldenseal will show you all existing Assemblies that include that word. If you don't find anything, repeat steps 4 and 5 with a different term, until you do.
Click on the browser "book" at upper left, to look through the matching Assemblies.
When you find one that is similar to the item you want to add, choose Duplicate from the Edit menu.
In the new assembly, change anything that is different from the original.

Sometimes you may need to add a new material item, for the new assembly. In that case, follow these steps:

Choose Cost Items from the Costs menu at the top of the screen.
Choose Find from the Edit menu.
Click in the Menu Name field, and type in a word for the material you want to add (e.g. Tile).
Click the Find button.
Goldenseal will show you all existing Cost Items that include that word. If you don't find anything, repeat steps 3 and 4 with a different term, until you do.
Click on the browser "book" at upper left, to look through the matching material Cost Items.
When you find one that is similar to the item you want to add, choose Duplicate from the Edit menu.
In the new Cost Item, type in a new descriptive name, and change anything that is different from the original.
Hit the Enter key on your keyboard to save the new material.
Go back to the Assembly you were working on, and add the new material.

HINT-- If you already see a similar material in the list of components in an Assembly, you can double-click on the Unit Cost column for that material, and open its Cost Item record immediately.

Soft Costs

You may also need to adjust overhead, profit, contingencies and any other "soft cost" amounts in the estimates.

It sometimes takes some experimenting to come up with a good system of line item additions to supplement the "hard" unit costs that you include in an estimate.

We suggest using the following "soft costs" in your estimates:

Overhead-- a percentage to cover office expenses and other costs that apply to the whole company (10 to 30%)
Profit-- a percentage that you can "take home" at the end of the project (2% to 10%)
Contingencies-- a percentage to cover forgotten items, problems and cost overruns (2% to 8%)
Inflation-- a percentage to cover cost increases between the bid and actual work (0% to 5%)
Supervision-- a percentage to cover general supervision (2% to 5%)
Sales Tax-- a percentage of materials to cover sale tax that you pay (local tax rate).

You should also include "unlisted" line items for any work in the project that is not covered by a specific cost item or assembly.

Enter whatever line items it takes to make your comparison estimate match your actual project costs.

You can then use similar "soft cost" additions on your future work.

Click this link for more about the next step in calibrating estimates to match your costs-- setting up templates for the types of work you do most often.

Click here to return to instructions for calibrating estimates.
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