Lesson 6-- Allowances & Bids

Goldenseal project estimating software includes three special transactions that you can include in Estimates:

Allowances-- for items that have uncertain specifications.
Bids-- for price quotes that you get from subcontractors and suppliers.
Purchase Orders and Work Orders-- for non-competitive prices that you get from subcontractors and suppliers.

Allowances

Allowances let you create fixed-price estimates, even when you don't know the cost of some items.

For example, use allowances when a remodeling project includes kitchen appliances but doesn't specify the brand or model. The estimate uses the allowance amount, and allowance billing is based on your actual costs.

HINT: You can consider an allowance as a small bit of 'time and materials' pricing within a fixed-price estimate.

To create an allowance, follow these steps:

Choose Allowances from the Income menu.
Click the New button.
Enter a brief description for the allowance item, and a more complete description in the Details field.
Enter the price of the item. If the cost is just for one unit and the estimate will contain more than one unit, turn on the Cost per Unit checkbox. HINT: If the checkbox is on, Goldenseal multiplies the cost by the number of units entered into the estimate. If the checkbox is off, Goldenseal uses just the cost, and ignores the number of units.
Enter the way you plan to bill for this allowance. You can bill for all costs or just for materials. You can also use a minimum or maximum price for the item. HINT: Check the Reference Manual for more about billing options.
Click the More Info button to add billing and job cost info for the allowance.

Using in Estimates

To use an allowance in an estimate, follow these steps:

Create an estimate, or open an existing one.
Give the estimate a category or item breakdown.
Add a breakdown line.
Enter Allowance into the Cost Area column.
Enter a specific allowance into the Cost Item column.

NOTE: Goldenseal only shows allowances that are not already included in a different estimate.

Allowance Billing

You'll need the full version of Goldenseal to do allowance billing.

Standard Allowances

You can only use each allowance in one estimate.

If you use the same allowance on many different projects, set it up as a template. That way you can quickly make a copy of the allowance whenever you need to use it again.

Bids

Goldenseal is bidding software that makes it easy to track the bids you receive from subcontractors and suppliers. You can use Bid records for competitive bids, or for simple bids that you get from just one subcontractor or supplier.

To enter a bid, follow these steps:

Choose Bids from the Income menu.
Click the New button.
Enter the business giving the bid, and a brief description of the bid. You can also enter a more detailed description into the Details field.
Enter the bid price of the item. If the bid price is for just one unit and more than one will be included, turn on the Cost per Unit checkbox. HINT: If the checkbox is on, Goldenseal multiplies the cost by the number of units entered into the estimate. If the checkbox is off, Goldenseal uses just the cost, and ignores the number of units.
Click the More Info button to add billing and job cost info for the bid.

Competitive Bids

When you have suppliers or subcontractors that compete for the same work, enter a separate bid for each vendor that submits a bid to you. In the first bid, leave the Competes With field blank. In all other bids, enter the first bid into the Competes With field.

HINT: Turn on the Rough Estimate checkbox in the first bid if you want to start with an approximate price in the estimate. Goldenseal will use it at first, but then replace it as soon as you have a real bid.

As you receive actual bids, enter the bid amount into the Gross Price field. Goldenseal will automatically keep track of the low bid. The estimate will show the low bid amount.

HINT: To track bidding progress, enter bids for all competitors when you first start, and enter zero for an amount. You can use the Status field to track the progress of each bid. Goldenseal will start to use the bids when you enter an amount for them.

Goldenseal automatically updates the estimate price if a bid price changes. If you enter a competitive bid, Goldenseal always uses the price of the lowest competing bid.

HINT: To use a competing bid when it is not the lowest, open the bid and clear the Competes With field. You can then enter it into the estimate, in place of the original competing bid.

Using in Estimates

To use a bid in an estimate, follow these steps:

Create an estimate, or open an existing one.
Give the estimate a category or item breakdown.
Click in the bottom row of the breakdown, and press the Return key to add a new row.
Enter Bid into the Cost Area column.
Enter the bid you want to use into the Cost Item column.

HINT: If you click on the popup button in the Cost Item column, you'll see a list of available bids. Goldenseal only shows unawarded bids. If there is a category in the breakdown line, Goldenseal only shows bids under that category.

Paying for Bids

When you are ready to start work on a project, you can track expenses and payments for each bid. To do that, enter the bid in the Refers To field in material purchase or subcontractor cost records.

NOTE: If you don’t end up using the original bid amount, you can still track the work with a purchase or work order.

Purchase and Work Orders

Use purchase and work orders for advance orders of materials or labor. They help you to get what you plan, and pay what you expect to pay.

To enter a purchase or work order, follow these steps:

Choose Purchase & Work Orders from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
Enter the type of order, and the account that is receiving the order.
Enter a brief description of the order, and the price. You can also use a Category or Item breakdown and list specific items in the order.
Click the More Info button to add billing and job cost info for the order.

To use a purchase or work order in an estimate, follow these steps:

Create an estimate, or open an existing one. It must have breakdowns.
Add a breakdown line.
Enter PO & WO into the Cost Area column.
Enter a purchase or work order into the Cost Item column.

Finishing Up

Now that you know more about the Goldenseal bidding software, you can use it to track competitive bids. It can be great ego gratification to have people competing for your business!

HINT: Ductwork subcontractors are always happy to give competitive bids on chic galvanized hats. Just as stylish as Chanel, and much cheaper.