Project Phases

Project phases are a smaller part of a project, that you can included in an Estimate record. The Phase covers one part of the work, while the Estimate covers the entire project.

WEBSITE INFO LINKS
Estimating Software

RELATED TOPICS
Bids | Change Orders | Contracts | Estimates | Project Accounts

When to Use Project Phases

Use a project phase whenever you want to split up an estimate into subsections. It might make sense to use a Project Phase for any of the following cases:

The customer wants separate prices for different rooms or project zones.
It's a large project with separate funding for different parts of the work.
You're working on several different rooms, buildings, rental units, or lots, and want to keep each separate.

HINT-- You can also use Allowances for a portion of the work that is billed based on actual costs, and Bids for work that is subcontracted.

Entering Project Phases

To enter a Project Phase, follow these steps:

Choose Project Phases from the Income menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Fill in details about the project work.

QUICK SETUP HINT-- You only need to enter Type, Bidder, Brief Description and Gross Price.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Bid:

Account Type-- Enter the type of account to use for the estimate. For an estimate given to a possible customer, choose Prospect. For work that you will do for a current customer, choose Customer. For a cost budget on your own work, choose Investment, Overhead, Real Estate.
Account Name-- Use the clairvoyant field to enter an account to use for the estimate or budget.
NOTE-- Only one cost budget can be used for each account. Accounts that already have an active estimate will not appear in the list.
Brief Description-- type in a brief description of what's included in this estimate or budget.
Gross Price-- enter the price of the bid or quotation.
NOTE-- If you do a detailed breakdown, the price will be calculated for you, based on the sum of the costs of detailed items.
Tax Rate-- Use the clairvoyant field to select a sales tax rate.
NOTE-- If you use this estimate in a Project account, enter sales tax for the estimate or for the project, but not both.
Tax Amount-- Goldenseal calculates the sales tax amount.
Net Price-- The total price, including sales tax, is calculated for you.

Specifications-- Type in a brief description of the project. For a small job this may be the only specifications of work you'll do.
Date-- when you create an estimate, today's date is entered automatically. You can type in a different date if needed.
Record Number-- Goldenseal assigns a record number.

Start Date-- Enter the date that you plan to start work on the project.
Finish Date-- Enter the date that you plan to complete work on the project.
NOTE-- If you use a breakdown, Goldenseal automatically computes the finish date when you click the Update Schedule button.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this estimate.

More Info

Click the More Info button to enter additional details for this Project Phase:

Project Info
Project Size-- Enter the size of the project, in square feet or whatever other measurement is most appropriate for this phase.
Working Hours-- Enter the Working Hours that you will use when working on this project.
Supervisor-- Enter the employee who is supervising this project.

Job Cost Info
Category System-- Enter the Category System to use when itemizing work in this phase.
Location Package-- Enter the Location Package to use when itemizing work in this phase.

Other Info
Message-- Use the clairvoyant field to select a Message to include on printed forms.
Job Type-- Use the clairvoyant field to enter a Job Type.
Prepared By-- Enter the employee who prepared the estimate for this Project Phase.

Bid Status

When you first create a bid, its status is Entered.

If you would like to identify bid requests that have been sent out, you can change the status to Requested. You can also use the Received status to mark bids that have been received from bidders.

When an estimate is accepted, the Goldenseal software automatically changes the status of each non-competitive bid to Awarded.

When an estimate is awarded, the status of each competitive low bid will also change to Awarded. Losing competitive bids are given High Bid status. HINT-- If for some reason you don't want to accept the lowest bid, change its status to Void before accepting the estimate.

If you decide not to use a bid, change its status to Void.

Using Breakdowns

Bids can show a detailed list of items that are included in the bidding record. To use a breakdown, choose Category or Item from the Breakdown menu at lower left.

Use a Category breakdown to type in a list of items.
Use an Items breakdown to enter specific Cost Items and Assemblies for the bid.

HINT-- Use a bid breakdown if you want to use unit costs to calculate an approximate amount, before you receive firm bids from subcontractors or suppliers.