Bids and Bid Tracking

Goldenseal is bid tracking software that helps manage the bidding process when you get prices from subcontractors or suppliers.

Use Bid transactions to enter each price quote that you receive from suppliers or subcontractors. Bids can be competitive, where more than one supplier bids on the same project. You can also enter a bid from a single supplier.

You can include Bids as line items in an Estimate, even if you haven't received a firm price yet. Goldenseal will automatically fill the bid price into the estimate, as soon as you receive it from the supplier or subcontractor. You can also start with a rough estimate for a bid, and then replace it with final bids when you receive them.

HINT-- For cost estimates that you give to customers, use an Estimate. For non-competitive supplier or subcontractor quotes that you want to use directly, you can also use a Purchase Order/Work Order.

WEBSITE INFO LINKS
Bidding Software | Construction Bidding Software | Construction Bid Software

Entering Bids

To enter a Bid that you receive from a vendor as part of the bidding process, follow these steps:

Choose Bids from the Income menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Fill in details about the bid.

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

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Bid:

Type-- Use the pop-up menu to select the type of vendor providing the bid.
Bidder-- Choose the supplier or subcontractor that is providing this bid.
Brief Description-- Enter a short description of the bid. This text will appear in estimates that include this bid.
Details-- Enter a detailed description of the items included in the bid.
Gross Price-- Enter the gross price of this bid, before taxes. If you use a breakdown, the gross price is calculated.
Tax Rate-- Choose the sales tax rate that applies to this bid.
Total-- The total price with tax is computed.
Cost Per Unit-- If this box is checked, Goldenseal will multiply the price by the number of units, when this bid is used in an estimate. If the box is not checked, then the number of units will be one.

Date-- Enter the date of the bid.
Record Number-- A sequential number is given to each bid.
Competes With-- If this bid competes with another bid, enter the other bid here.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this bid.
Rough Estimate-- Turn on the checkbox if this bid is just a rough estimate. Goldenseal will replace the rough estimate price as soon as you get a competing bid for this work.

Estimate-- When you include this bid in an Estimate, Goldenseal fills in the estimate name.
Job-- When you award an estimate that includes this bid, Goldenseal fills in the project name.

More Info

Click the More Info button to enter the following details for each Bid record:

Job Cost Details
Category-- Enter a cost category to which to apply this bid.
Subcategory-- Enter a cost subcategory to which to apply this bid.
Location-- Enter a location for which this bid will be used.

Project Details
Labor Hours-- Enter the number of labor hours to schedule for this item. If you use a breakdown, Goldenseal calculates labor hours automatically.
Crew Size-- Enter the usual crew size that you will use for this item. HINT-- Goldenseal uses the Labor Hours and Crew Size fields to set up the schedule timing for this item when it i used in an Estimate.
Warn if Overbilled-- Turn on the checkbox if you'd like Goldenseal to nag you when you pay more than the bid amount to on this item.

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.

Including in Estimates

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

Choose Estimates from the Income menu.
Create an estimate, or find 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 automatically updates the estimate price if a bid price changes, so you can start with a rough estimate on the bid, and then enter the firm price later when you receive it from the supplier or subcontractor.

If you enter a competitive bid, Goldenseal uses the price of the lowest competing bid.

Competing Bids

To enter several bids which compete with each other, follow these steps:

Choose Bids from the Income menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for one of the bids.
Click the New button again, and enter a second bid.
In the Competes with field, enter the bid that you entered in step 3.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each competing bid.
Include the first bid in an estimate.

If you want to enter and track competitive bids before you receive prices, start with a zero dollar amount, and then fill in the actual bid amounts when you receive them from each supplier or subcontractor.

Goldenseal automatically tracks the price of each competing bid, and always uses the lowest one in the estimate-- skipping bids with zero amount. When you award the estimate, the lowest bid will also be awarded.

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 directly into the estimate.

Rough Estimates

If you need to fill in an approximate bid price before you receive actual bids, follow these steps:

Choose Bids from the Income menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for the work that is included for this bid. You can use a Category or Item breakdown to calculate the specific work that is included.
Turn on the Rough Estimate checkbox.
Include the bid in an estimate. Goldenseal will include the price of the bid in the project estimate.
When you receive actual bids for the work, enter them as bids which compete with the rough estimate bid. Goldenseal will replace the rough estimate price with the actual bid amount.

Updating Bid Prices

If a bidding price changes before an estimate is accepted, simply change the amount of the bid transaction.

Goldenseal automatically updates the bid price in the estimate. If it's a competitive bid, the estimate will change only if the bid change results in a change of the lowest priced bid.

After an estimate has been awarded to a project account, you can no longer change bids that are included in the estimate.

If you need to change a bid in an awarded estimate and it's OK that the estimate changes, follow these steps:

Open the Project account to which the estimate was awarded.
Remove the estimate from the Estimate field, and hit the Enter key.
The estimate and bid are now unlocked, and you can change them.
When you are finished making the changes, re-enter the estimate into the Estimate field in the Project account.

If a bid changes in an awarded estimate and you can't change the estimate amount, enter the change as a Change Order.

Entering Bid Costs

To enter Subcontractor Costs or other expenses for a bid, follow these steps:

Choose Subcontractor Costs from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
Enter details for the expense.
Click on the Applies To popup field, and enter Bid.
Enter the specific bid into the Transaction field. Goldenseal will only show bids for this subcontractor for the selected job.

Goldenseal will warn you if you pay more than the bid amount.