MacNail Estimating Philosophy

NOTE-- Our new Goldenseal construction estimating software replaced MacNail back in 2000. There are still quite a few MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for their use! Goldenseal is an integrated program that also includes accounting, job costing and project management features. It has the same "estimating philosophy" as MacNail, with project dimensions used to calculate quantities, and a list of construction assemblies available to fill in the detailed line items of work that are needed to build the project.

Estimating Philosophy

The MacNail construction estimator software is a unit price estimator. It stores cost-per-unit information for all construction items, using the unit that is most appropriate (for example, square feet).

For most items it also makes a 'best guess' of how many units will be needed--based on some fairly simple construction dimensions that can be measured quickly from the blueprints.

The MacNail construction estimating software tries to make your data entry as easy as possible. MacNail does quite a bit 'behind the scenes' through the use of several thousand formulas. This gives you 'sticks and bricks' accuracy without making you count each stick and brick!

MacNail also makes it easier for you to feed job cost information back into your unit prices by linking estimating and job costing. This way you will increase accuracy with every job you do. In the long run, MacNail can give you much more accuracy than any estimating book, because it uses your own numbers, based on your own local conditions and your own crews.

Unit price estimating works very well for 'average' size jobs. If you are estimating a very small project (or one that involves small quantities of many types of work), be sure to adjust the unit prices upwards, or add some additional time for 'getting organized'. You can't patch in one square foot of siding at quite the same speed as a whole house full!