Estimating Soft Costs

NOTE--We retired MacNail back in 2000, and replaced it with the Goldenseal project estimating software. There are still many die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal is a complete small-business software package that includes estimating, accounting, job costing and project management features. It also allows you to add soft costs, as line items in an Estimate. You can either type in amounts, or use percentages of hard costs, all costs, or some portion of the work.

Inflation Allowance

The MacNail construction estimating software lets you account for inflation that may occur between the time of the bid and the time of construction completion. Type in the annual inflation rate (in percent), an estimated length of time the project will take (in months), and the delay between bid date and the expected start of construction.

The total inflation allowance will be shown in the Total Percent cell. It will also be added as a separate line item in Summation.

HINT: In times of high inflation put a time limit on when the bid price may be accepted. Include it as a clause on all contract documents.

Percent Additions

Add a percentage to the bid here. It will be shown in the columns of the Other Costs row of the Summation. These numbers will fudge the bid, similar to the labor, material and subcontractor fudge factors (see page 65). They are listed as a separate line item to help you when job costing.

Other Additions

This section gives you a chance to include any other surcharges that you may need to add because of unusual conditions in your construction projects. They will be included in the subcontractor column of the Other Costs line of the summation.

Supervision

The MacNail construction estimator software include percentages to cover the cost of supervising labor, materials, and subcontractors on the job site. We suggest 3 to 8% on labor, 2 to 5% on materials, and 2 to 8% on subcontractors.