Setting Up the American Contractor Bid

After entering Summary, click New AC Bid, located at the bottom of the Open Summary window.

The Templates tab allows you to save AC Bid setting configurations that can then be selected for future AC Bids involving the loaded Job.

Add: Use the Copy feature to copy the selected bid export template within the current bid or to copy the bid export template to another data set or another estimate. Follow the prompts on the Open Summary window to select where you want to copy the bid export template to: Data Set or Estimate.
Note: Remember to rename your copy to a descriptive name that suits your needs.

Copy: Creates a copy of the selected setting template.

Rename: Allows you to rename the selected template.

Delete: Deletes the selected setting template.

The General tab contains general settings for the American Contractor Bid.

NAME: By default, this field is set to the name of the Job. It can be modified if desired.

REPORT DESCRIPTION: A brief description of the American Contractor Bid. If a settings template is selected, its name will be automatically placed in the field.

COMMENT: Comments on the American Contractor Bid can be entered in this field.

LABOR BURDEN %/LABOR RATE / TAX Buy %/: Enter the values for these settings in the provided fields.

LABOR TAXED WHEN SOLD?/MATERIAL TAXED WHEN BUYING?/NON-LABOR TAXED WHEN SOLD?: If any of these conditions are true in your American Contractor Bid, click on the corresponding box to activate the condition.

BASE REPORT: If this American Contractor Bid is a Change Order, select the American Contractor Bid to which the Change Order refers.

CHANGE ORDER ID: Every Change Order must have an ID number. Enter the desired ID number in this field.

The Profit and Overhead tab establishes settings either Per Bid or Per Item, depending on which one you select. Per Bid allows you to set variables that affect the American Contractor Bid as a whole. Conversely, the Per Item is used to apply settings to individual item types.

OVERHEAD AMOUNT/PROFIT AMOUNT: To set these amounts for the American Contractor Bid, fill in the appropriate fields.

In the Overhead % and in the Profit % columns, select “Per Cost Type” or “Overall.”

INCLUDES OVERHEAD: Check this option to allow profit to be drawn from overhead during calculations for the American Contractor Bid.

PER COST TYPE: In this column, you can set the Overhead or Profit percentage for individual cost types that are in the American Contractor Bid.

Use Labor Percentages for all Labor Values: Check this option to apply the percentages set to all Labor Items instead of per Cost Type.

OVERALL: This setting allows you to set an Overall % for Overhead or Profit for all cost types.

In the Divisions tab, you can specify overrides for the Area, Activity and Group used in Bid Exports for Field Labor cost type items.

NOTE: To effectively use this feature, you must have “Create Separate Material and Labor Items” checked in the Accounting Integration section of your Summary Preferences. If this box not checked, items that contain both Material and Labor values will appear as Cost Type “Material” and your overrides selected here will not be applied.

Check the box next to Use Field Labor Overrides. Then use the drop down arrow next to each field to select the area, activity and group you want used in the report.

The Area, Activity and Group entries correspond to those selected in the General Options Accounting Integration tab.

This tab allows you to specify which Takeoff Sections you would like to be included in the American Contractor Bid. To select/deselect a Section, click on the box by the Section’s name. By default, all Sections are initially selected. In addition, you can use Select All to quickly select all the available Sections.

You can also filter what is included in the report by any of the six user-defined levels or by Sections. To do so, use the drop-down menu beside Include the following checked. You can also use Show Entries to display the number of items in any particular Section or user-defined level filtered.

Once you are finished setting-up the American Contractor Bid summary, use one of the following options:

RUN: Will run, and then open, the American Contractor Bid summary with the current settings.

SAVE TEMPLATE: If a Template is selected, using this option will update the settings stored in the entry.

Note: Many of these Properties can be set within the American Contractor Bid Summary by using the Edit > Reallocate Profit and Overhead menu option.