Bid Components are simply your list of things that add into your bid. Data Files lets you set-up Bid Components in your most common Bid Templates in the master Bid Templates file. There can be one primary Bid Template and nine alternates. The program automatically makes a copy of the master Bid Templates for each different Estimate. You can change the Estimate Bid Template File through Estimate Files. This lets you set-up special expenses and so on that apply to a particular Estimate. When you create a bid you can select which Bid Template you want to use for that bid.
When you open a Bid Template you can make changes to these Bid Components to tailor them to a specific bid, fill in rates and amounts, and see your total bid.
Bid Components typically include material, labor, and miscellaneous amount subtotals, direct Estimate expenses, overhead, profit, and bond.
For each bid component you may either enter an amount or you may specify how the amount is to be calculated. For example: direct Estimate expenses such as permits and fees are usually an amount you enter for each bid. Sales tax, on the other hand, is usually calculated as a percentage of the material subtotal.
Calculations such as sales tax are set-up using the Reference number, Operation, and Rate fields. Each subtotal and each bid component is assigned a reference number; the reference number for the material subtotal is 1498. The operation may be %, * (multiply), / (divide), +, or -. The rate is the number (or percentage) by which the reference amount (e.g., material subtotal) should be multiplied, divided, etc.
Once a calculation like this is set-up, the amount calculated will be adjusted automatically if the reference amount changes. For instance, if you make a change to a material subtotal, the material sales tax will be automatically recalculated.
There may be parts of your bid that you do not want to enter as a permanent part of the bid. You may enter a ? in place of any bid component description, reference amount, rate, or amount. You will be prompted to enter these fields when you print the bid. Your entries will not become a permanent part of the file, but will be used for that one printout only. This feature may be useful for quotes.
Another special feature lets you set-up bid components that do not add to your bid, but are just for your information (reference only). A bid component calculating cost per square foot, for example, would not add a dollar amount to your bid, but will print that information on the bid for you.