Up to 60 characters may be entered as a description for the bid component.
If you enter ? instead of a description, you will be prompted to enter the description each time you print the bid.
If you enter > as the first character of the description, this component's amount will not add to the bid. Use this for items you want to print on the bid for your information, such as "Cost per Square Foot."
"Key words" entered as bid component descriptions tell the program where to calculate totals. The four key words allowed: SUBTOTAL, ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL, ESTIMATE TOTAL, and BID TOTAL.
SUBTOTAL: A bid component called "SUBTOTAL" sums all bid components since the last subtotal, or from the beginning if this is the first subtotal. You may have any number of subtotals in the file.
ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL and ESTIMATE TOTAL: A bid component called ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL or ESTIMATE TOTAL sums all subtotals, plus any components since the last subtotal. (If you have both an ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL and an ESTIMATE TOTAL, then the second one sums the first one plus the components in between.) You may only have one ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL and one ESTIMATE TOTAL in the file.
The difference between them is this: components following an ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL show the calculated amount; components following an ESTIMATE TOTAL show the accumulated amount. Profit and bond are entered following the ESTIMATE TOTAL. This allows you to calculate bond on the accumulated total of the bid (ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL plus profit). You may not need both an ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL and an ESTIMATE TOTAL--it all depends on how you want your bid to work.
BID TOTAL: You may only have one bid component called BID TOTAL; it is the last component in the file. If you used an ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL or ESTIMATE TOTAL, the BID TOTAL sums the Estimate total and any components that followed it. If you did not use an ESTIMATE SUBTOTAL or ESTIMATE TOTAL, the BID TOTAL sums all subtotals and any components that followed the last subtotal.