Before turning costs into a bid proposal, bid prices should be modified and reviewed. This is done in the Bid Pricing screen.
To access the Bid Pricing screen, navigate to Menu > Summary > Bid Pricing.
The top grid displays a spreadsheet of cost and pricing information for the biditems in this estimate.
The fields at the bottom show summary information for the selected biditem and for the estimate as a whole.
The links and buttons along the bottom of the window are used to access common pricing functions.
Bid Pricing Grid:
The bid pricing grid displays the following information:
Biditem codes
Descriptions
Balanced price (The price based on direct cost and spread rules.)
Bid price (This price may vary depending on rounding options.)
Bid Total (The bid price multiplied by biditem quantity.)
Status:
blank = The Bid Price is the same as the calculated price.
U = Unbalanced – The Bid Price has been changed from the calculated price.
F = Frozen – The item has been Frozen and cannot be changed
C = Closing Account – The item has been designated as a Closing Account.
Biditem Details:
At the lower left of the view is the biditem information section showing information like client number, bid quantity, markup, etc., for the biditem selected in the Spreadsheet Display section.
Estimate Information:
The Estimate, Inidcators, Minority, and Bid Total sections display information for the estimate, including balanced total, minority amounts, markup percentages, and the current bid total.
Note: Because of rounding, the Net Diff. From Balanced Bid field may not be exactly 0.00 even if an estimate has not been unbalanced.
Function Buttons:
There are several important functions available on the Bid Pricing screen:
Statistics: Provides detailed information about the selected biditem and estimate totals.
Review Bid Proposal: Displays a preview of what the bid proposal print-out will look like.
+/- Adj: Displays a ‘plus/minus sheet’ for managing last minute price cuts or additions.
Closing Account Routine: Select the items to close to and whether the spread is based on bid price or bid cost.
The status for that biditem becomes U (unbalanced).
The bid total is recalculated using the new Bid Price instead of the Balanced Price.
The Net Diff from Balanced Bid, in the lower right corner of the window, is recalculated.
The net difference is negative, indicating that the bid total is now less than the balanced bid (because the new price of 96 is less than the balanced price of 96.67).
Other biditems can be used to absorb this cost using the closing account routine.
Notice that the value in the Status column for biditem 10 is now F. This indicates that the biditem is frozen. As long as the item remains frozen, no additional changes can be made/saved to the item's pricing.
Note: To un-freeze a biditem again, either click Freeze again or manually clear the F from the Status column.
The closing account routine can be used to absorb the Net Diff From Balanced Bid amount. This will help bring the Bid Total closer to the Balanced Total (so that the bid includes all the costs, addons, markups, etc. that were calculated in the estimate).
Highlight biditem 40.
Click Closing (near the bottom right of the window).
Notice the Status for biditem 40 changes to C.
Click Closing Account Routine (a link near the bottom of the window).
In the Closing Account Routine window, keep the default entries and click OK.
When the closing account routine is run:
A new Bid Price is calculated for biditem 40. In this case, the Bid Price is higher than the Balanced Price for biditem 40, to make up for the money removed when unbalancing biditem 10.
The Net Diff from Balanced Bid is recalculated.
Note: The Net Diff from Balanced Bid will rarely be 0.00 due to rounding that occurs when unit prices are multiplied against biditem quantities to get the extended prices.
Now that the estimate is complete, the final step is to print reports showing the finalized bid totals. These reports are available through the Summary menu.
From the main menu, select Summary Summary Reports.
The Bid Summary – Costs Only report prints category totals for costs.
The Bid Summary – Prices Only report prints category totals for bid prices.
The Bid Summary – Cost and Price report prints category totals for both costs and bid prices.
The Concise Bid Proposal report prints a listing of all direct biditems within the estimate and displays their respective bid prices and extended totals.
