Bid Items

Bid items are cost items that are used in unit bid applications, primarily by heavy/highway contractors involved in government bids.

Bid items usually require quotes of dollars per unit of measure.

When you add a bid item, a WBS code is assigned to the bid item, the bid item’s quantity and unit of measure are defined, and a filter is created. You can then add a cost item or an assembly to the estimate with the new WBS code already filled out. At this point, the unit price is calculated by adding all the cost items that share this WBS code and dividing by the bid quantity to calculate the unit price.

Note: To use bid items, you must be set up to spread WBS codes to assembly members in the Estimating Preferences screen.

The status displays the current state of the cost item. This feature is especially useful when more than one person is working on an estimate or catalog to communicate the state of the cost item. The status is for display purposes only. You can mark cost items that need to be reviewed by another person or to alert others that the cost item has been changed. Statuses include:

  • Blank

  • Edited

  • Reviewed

  • Alert – Item appears in red

    Note: Once you edit a cost item, the status automatically changes to Edited.

The reference of a cost item is a code that uniquely identifies the cost item. Each cost item in a catalog must have a unique reference. Cost items in an estimate, alternate, or change order do not need a unique reference. This means that you cannot leave the Reference blank in a catalog, but blank references are allowed in an estimate, alternate, or change order. The reference of a cost item can contain both numbers and letters.

If you edit or delete a cost item, only the tab where you made the change is affected.

For information on adding cost items to alternates, see Alternates Overview. For information on adding cost items to change orders, see Change Orders.

To open a job in the Manage Estimates screen, click Estimating > Estimating > Manage Estimates in the All Tasks pane. Then select the job you want to open, and click OK.

Tip:
  • Multiple users can work on the same job in the Estimating tab at the same time. The last person to perform an edit function to an estimate item will have the data retained.
  • Any sorts a user performs are temporary unless the job is set to Exclusive mode, which allows you to save sorts. Moving items also requires the job to be set to exclusive, or the move will be temporary.
  • To turn Exclusive mode on, get all other users to close the job, then select Set Job Exclusive. Make the changes to the estimate, then turn Exclusive mode off by selecting Set Job Exclusive again.
  • You can also lock a job, which not only turns on Exclusive mode, it prevents other users from editing the job. Note that all users can view a locked job. To lock a job, get all other users to close the job, then select Lock Job. To unlock a job, select Lock Job again.
  • Any filters performed in the Estimate tab are only seen by the user performing the filter.
  • You will see changes occur in real-time by changing tabs in the Manage Estimates screen or by refreshing the Estimate tab.