Quick Assemblies

A quick assembly is a type of list assembly, which is a cost item that is made up of other cost items. You can group cost items together to build a single cost item that has many different factors. For example, you can create an assembly to define a crew of laborers that work together to form concrete slabs. When you create a quick assembly you define the various costs based on 1 unit of the assembly, a list assembly is created with members that correspond to each type of cost you entered.

For example, if you create a quick assembly for a concrete slab and you specify that the labor cost is $10 per SF and the material cost is $6 per SF, when the assembly is created it will include two cost items:

  • Labor – 1 unit with a cost of $10

  • Material – 1 unit with a cost of $6

You can select additional cost items from the catalog that is currently selected in the Catalog tab or you add new cost items directly to the assembly.

Once you add cost items as members of the assembly, you can assign a quantity to the cost items within the assembly. This enables you to build assemblies with ratios of cost items. For example, you could build an assembly for a crew that contains four laborers. Instead of adding four different cost items as members, you could add one laborer, then enter a quantity of 4 for the laborer.

Note: For assembly members, such as crew sub-assemblies or labor items, changes in productivity rates will automatically recalculate quantity of hours (or days) and changes in time will recalculate productivity rates.

When you create a list assembly cost item, the Members tab is added to the Cost Item window. This is where you enter the members of the list assembly.

Click to expand the assembly. The expanded assembly appears highlighted in yellow and its members are highlighted in light yellow. Click to collapse the assembly.

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, select Estimating > Estimating > Manage Estimates in the All Tasks pane. Then select the job you want to open, and select 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.