Estimating Continued

Pick Items Straight Out Of Your Catalogues

simPRO has partnerships with numerous wholesalers, however any supplier catalogues or materials lists can be imported into the system. You can then add items directly from your supplier catalogues directly onto your estimate. This has two benefits, firstly you know the price is accurate and secondly it becomes faster to get project pricing or generate materials orders once you have won the job.

From that point on, you can update the catalogue on demand, meaning you are always working from the most current prices so your estimates are accurately costed. Additionally simPRO lets you group and pick multiple items in kit format.

Prebuilds – Labour Task and Fit Time Rates

By creating your own series of “pre-builds” (labour tasks or fit time rates) estimating time is rapidly reduced. These prebuilds are made up of any number of catalogue items and a “fit time”. When these prebuilds are used within your estimate, the total quantity of items and labour required is simply added together for final costing of that prebuild.

Prebuilds are flexible and provide for any number of possibilities including pricing, fit time multipliers and editing on the estimate level so that your database stays current. Using prebuilds is an efficient and fast way to complete the take-off and reduce the likelihood of forgetting any items on an estimate.

Project Pricing Requests

You can also request “project pricing” direct from the supplier at the push of a button; no more having to print and fax lists or email attachments. The information you request is then refreshed directly into your estimate; again saving you time. Your estimate is then “locked down” using project pricing so you’re always submitting the most attractive bid possible, knowing your materials price is accurate.

Costing Project Labour

Add different labour rates and types to each part of the estimate. Recalculating the margins in real time helps you to decide if the project is even viable. Your bid is made more competitive because you’ve been able to evaluate all the labour options and submit the most efficient and competitive option.

Confirm Your Costs and Margin

Once the estimate is complete, margins can be reviewed, evaluated and confirmed. To make this process easier labour, materials and equipment are each summarised at the stage level. Here they can be confirmed or adjusted at the estimator’s discretion.

You can see here that once totals are confirmed the estimate can be locked and the price fixed. Alternatively as new catalogues are imported the estimate can be repriced and resubmitted as required.

Turn Your Estimate into a Quote in Seconds

Once your calculations are complete, use the inbuilt quote template system to quickly add your own pre-written standard paragraphs such as:

• Introductions
• Terms and Conditions
• Inclusions / Exclusions
• Graphics
• Statement of Works or Safety

Hate writing letters? Simply write your key paragraphs once and store them for later use. Once saved, simPRO then automatically converts the document into PDF format ready for you to email direct to your customer.

You save enormous amounts of time because every aspect of the estimating process is done in the one package and saved in one place for later reference. This means you have an easy-access reference library to refer to whenever a similar project comes along.

Now that the Quote’s Approved

Once you’ve won the job, simPRO shows you everything you need for forecasts, commissions and timelines. simPRO then carries forward all your contract management from estimating to the pending jobs, eliminating the need to reproduce the bill of quantities required and labour budgets for each part of the job or project.

As the project progresses, real-time reports let you revisit your estimate to check the viability and accuracy of your estimate. This means any errors can be corrected and referenced in the event you are asked to estimate similar projects in the future.

Reusing Estimates for Similar Jobs or Alternative Customers

You can quickly reuse any estimate and resubmit it to a different customer as required. These reused estimates can then be adjusted, re margined and re quoted as above to suit the terms and conditions for that particular customer. All done, and in minimum time too.