Replies

1. 
   AllTrade | Apr 08, 2005 04:35am | #1

   Find someone who is good with Excel and ask them to sit down with you one afternoon and plug your pricing right in. It took me and my brother a few hours and we came up with a great one. I have all my contractors pricing built in to the spreadsheet and it even prints out a customer copy with the markup.

1. 
   redwoodholmes | Apr 12, 2005 03:07pm | #2

   hey ronbo, thanks for the input.

   we already have an extensive excel index created, but are still having to estimate M  & L costs for the work we still do ourselves ( framing, trim, etc..)

   so im looking for an estimating program that can help me with these areas specifically and maybe even just bid whole jobs with.

    

   thanks again

1. 
   BossHog | Apr 12, 2005 04:05pm | #3

   When I worked for a builder for a short time, he had me set up an extensive Excel spreadsheet for estimating. If you're interested in seeing it, I'd be happy to email it to you. Keep in mind that you can link cells in a spreadsheet to do some pretty extensive stuff. For instance - Put in the square footage of the floor plan. From that you can get:The number of sheets of 4X8 subfloor needed. (apply any waste factor you want)Once you have the number of sheets of ply, you can use that number to get the number of fasteners needed, subfloor adhesive, and labor to install it. From the square footage, you can get an allowance for flooring material per square yard.The same thing applies to walls, roofs, etc. You can keep building on the numbers you ahve to figure other things. Once the formulas are in place everything is done automatically.
   When I was young, we used to go "skinny dipping"; now I just "chunky dunk."

1. 
   redwoodholmes | Apr 14, 2005 01:39am | #4

   yo boss hog,

   i appreciate your response, and would love to see your spreadsheet that youve compiled..

    

   you can email it to me at:

   [email protected]

    

   thanks alot for your help.

2. 
   Shoeman | Apr 14, 2005 03:58am | #5

   Hey Ron, I would be interested in seeing that spreadsheet too, if you wouldn't mind - you can e-mail it to me through my profile here.

   Thanks,

   Shoe

3. 
   Lansdown | Apr 14, 2005 05:31am | #6

   I am looking for a similar estimating spreadsheet as well. If you don't mind sharing it could you e-mail me one as well. Thanks

4. 
   SamT | Apr 14, 2005 06:04am | #7

   Hey Boss,

   Can I get a copy of that?

   SamT <!----> 

1. 
   BossHog | Apr 14, 2005 02:08pm | #8

   I sent emails out to the last 3 of you through your profiles. But when emails are sent through BT profiles, you can't attach files. I got one email back from an auto-responsse thing asking me to fill out a form. But I got an error when I tried to do that. So whichever one of you uses sprynet.com and DIDN'T get an email from me, email me throgh my profile and I'll get ya set up.
   After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in?

2. 
   SamT | Apr 14, 2005 03:22pm | #9

   I didn't know that.

   samtyler'at'mail.com

   AKA SamT

   as if you couldn't tell

3. 
   DDay | Apr 14, 2005 05:05pm | #10

   Boss,

   if you don't mind. 

   Thanks.  I hope you don't get too many requests, a nice gesture can be a regret quickly.

   Edited 9/4/2005 10:04 am ET by DDay

4. 
   BossHog | Apr 14, 2005 05:17pm | #12

   "I hope you don't get too many requests, a nice gesture can be a regret quickly."

   Not at all. Plenty of folks here have bent over backwards to help me out.

   I can't always return the favor, but can sometimes pass it along.
   Budget: A method for going broke methodically.

2. 
   DDay | Apr 14, 2005 05:14pm | #11

   A program a friend uses is quick books.  You'll have some set up costs but once its done it can do all the estimating, invoices and feeds into accounting sections, etc.  I think its a few hundred $$ though.  If you don't need the accounting and all the graphing options and financial data info I think the excel programs will do what you want.

   Excel is a very powerful program where you can link spreadsheets, and set up incredibly complex formulas to calculate everything you ever dreamed up.  My friend is an investment banker and they use excel and NASA type formulas to do all the valuations for mergers and stock deals.  You can use a template excel spreadsheet to keep all your regular use files and material descriptions on to speed up the creation of a new spreadsheet for a specific job.