The "Zero" (None) bid item should be fixed, so the associated costs can be allocated to the base bid items on a percentage basis in the exported proposal.

When costs which should be allocated across the entire project (ie general conditions) have been entered in the None bid item, the following dialog will appear when recapping: "Allocate Item Zero costs to base bid items on percentage basis?" This is helpful as a recap, but should be available as the takeoff is exported to proposal or, in the proposal itself. (see 9-5(Takeoffs)>Recaps>Bid Items)

It's obvious that the original architects of this software had this implemented, and somewhere along the way this functionality has been lost. The current help file claims that the zero item is just a place holder for when you don't use bid items or phases, but I contend this is a misunderstanding by the current regime. Yes it's a "placeholder" for the takeoff to default to, but it should/could provide a valuable purpose for those of us that use the bid items & phases as a way of managing our takeoffs complexity, and present our proposals based on bid items.

How often is a customer wanting to know how much a particular piece of the project costs, so they can decide if they want to include it or not. Having the ability to allocate general conditions across the bid items on a percentage basis, allows for a better presentation of the costs of that item. (easier to adjust pricing as the project is refined)

Thank You for your vote!

by: Peter I. | over a year ago | Estimating