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Estimating FAQs |
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Summary:Answers
to frequently-asked questions estimating jobs with
Clients & Profits.
Estimating is a fundamental feature in Clients &
Profits. Estimates are an integral part of job tickets
and their tasks. Besides being presented for your
client's approval, a job's estimate is used throughout
Clients & Profits in various reports which allow you
to compare estimate amounts to actual job costs and
billings. Entering estimates is an important step to more
meaningful reporting and job analysis. Q. Does every job have to have an estimate? No, but it's a good business practice. The estimate represents an agreement between you and your client. It gives clients a summary of what will be included on the job. An estimate helps you avoid forgotten tasks and missed costs that could cut into your profits. With a written estimate, there should be no surprises on the job for either you or your client. Unless the job is one of those that's in-and-out of your shop in a day or two and is routine and predictable, your shop could be at risk for unbillable costs without signed job estimates. Back to Top Q. What's the best way to create an estimate? When estimating a new job, review similar jobs that your agency has completed to help determine how much the job will cost. Examine past jobs to determine why a job went over estimate, and then prepare a better estimate for the new job. Remember that good estimating can take time, but the financial gains will be worth the effort. Back to Top Q. How do I create an estimate without opening a job ticket? First, you need to add a job ticket before creating an estimate. If an estimate is on speculation only, then give the new job ticket a status code that reflects the speculative nature of the work. If an estimate is not accepted by the client, then close the job and give it a status code such as "Closed, Never Approved" or "Canceled, Never Started." You will have a record of the estimate in the database. If the client ever changes their mind and decides to go ahead with the job, you won't have to recreate the job from scratch. Just reopen the job ticket or open a new job by cloning the existing job. Back to Top Q. When should the estimate be completed? The estimate should be prepared and signed by the client before work on the job begins. Of course, this may not always happen. An estimate should be signed before you spend any money with vendors or before a significant amount of your staff's time has been invested in a job. It is a process of training your staff and training your clients. Make sure that everyone involved understands your agency's policy. Back to Top Q. How can I keep people from adding time or costs to a job when the estimate has not been approved? Use status codes. Set up a status codes for jobs with unapproved estimates. The status code's alert should be set to either warn users or stop users when they try to add costs to the job. A message such as "See this job's AE before continuing" can be added to the status code's warning. Back to Top Q. Why can't Clients & Profits calculate an estimate amount automatically from the job's planned time and expenses? It can. Clients & Profits has a built-in estimate calculator, called the Estimate Worksheet. While editing an estimate amount, click on the Worksheet button. You are able to input estimated hours and/or vendor costs. As you tab through the worksheet, the correct billing rate or markup appears creating estimate amounts. When you save the worksheet, amounts are copied to the main Estimate window. Back to Top Q. What is budget amount used for? It reflects the amount that you expect to spend in hard costs on a job. It usually doesn't include the cost of your staff's time unless you manually enter it. The budget amount is used on Purchase Order and Cost alerts that compare actual to budgeted costs. It is also used on some Profitability reports that show Projected Gross Margin. Back to Top Q. Is the job's initial budget related to the job tasks' budget amounts? No. The initial budget appears on the printed job ticket, which is usually printed as soon as the job is opened. It is used as a reference point for preparing the estimate. Both the initial budget and the tasks' budget amounts are optional as well as for internal use only (i.e., they don't appear on the printed estimate). Back to Top Q. Why aren't some tasks that appear on the job ticket included in the Estimate window? Only job tasks that are marked as "estimating" tasks can be estimated. If a job task is marked as "schedule only" then it is excluded from the Estimate window, since it can't be estimated. The task's estimating/scheduling setting is copied from the Task Table, but it can be changed on a particular job task. This setting can be changed in the Edit Job Task window by checking the "estimating/billing" option. Back to Top Q. Can additional job tasks be added from the Estimate window? Yes. If a task isn't on the job, then add it by clicking on the "Add New Task" tool bar button in Estimate window and follow the prompts. Back to Top Q. What is a group number? The group number controls how an estimate subtotals and appears in the Estimate window and on the printed Estimate itself. The group code can be edited by double-clicking on a job task in the Job Ticket window. The group name can be edited in the Groups window (see Setup > Groups). Back to Top Q. How do I show sales tax on estimates? Sales tax is calculated based on estimate amounts for each job task. Each task has a sales tax setting, either taxable or non-taxable, for up to two different sales taxes (or tax rates). Sales tax settings are copied from the Task Table to the job ticket every time a new task is added. A job task's sales tax settings can be edited. The sales tax rate (percentage) is copied from the client account. When the estimate is printed, you'll see asterisks to the right of the amounts indicating taxable job tasks. Back to Top Q. We usually give clients several options to choose from when preparing the estimate; how can we show these options? Print up to three separate columns on each estimate. Just label the three columns in the Estimate window (e.g. "5,000", "10,000", "25,000" or "2-color", "4-color", "6-color" etc.) then enter estimate amounts in each column. When you print the estimate, you have options to one specific estimate, all three estimates combined, or all three separate estimate amounts. Back to Top Q. Is there an easy way to copy the amounts in the first column to the next? Yes. Enter an estimate amount, then press Tab. Clicking the "copy" toolbar button copies the estimate amount into the currently selected column. This function copies all of the amounts into the second column where they can be edited. However, this function does not copy the information entered into the Estimate Worksheet. Back to Top Q. We gave a client three different estimate amounts to choose from, and they chose the final estimate. How do we get this estimate to show up on the Job Ticket window and Job Summary reports? After a client makes their choice, open the Estimate window. Then use the Final Estimate pop-up menu at the bottom of the window to select the job's authorized estimate. Back to Top Q. We go through several revisions on a estimate before the client approves it. How can we keep track of these different versions? Clients & Profits automatically tracks the various revisions to a job's estimate. A job starts with an original estimate. When changes are made to an estimate that reflect a new revision, choose "New Revision" from the "Show Est Rev" pop-up menu. Each time the estimate is revised, you can save it as a "New Revision" if you wish to track the changes made. If not, just select Save. Back to Top Q. Do we give the estimate revision a number? No. New revisions are automatically numbered. Back to Top Q. Can we review prior revisions of an estimate? Yes. Prior revisions can be viewed at any time by selecting the revision number from the "Show Est Rev" pop-up menu. Recalling a prior revision replaces the current estimate. Back to Top Q. What happens if a client chooses to go with a previous revision of the estimate? You have an option to replace the current estimate with a prior revision. Doing this will make the previous revision the most current revision of the estimate. Choose the prior revision from the "Show Est Rev" pop-up menu. Now, the estimate window shows the estimate amounts you want. Select the "thumbs up " button to make the previous estimate the current estimate. The current estimate is the only one that is shown in the job ticket window and on all the reports that show estimate amounts. Back to Top Q. We want to also keep a copy of the last estimate revision we've done. Is that possible? Because the last estimate revision will be overwritten when you choose to make a previous revision the current one, you can follow these steps to keep the last estimate revision: 1) Open the Estimate window. You now have a copy of the last revision. Next, you are replacing the copy with the client's choice for the work. 4) Reopen the Estimate window. The estimate window is saved and the
previous revision is now the most current version of the
estimate. And you also have a record of the estimate that
was previously last. Back
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