Did you know? Adding labour “on the fly”

Sometimes no labour items exist in the Billcost database for your specific needs. The traditional route for getting around this has always been to create a jobbing items and inserting labour in that manner.

There is however one other way of adding labour and attaching it to a specific material, fees or equipment item as you progress in the Estimator.

When you get to the formula build-up screen, be it in a Simple Formula (Simp F) or Material measure Formula (Mat Ms) do the following:

1. Select the item that you want to add labour to, then double-click or right-click and select detail to open material detail screen.

2. On the main detail screen, click on the “Add Labour” checkbox to activate the function.

3. Click OK to return to main formula screen and finish the labour item by completing the price (and qty in case of Mat Ms) fields. To remove such labour item, simply double-click the material again and uncheck the add labour box.

The labour added will be valid for the current project only.

Also see this post for other uses of the material detail screen

Did you know? Measureing from multiple databases

By now our users will know that in Billcost, there are two system databases to measure from. Basic and Professional. The Basic database assumes all the building standards when you measure an item. This database is used by most of our users. The Professional database allows the user to enter more specific information used in the calculations. This information includes specifications like the specific material components used, the components of the mortar mix, plaster thickness etc.
Sometimes certain sections of a project require more attention to specific measurements and the user is required to measure an item in more depth than other items of the same project. In Billcost it is possible to measure from both databases at the same time. This is how:

1. Have your project opened in the Estimator. Make sure to open a database when prompted.
2. To open another database, click on Database icon or open the Database Menu item in the Estimator and click Open. Then under System select required database and click OK.
3. Click on the “Tile Horizontal” button. The screen will split into segments as shown below.

It is now possible to measure from the Basic and Professional database at the same time.  When an item is measured successfully, it will move to the far left column. The project database will then start to be compiled with only the items measured from the Basic or Professional databasis as seen above. This is a nice feature to use when you want to double check and see what measurements you have already done for the specific project.

Did you know? Permanently change prices from the Estimator

As you will be well aware by now, pricing plays a major role in the accuracy of you estimate. an Estimate only becomes a quotation once the pricing has been modified to the actual. Billcost is an estimating package with general provincial prices attached, and these could deviate by as far as 15% from actual prices. Therefore it is vitally important to go through the project prices and ensure that they are in fact correct before you submit a quotation to your client.

With this in mind, the Billcost Estimator allows you the opportunity to changes prices in the price field of a
Material Measure or Material Selection screen that will remain valid for the current project only.This means that when you create your next estimate and select the same master price file, you would need to change the prices again. Or alternatively open the master price file in the Price Customiser to permanently alter the prices

However, there is a way to make permanent changes to the master Price file from within the Estimator that applies for any non-labour item. This will save you time as it allows you to change the project price as well as the master price at the same time.

1. Open a Material Measure or Material Selection window.
2. Double-click on the description of the item you wish to adjust.

3. On the resulting screen, click the ‘Ordering’ Tab.

4. Highlight to Price File you wish to adjust.
5. In the ‘Price (excl.)’ field, enter the new VAT exclusive price for the item.
6. Enter the Lead Time and Discount if required.
7. Click ‘Update’. (If you do not do this, the change is not saved.)

8. Click ‘OK’.

Note: This method of Price File adjustment works well if you only have a small number of adjustments to make. If you wish to alter a large number of prices, or wish to make price adjustments on a percentage basis, the Price Customiser offers a far better and easier interface for this purpose.

Lead Time refers to the notice period your material supplier needs before he can deliver your goods, and is only required if you are using a Project Scheduling package in conjunction with Billcost. Most Schedulers are able to alert you as to when you should order your materials.

Billcost Version 2010.1 – Release Notes

WELCOME TO BILLCOST 2010

Billcost would like to thank their loyal clients for their ongoing support in 2009. We at Billcost always strive to provide the best product and service. Even though this year was tough, there were no exception in our dedication to our clients and this will be the norm for many more years to come.

Some good news
The Gauteng and Western Cape housing markets are busy lifting their heads. This is according to construction economist Dr Johan Snyman of Medium-Term Forecasting Associates, after cement sales in the two provinces showed some improvement. He says cement sales are a good indication of the state of the building and civil construction industry. – News24

Being Positive
Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favourable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. Be positive!

New Version
This newsletter refers to changes to be found in the very latest Version (2010.1) of Billcost, which is now available for download from the Billcost website – and as always it is full of updates, additions and fixes all designed to make your life so much easier and your work more accurate.

Just some of the new changes to expect in Version 2010.1

• This Update will likely go down in history as the “electrical” update. A comprehensive list of measureable formulae, based on the ECA electrical tender sheet, has finally been added to Billcost. Complete with labour components expressed in hours. Check it out!
• Speaking of labour, we have also added formulae for day labour rates. Check out the labour only section under each trade or a full listing in Preliminaries.
• The niggles regarding various formulae that you have brought to our attention has been attended to. Notable amongst these are the carpet and drywall formulae, and while we were busy we added the drywall section to the professional database too!
• Finally we have adjusted the size of the totals column in the Certificate Generator to get rid of those annoying hashes (###) that sometimes appear in jobs with large totals.
• We are already thinking up ways of making the software even better for you in future updates. One of the things we are thinking about is a hybrid “intermediate” database to fit neatly between professional and basic. Think about it, all the ease-of-use and speed of basic combined with the range of choice from professional. Like it, or maybe not? Tell us about it.
• And let’s not forget that civil database is also out there rearing to be expanded. Need it? Tell us what you would like to see in it.
• Oh and least we forget. The topic on everybody’s minds . . . prices! Our industry is still very much deflated and the expected large rises in the cost of construction materials early 2010 didn’t really materialise. In short, the following items showed the most change since November 2009
  • Gypsum Products (Ceilings, Drywalls) 6-8%.
  • Aggregates (Sand, Stone, Cement, Bricks, Precast Concrete, Roof tiles) 4%.
  • Nutec Products (Ceilings, Window sills, Roofing, Fascias) 4-6%.
  • Copperware (Pipes, HWC, Taps) 8-10%.

The Bad with the Good
Rising economic pressures has forced us to increase our license fees effective 1 March 2010. Please visit the about section on the Billcost website, or the Billcost support blog for more information.

Training
Billcost would like to ensure that our clients gain maximum benefit from our software. If you feel there is any feature in Billcost that you need some additional guidance on, please contact our offices. We can arrange some training if necessary and therefore enable you to utilize Billcost to all its capabilities.

Help is at hand
Unfortunately our dedicated staff need to go home sometimes, but after hour problems does not mean that you cannot work. We have included a complete listing of all known problems and errors in Billcost in the user manual. Simply look up the problem and follow the steps given to correct the issue.
We are also gaining momentum with our support blog. We will start publishing tips and hints on a weekly basis. Watch out for this and interact with us by asking your questions on the blog . . . or even better, subscribe to our blog via e-mail. http://billcost.wordpress.com/ or simply follow the link from the Billcost main page.

Download Procedure
The installation instructions are included for those brand new Billcost customers and for our loyal ones who may need to be reminded of the process and procedures.

1. Browse to the Billcost website at http://www.billcost.co.za/ and once there, click on the “Downloads” button. It should be about top centre of your screen, just below the Billcost Logo.
2. Scroll down to the section that reads Registered Users and then click the link that reads “Click here to LOGIN”.
3. Type in your username (the six digit account code on your invoice) in CAPITAL letters for example ABC001. Now type in your four digit password. Forgotten yours? No problem. Simply open the Billcost Project Manager, open the Help menu and select Registration. The four numbers located in the program serial number (written in blue) is also your password.
4. Once logged in we have reduced your options to three.
   1. You can enter your new activation code as displayed if for some reason you did not receive the e-mail with your new code on. (Remember to inform us on changes of your email addresses ok?)
   2. You can download the entire Billcost update install. We recommend this option.
   3. Or you can download only portions of the update like prices or databases.
5. Click on the link of the item you would like to download and select the save option. Doing it this way saves you the trouble (and bandwidth) of doing it again should you need to install Billcost again later.
6. Once downloaded and saved on your hard disk you may log out of Billcost and close your internet browser. In fact, it is good practise before you install Billcost or any other software, to close down all programs running on your computer.
7. Double click or Run the downloaded file to start the installation. The installation wizard will guide you through the process step-by-step. On a standard Billcost installation you should have no problems and you need not deviate from any of the settings. Simply click next on every screen to breeze through the installation.
8. The very last step in the installation process is to select the price and labour file areas to install. Select by holding down the Cntrl key on your keyboard and clicking the options you would like to install with your mouse, then click the Install button to complete the process. Repeat twice, once for materials and another time for labour.

In next to no time your Billcost system should be fully updated. Happy estimating!

NOTE: VISTA USERS: Some special installation procedures need to be taken when installing Billcost on a Vista operating system. This is to ensure your best possible Billcost experience. Please do not hesitate to call to have one of our staff guide you through these procedures.