Quoting & Quickbooks

Justin Gavin

Hello gentlemen,

We have recently installed quickbook contractor's addition. I find it a pain in the keester for quotes. Currently we prepare an estimate on quickbooks (to get an accurate price) than we manually convert the estimate to a proposal on word.

Currently it takes us about 4-8 hours for a proper estimate
(including a heat loss).

We usually quote 3 choices for the customer and since every system is a little different we don't want to over pad or over shoot ourselves so as far as we know this is the most accrurate quote we can provide.

My question is this, It takes so long to do a decent quote and I have no problem doing it this way but should it take that long? What are you guys doing to trim down your estimating time. I don't mind spending the time but its getting to the point where we are 2 weeks behind on estimates and we are trying to trim it down to 3 days max.

Note 90% or our bids are new construction, custom homes. So it seems to be hard to generalize.

I am just looking for a more efficient way to do this. Any help in the matter would greatly be appreciated as it always is.

Best Regards and Thanks in Advance,

Justin Gavin

eleft(retired)_5

QB Pro

Justin,
First things first, do you have the Items list complete? It can be used to select, Jobs performed i.e. labor operations, parts prices or grouping different applications. An estimate is just like creating an invoice which you can convert to an invoice if you get the job.
Had QB & QB Pro versions from DOS . Love it,
al

Ken_8

I too

continue to use - and have used QB Pro for over 10 years, and just snagged the 2004 upgrade at Costco - cheap.

I have never used QB's for estimating however.

Doing the heat load calulation is a non-QB's excercise anyhow. That typically takes longer than the estimate!

We have found interesting "direct correlations" between the actual boiler costs (and size), and the required near boiler piping associated thereto. By using that "constant," we no longer have to actually figure the pipe, fittings, labor and related little items that might go into calculating that type of materials. It is actually within 2% +/-. By "bundling" the items/tasks into
smaller groups, it seems that some aspects of the job ALWAYS fall into a specific percentage of the basic component cost - like the bare boiler vs. the actual near boiler piping. These secondary calulations - especially for materials costs can save a lot of time.

But the more careful the data calculated - the closer the realized profits and sell price can be determined.

Hope this helps.




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Steve_35

Time Breakdown

You need to determine where the holdup is. Time the various aspects of the whole process much like you would do with a job.

How long to do the take off? How long for the heat loss? How long for system design? And how long to total all the parts, hours and GM?