Getting Started
Estimate Builder is a tool for creating controls estimates. You create scope objects as part of a bid and adjust the estimating parameters to arrive at a final price. Estimate Builder leverages reusable templates to make populating a scope of work fast and comprehensive. For more information about scope models, please go here.
The Splash Screen greets you when you open Estimate Builder. This is where you'll select the file containing our scope templates and optionally an existing bid file. Selecting "Create New" will start you off with a new bid with access to all the templates in the selected templates file.
All of the scope input and manipulation happens in the Scope Editor. Here you have access to templates on the left side, object being edited in the middle, and properties of the selected object on the right.
Let's take a look at our templates. There are a number of tiles on the left hand side of the screen, each of which is a template. Just above the collection of tiles is a drop-down menu. This menu allows you to select which templates are available in the tiled collection below. Just above the drop-down menu is a search bar. Searching can be done by Name, Description, and Tags associated with a template. A search will be carried out on all objects from the category selected in the drop-down. To clear the search criteria and view all the objects again, select done.
Dragging in a system from templates into the list of systems adds it to your bid. You can also start a system from scratch by clicking the add button in the bottom right corner of the systems list. In both cases you'll be given the opportunity to edit the name and other properties before submitting the addition.
After selecting a system you'll have access to all of the components inside. The first components are the equipment. You can add equipment to a system the same way a system was added: by dragging in an equipment template or clicking the add button in the bottom right corner of the equipment list. You can delete a piece of scope at any time by right clicking on the item and selecting "Delete".
Equipment contain points, which can be view by double-clicking a piece of equipment or by selecting an item and then clicking on the arrow to the right just above the equipment list. Points can also be added by dragging in a Point template or by clicking on the add button on the bottom right of the points list. Click the arrow on the left above the equipment list to go back to viewing systems.
A point has devices and IO, which can be viewed in the same way Points are shown in Equipment. Double-click on a point or select the arrow on the left above the point list to view the devices and IO. Devices can only be added by dragging in a device from templates. This is because devices exist in a catalog which keeps the information about that device consistent wherever you use it. IO do not have their own templates, as they only contain information that you would likely edit anyway.
Systems have other children besides equipment, all of which are accessible from the drop-down menu above the equipment list after selecting a system. Selecting "Controllers" will show all of the controllers and panels in a system. They can be added the same way as other scope items. Go back to the system list by selecting the back arrow in the upper left corner.
Controllers can associated with a panel by selecting the panel from the "Containing Panel" drop-down menu on each controller item. This represents a controller being physically in a panel.
Miscellaneous costs can be added by selecting "Misc" from the system component drop-down menu. Here you can add lump costs as either TEC Systems costs r electrical subcontractor costs. Misc costs can be added by dragging in a "Misc. Costs" or "Misc. Wiring" template or by using the interface at the bottom of the miscellaneous costs lists.
Connections between controllers and field devices are made in the "Electrical" component section. On the left side of the "Electrical" section you'll find a list of controllers and a list of points which can be connected. After selecting a controller from the "Controllers" list, drag a point from the "Unconnected Points" list into the area on the right to make a connection. If the Controller does not have IO capacity for the point you are trying to add, you will not be able to make the connection.
Once you've made a connection, you can edit its properties. The wire length, conduit length, and conduit type should all be entered.
Connections make utilizing a network protocol, such as BACnet, can be make under the "Network" system component section. This section has a list of controllers, a list of network devices, and an area for creating and editing connections. After selecting a controller, you can create a network connection by selecting the wire type and protocol. Now that a connection is made, you may select it to see the objects associated with that connection to the right of the selected connection. Dragging a controller or network device into this area will connect it to the selected connection. Note that only network devices and controllers that are compatible with both the network protocol and the termination type can be connected.
NEED NETWORK CONNECTION GIF PENDING FINALIZATION OF NETWORK VIEW IN SYSTEMS
The final system component option is "Proposal", which allows you to verbalize the scope within a system. This is a handy way to make note of what you're doing and formalize the scope of work you're creating. The proposal section contains a list of "Branches" that are just text. These branches can have sub-branches, just like a hierarchal list in a word processor. Add a new branch by clicking the button on the top right above the Branches list on any level of the branches. These branches become particularly useful when it comes time to create a proposal based on your estimate. All the information gathered here will be format into a word document to kick start the proposal writing process.
There will be times when certain scope does not fit into a system. Perhaps there is a controller that serves several systems. Maybe there are some miscellaneous costs that just need to be added to the bid as a whole. The riser certainly should exist for all the systems in a bid. All these pieces of scope are added in the "Controllers and Panels", "Network", and "Misc." tabs at the very top of the center pane of the Scope Editor. Here you can add controllers and panels, miscellaneous costs, and make network connections just as you would in a system.
After adding some scope to a bid, the Review tab is where you can get an overview of the various costs that make up the estimate.
Selecting the "Itemized" tab just under the selected "Review" tab will show you the total price of the estimate broken out by system. This effectively gives you a unit price-style list of scope items. The Miscellaneous costs and controllers and panels associated with the bid as a whole are also included so that all cost items are shown.
The "Labor" tab displays all the labor rates and factors that go into an estimate. The individual costs of each department of TEC labor and subcontractor labor can all be seen separately. If necessary, lump sums of hours may be added per department as well. TEC labor is determined from a regression based on points, the confidence level of which can be selected from the "Confidence Level" drop-down menu in the middle of the window. The confidence level defaults to 95%, which means that there is a 95% chance that the calculated labor will be at least the required labor given the number of points input. Various other parameters such as individual labor rates, overtime, union vs. non-union, etc. can all be edited in this view.
"Material" displays an overview of the different material costs. Use the drop-down menu just under the selected tab to choose between viewing a summary of the Devices, Controllers, Panels, Wire, Conduit, and Misc costs in the estimate. The pane on the left will display the subtotals for the selected category as well as the subtotals of the various cost types for the entire estimate for comparison.
This is where the final summary resides. Here you can edit the Bid Name, Bid Number, Salesperson, and Estimator associated with your bid. You can also select parameters such as tax exemption, bonded, tax rate, bond rate, shipping rate, warranty rate, etc. The total cost, markup, and price can be found at the bottom. The Price can be manually set, after which time the profit and margin will adjust accordingly based on the costs from the scope of work. On the right hand side you'll see a pie chart of all the costs in an estimate broken up by Material, Labor, Subcontractor Material, and Subcontractor Label. Use this to get a quick sense of if the costs make sense in the estimate as a whole.
The last tab is the Proposal tab, found at the right of the topmost tabs. Here you can add proposal branches just like you do with systems, but these are associated with the bid as a whole. The drop-down menu at the far right allows you to select an overview of the systems proposal branches, as well as add notes and exclusions to the bid. All of these components will be added to an exported proposal.
Estimate Builder is capable of exporting a finished estimate into variety of formats. For more details, see here.