Many of the ideas for my blog posts are coming directly from customers.  I'll be working with a customer to help resolve an issue - someone who has used the software for a really long time - and I'll suggest one of our tools and features.  When I find out that this customer didn't know about that item, I know he isn't alone.  

For example, I recently had a customer call our support line looking for a better way to update their net pricing on projects.  Specifically, they were trying to figure out a way to input better net pricing while still maintaining their Harrison list prices / multipliers.  When every dollar in your piping and plumbing estimates count, I can see why users are asking how to do this efficiently.

The good news is that we've got a great tool for that - it's our Material Multiplier Worksheet in AutoBid Mechanical.  You can access this tool after calculations from the Reports Screen through the Red "%" icon.



This spreadsheet is great because it shows you the total dollars for each material multiplier group.  You can use the numbers to negotiate better deals with your vendors - and it's easy to plug in net pricing.

You can either plug in a total net cost for that material multiplier group (the red arrow), and AutoBid will calculate the actual multiplier.  Or, you can plug in a new multiplier (green arrow), and we'll calcualte the new net cost.  When you close out of the screen, re-run your calculations.





Don't forget - not only do multipliers vary by company - they can also vary by project.  If you've got a really big job - or a job that has a lot of a particular item - you can often get a better material multiplier.  Use this tool to reach out to your vendors and get your best possible prices while you are quoting your jobs.

Happy estimating!

I spent last week at the MCAA 2010 Annual Convention.  What an event!  The MCAA group always put on a first class event, and this year was no different.  We were treated to an array of wonderful speakers:  Condoleezza Rice, Mike Singletary, and Capt "Sully" Sullenburger.  I always enjoy these events because not only do we learn alot - but I also get to interact with a great many of our customers.

This year for the MCAA convention, we featured our Short Interval Planning (SIP) tool in AutoBid® Mechanical program.  There was a lot of excitement over using this tool to create goals for field personnel and monitor labor and material costs more quickly.  If you haven't seen this feature in action, please let me know - I'd love to set-up a webinar and personally walk you through this feature.

Our final piece of feedback was the request for more data in AutoBid Mechanical.  If you've got specific data content requests, please let us know. 

After several months of Beta testing and a patch release, I'm really happy to announce that AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1 is now in general release.  The highlight of this release is our new SIP (Short Interval Planning) feature.  While we know that this feature will be beneficial to estimators, we've designed this feature to specifically allow information from the estimate to be used by Project Managers. Short Interval Planning is one tactic for helping to monitor and control your field costs.  It was highlighted last summer at the MCAA Strategies for JobSite Success seminar.  The idea was to create a short look ahead schedule.  With our new SIP tool, you can use the box-in function (or multi-select) to select a subset of your bid and get material pricing and labor information.  This information can then be printed or exported to Excel so that it can be easily used by the Project Managers.

To go along with the SIP tool, we've also added the ability to filter your takeoff by more than one scope setting at a time.  This will allow you to filter your OnScreen View (OSV) or Graphical TakeOff (GTO)  down to only the systems that you need.  If you'd like to see these features in action or have other questions regarding this release, please feel free to contact me. 

I am so excited to have this opportunity to reach out and share more information with our customers.   I feel like I’ve worked with many of you in the past – and I hope you’ll find the blog a great way to keep in touch and brush up on the products.

For those of you who don’t know me - who is this crazy woman?  My name is Stacy Zerr and I’m the estimating product manager for QuickPen.  I always tell people that I grew up in the construction industry, and was never smart enough to get out of it.  But in reality, I have a real passion for our mechanical contracting industry. 

I grew up in a residential and light-commercial family construction business.  I have both Mechanical and Construction Engineering degrees from Iowa State University.  I’ve worked for two different mechanical contractors in the Midwest.  I’ve filled the role of Estimating Manager, Project Manager, and Design-Build engineer.  I am so grateful to these companies for giving me the background and on-the-job training.  I can say that I’ve learned more from the field, shop, and seasoned managers than I ever learned in a classroom.  And, as an estimator, I’ve actually implemented and used both the AutoBid SheetMetal and AutoBid Mechanical products. 

This is my second stint at QuickPen with a total of about 7-1/2 years served total experience.  I’ve worked as the Midwest Regional Sales Representative, Consulting Group Manager, Customer Liason, and currently I’m the Product Manager for our estimating products.  Working with customers is my favorite parts of this job – talking with people to see how they are utilizing our products and find out what’s happening in the industry.  I’m proud when I see our software making someone more productive and profitable.  I’m honored to be part of a company that helps change the way our industry does business.  Honestly – can you tell that I LOVE my job?    

I plan on using this blog as an outreach to our customers.  We have over 1500 companies who use our estimating products.  I’d love to be able to reach out to each of you personally, but that isn’t possible.  So, I hope this blog will give you a lot of the tips and tricks to help improve the way that you use our software and keep you up-to-date on the product.  If you have any product suggestions or blog ideas, please contact me.

When I’m not working, I spend my time with my nearly 6-year-old twins, Tanner and Morgan and my husband, Randy.   As a family, we’re active with several local organizations that support causes we firmly believe in – March of Dimes,  Organ Donor Alliance, and American Liver Foundation.