Job Costing

Composite Materials

Bruce Chezem — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 20:24:01 +0000

Composite Materials Bruce Chezem Thu, 10/03/2024 - 13:24

Episode Number

081

For most cabinet jobs, off the shelf materials suit us well…3/4” Prefinished Hard Rock Maple, ¾” White Melamine, 13/16” Rift Cut White Oak…for example. Sourcing these materials from our material vendors is usually as easy as placing an order with the vendor.

However, there are some materials that might give us cause for serious head scratching.

Let’s say, for example, this HPL kitchen is spec’d for a custom laminate for the casework exterior and yet another custom laminate for the doors.

Let’s have a look at the spec sheet…

Cabinet Exterior - PL2 - Nevamar Graphite Blue S3023-T Vertical Grade

Exterior Edge Banding - EB1 - Nevamar Graphite Blue S3023-T 1mm PVC

Cabinet Interior PL3 - Wilsonart Frosty White 1573-60 Vertical Grade

Interior Edge Banding - EB2 - White PVC - 1mm

Slab Doors Exterior - PL1 - Formica Weathered Fiberboard 8914 SKU: FO-8914-NG 4x8 VT

Slab Door Edge Banding - EB3 - Same as PL1 ( Laminate Slitter )

Slab Door Interior - PL3 - Wilsonart Frosty White 1573-60 Vertical Grade

How many different ways can we plan for this job and which one is the “best” way for us to do this in our shop?

Considerations are:

How many unique laminate material specifications are there for this job?

In other words and for example let’s say we have ¾” MDF core doors with vertical grade, grained, laminate ( PL2 ) on the exterior side and vertical grade white laminate on the interior ( PL3 ). And the cases are frameless ¾” laminates sandwiching MDF cores with applied doors as finished ends . They are ¾” MDF with vertical grade laminate exterior ( PL1) as applied doors on both sides. And the interior of the cases are plain white melamine.

What will the material schedules look like?

Will we call out “pseudo materials” and generic materials or will we be very specific using brand name SKUs and naming conventions?

Are we going to buy materials already laid up….pre laminated or will we lay up all the laminated panel stock materials ourselves?

Plan A - Pre laid up materials
- How do we manage?
Plan B - Lay up the materials ourselves in our shop
- How do we manage?

Make a panel stock materials study.

With all these questions, I can’t keep it all straight in my head so I’m going to make a “Materials Study” in Cabinet Vision. What do I hope to accomplish with a Materials Study? I want to

be certain that I have identified all the unique panel stock materials needed for this job.
Be certain that I have all the materials in the Materials Manager for this job and
I need to be certain I have all the materials schedules properly built out for this job and
I need to be certain that the purchasing department will order all the necessary materials and quantities of materials correctly for this job.

Steps to make a materials study:

In the Materials manager, ensure that all pseudo materials exist so that they can be selected to use in the Materials Schedule manager. In this case, we’ll need various combinations of PL1, PL2, and PL3…single sided, double sided and mixed sides.

Opener

I have a laminate job coming up. The specs call for PL1, PL2 and PL3 and I gotta figure out how I’m going to manage the materials in terms of cost and in terms of buying prelaminated panels or making the panel stock by laying up the panels in-house....what that means to material management in Cabinet Vision and what that means to sending those materials to the CNC.

To help me figure this out, I generally make what I call a “Materials Study”. I’ll demonstrate how I make a Materials study and why I do that, and secondly, I’m going to demonstrate how to use composite materials and finally I’m going to discuss the pros and cons of using composite materials for this job. That’s what’s happening today on this episode of A Cabinet Vision Minute.

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Version 4 of the Cost-Plus Bid Center has just been released!

Bruce Chezem — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:20:18 +0000

Version 4 of the Cost-Plus Bid Center has just been released! Bruce Chezem Thu, 08/15/2024 - 17:20

Episode Number

005.4

Craftsman Engineering just released version 4 of the Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimators' Toolbox catalog last week ( Aug. 8, 2024 ).

What's new in the Cost-Plus Bid Center version 04:

Two category (A) rate tables have been added to include Flush Inset Face Frame construction and Beaded Inset Face Frame construction. It's worth noting that for the sake of estimating, Flush Inset Face Frame construction and Beaded Inset Face Frame construction are by far, the most labor intensive style of cabinets to build. Consequently, the per linear foot values for these two rate tables are relatively high as compared to the other category (A) rate tables for other construction methods.

A new Group B Rate Table has been added to accommodate Clear Coat finish on Drawers and Rollouts

All Group B Rate Tables have been edited and cleaned up to include the area of both sides of doors in the calculation for square footage of “finished area”.

All the Rate Tables in Version 04 are uniquely named such that the rate table names included in this version won't interfere with rate tables already on your system. All rate tables in this release are named like "CP4A Cabs/Foot FF", for example. In this example CP4 represents the name and version of the Cost-Plus Bid Center and A represents the Rate Table Group for construction method class. See the Rate Tables Explained pdf document for a detailed explanation of each Rate Table Group and explanation and application of each of the individual Rate Tables.

An updated version of the Estimators’ Toolbox catalog has been bundled with this version of the Cost-Plus Bid Center. Estimators Toolbox v4 has been edited from the previous version so that all object prices have been removed or “zeroed out”. In the previous version of the Estimators Toolbox, some objects had values listed in Cabinet Properties|Price which caused unwanted results while using the Bid Center. All cabinet objects in the Estimators’ Toolbox should have $0 prices.

Pricing for drawers and rollout trays has been improved from previous versions of the Cost-Plus Bid Center. 6 new Group C Rate Tables have been added to the Cost-Plus Bid Center v04 to provide for “Good - Better - Best” pricing scenarios of both Buyout drawers/rollouts and Make drawers/rollouts. With this improvement, the pricing value in the Drawer construction method ( Std. #137 ) is no longer used as a source of the prices of drawers.

The Cost-Plus Bid Center, Version 04, is a collection of 28 prepared rate tables and 5 reports packaged with the Estimators' Toolbox catalog. The Estimators' Toolbox contains hundreds of easy-to-find cabinet configurations and popular cabinet accessory products for residential and commercial projects.

This useful collection of Cabinet Vision tools can be used as soon as the package is installed on your Cabinet Vision system. The Cost-Plus Bid Center v4 is best used on recent versions of Cabinet Vision including CV 2021, CV 2023, and CV 2024.

Just as Cabinet Vision models the "real world" in 3 dimensions, room by room, the Bid Center extends all of your work into the world of estimating commercial and residential cabinet jobs. Using the Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimators' Toolbox, you can create fast, accurate estimates with instant access to project Break-Even analysis reporting, customized estimates, purchasing summary reports and more. And here's the kicker....you don't have to draw any walls or cabinets.

The Cost-Plus Bid Center takes all the guesswork out of setting up your Bid Center so you can "hit the ground running" with cabinet pricing that includes every production aspect, every material, every department of every cabinet shop from the design department, engineering, milling, assembly, finishing departments and your shipping and installation departments, too. The collection takes advantage of Cabinet Vision's xBidding multiplier with a smart implementation of a "cost-plus" approach to using the Bid Center for commercial jobs and residential jobs using your construction methods and material schedules.

What can you do with the Cost-Plus Bid Center?

Well, you can make complete estimates for cabinet jobs in minutes... You can perform project job costing analysis... You can do catalog product costing.... You can do A/B testing product comparisons... You can make complete "no-draw" estimates or "full-draw" estimates... You can make historical estimate analysis....

The bottom line is that you can use Cabinet Vision's bid center effectively and efficiently and quickly....with a very high return on your investment and a very flat learning curve.

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A Cabinet Vision Minute on Patreon

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https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com

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Craftsman Engineering website

https://CraftsmanEngineering.com

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimator's Toolbox - Part II

Bruce Chezem — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:42:49 +0000

Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimator's Toolbox - Part II Bruce Chezem Thu, 07/20/2023 - 08:42

Episode Number

022

In this second of a two-part series on practical bidding and estimating techniques using Cabinet Vision, the Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimator's Toolbox, Bruce demonstrates a very fast and accurate method of estimating a high-end kitchen for an apartment in San Francisco without laying out walls...a COMPLETE No-Draw Bid with Cabinet Vision 2023.

You'll witness some amazing estimating agility and efficiency as Bruce creates a complete no-draw estimate in minutes using Cabinet Vision 2023, the Cost-Plus Bid Center add-on package, and the Estimator's Toolbox catalog package from Craftsman Engineering.

With Release 2 of the Cost-Plus Bid Center we added the Estimator's Toolbox catalog package to the Cost-Plus Bid Center package. With the Estimator's Toolbox catalog, estimating a project is made as simple as picking ready configured cabinets and options from a catalog.

For more information about the Estimator's Toolbox and the Cost-Plus Bid Center add-on packages for Cabinet Vision, visit our website and online store at https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com.

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimator's Toolbox - Part 1

Bruce Chezem — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 01:10:59 +0000

Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimator's Toolbox - Part 1 Bruce Chezem Wed, 07/05/2023 - 18:10

Episode Number

021

In this first of a two-part series on practical bidding and estimating techniques using Cabinet Vision and the Cost-Plus Bid Center, Bruce demonstrates a very fast and accurate method of estimating a high-end kitchen for an apartment in San Francisco.

Bruce introduces the Estimator's Toolbox, a new feature we recently added, with Release 2, to the Cost-Plus Bid Center. With the Estimator's Toolbox, estimating a project is made as simple as picking ready configured cabinets, options, add-ons and even services from a catalog.

For more information about the Estimator's Toolbox and the Cost-Plus Bid Center add-on packages for Cabinet Vision, visit https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Sharing Some Secret Sauce

Bruce Chezem — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 01:33:40 +0000

Sharing Some Secret Sauce Bruce Chezem Tue, 06/13/2023 - 18:33

Episode Number

027

In this episode of A Cabinet Vision Minute, I tip my hand about how I came up with some of the numbers I use in the Cost-Plus Bid Center rate tables that use the Per Linear Foot bid method.

To find out more about the Cost-Plus Bid Center and the Estimators' Toolbox, visit https://Shop.CraftmanEngineering.com

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Cabinet Vision Tutorials (Expert - 5) - Bid Center Pricing

Bruce Chezem — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 21:00:53 +0000

Cabinet Vision Tutorials (Expert - 5) - Bid Center Pricing Bruce Chezem Wed, 12/11/2019 - 13:00

The second in a series focusing on Cabinet Vision and Bid Center, this tutorial will share where values, costing and labour details can be added, and how that information can then be retrieved in the Bid Center to make autonomous calculations for Job Costings.

Video Author

Planit Cutting Edge Solutions