Bid Center

Estimate Sheets of Material

Bruce Chezem — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 23:08:56 +0000

Estimate Sheets of Material Bruce Chezem Mon, 08/19/2024 - 16:08

Episode Number

069

Episode 069 of A Cabinet Vision Minute is about setting the Estimate Sheets of Material flag in the Bid Center.

If you use the Cost-Plus Bid Center or even if you don't use the Cost-Plus Bid Center and you're not using "Catalog Prices" for estimating your cabinet jobs, then watch this video. This could ~~save you~~ make you thousands of dollars on your next job.

The bottom line.... Check this box!

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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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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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Materials and Vendors

Bruce Chezem — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 21:44:19 +0000

Materials and Vendors Bruce Chezem Mon, 06/12/2023 - 14:44

Episode Number

025

Let's say you buy plywood from several different vendors. And of course, vendor A has a different price for that material than does vendor B or vendor C for that matter. How can we make sure we have the right price AND vendor for this plywood.

In this A Cabinet Vision Minute, Bruce peels pack the vendor/price onion.

Learn more about the Cost-Plus Bid Center at https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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The Cost-Plus Bid Center - An Overview

Bruce Chezem — Fri, 12 May 2023 20:39:04 +0000

The Cost-Plus Bid Center - An Overview Bruce Chezem Fri, 05/12/2023 - 13:39

Episode Number

005

The Cost-Plus Bid Center is a set of prepared rate tables, reports and catalogs made specifically for Cabinet Vision. This video is an excellent overview of the Cost-Plus Bid Center.

To find out more about the Cost-Plus Bid Center, visit https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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How to make a No-Draw "Quick Bid" in Cabinet Vision

Bruce Chezem — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:17:12 +0000

How to make a No-Draw "Quick Bid" in Cabinet Vision Bruce Chezem Thu, 03/16/2023 - 17:17

Episode Number

012

See Episode 023 of A Cabinet Vision Minute for the Complete No-Draw Bid Process.

Download a very handy tool to help you expedite this Quick Bid process. Scroll down to the end of the text below to find the download link.

In this video, Bruce explains how to create a "Quick Bid" using the Cost Plus Bid Center package available from the Craftsman Engineering Online Store ...all without drawing a single wall and without drawing any cabinets.

A "Quick Bid" is a better-than-ballpark estimate of a job. And, it's a very handy sales tool. With it, a cabinet sales executive can quickly come up with numbers for potential clients. It isn't intended to be a detailed final bid. It isn't intended to be a substitute for a final detailed bid. Instead, it's a "conversation starter" and a tool to be used to determine the price of a design fee of a future job, for example. There's a lot of good uses for a "Quick Bid".

Steps to follow are incredibly simple... ( use the link below to download the Quick Bid Take-off Tally Sheet )

Get a short list of linear footage cabinet "take offs" from the architectural plan set. I typically get a count of base linear footage, upper linear footage and tall linear footage. In this example in the video, I have 163 linear feet of base cabinets, 130 linear feet of uppers, and 12 linear feet of talls.
Next, I divide the footage tallies by 4. The reason I do this is to get an estimated number of cabinets of bases, uppers and talls. So, in this example, 163 linear feet of bases becomes about 40 base cabinets, 130 lf of uppers becomes 32 uppers, and 12 lf of talls becomes 3 talls. This step is important because I want Cabinet Vision to calculate of the number of drawers and doors and associated hardware and other materials that can only be calculated from an estimate of the number of cabinets on a job.
Open a new job in Cabinet Vision and fill in the job info on the job setup screen. Just like a "normal" job, be sure to complete the appropriate construction method and materials schedules, and door styles. This'll be used on the estimate report in the Bid Center. Create a room for each room in the job. Repeat the next two steps ( steps 4 and 5 ) for each room of the job...
Now, press the Order Entry button under the reports tab. From the Custom Catalog ( or any cabinet catalog for that matter ), drag a base cabinet, an upper cabinet and a tall cabinet onto a line of the Order Entry screen.
Modify the width of each of the cabinets to 48". Do this for the upper and the tall as well. Then, in the Qty column, change the count from 1 to 40 for bases, 32 for the uppers and 3 for the talls. This "normalizes" the count of cabinets as an equivalent of linear footages ( 40 base cabinets @ 48" wide = 160 linear feet ).
This step takes us into the Bid Center. I selected only four rate tables from the Cost Plus Bid Center list of rate tables.... CP (A) Cabs per foot F/I, a couple of rate tables for the finish I want, and the CP ( C ) Job Global rate table.
I pressed the Internal Mode button from the Menu Bar which reveals the Markup Slider. I moved the slider over to 30% because that's the margin or Markup I want to add to the Break Even figure when I present the Quick Bid to the client.
Finally, I run a simple report in the bid center. I highlight and copy ( CTRL-C ) the contents from the report view on the bid center screen into a Google Docs document. I use Google Docs to dress up my estimates and add them to contracts and various other documents. I suggest formatting your bid center reports using Word or Google Docs ( or any word processing program for that matter ) to dress up your documents. The report view screen within the Bid Center doesn't have document editing features sufficient to function like Word or Google Docs.

Downloads

Very handy Quick Bid Take-off Tally Sheet

Video Author

Craftsman Woodworks Engineering

Video Tags

CV Minute

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Cabinet Vision Tutorial (Expert - 6) - Bid Center Rate Tables

Bruce Chezem — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 18:14:33 +0000

Cabinet Vision Tutorial (Expert - 6) - Bid Center Rate Tables Bruce Chezem Tue, 11/01/2022 - 11:14

The third in a series focusing on Cabinet Vision and Bid Center, this tutorial will help you get an understanding of how Rates Tables are used and the important part that Bid Methods play within your Rate Tables.

Video Author

Planit Cutting Edge Solutions

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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

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Bid Center Overview

Bruce Chezem — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 19:43:09 +0000

Bid Center Overview Bruce Chezem Sun, 11/03/2019 - 11:43

Understanding bid methods, rate tables, parts catalog (labor setup and each), Drawer and Rollout Wizard (labor, and cost), assembly fixed cost and labor, material pricing, door pricing, Bid reports and Bid graphs.

Video Author

CABINET VISION

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What's New in Cabinet Vision Version 11 - Bid Center

Bruce Chezem — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 03:55:01 +0000

What's New in Cabinet Vision Version 11 - Bid Center Bruce Chezem Tue, 06/04/2019 - 20:55

This video shows you the new features in the Bid Center in Cabinet Vision Version 11.

Video Author

CABINET VISION