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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https://Shop.CraftsmanEngineering.com
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Craftsman Engineering website
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