ESTIMATING VALUATIONS COST PLANNING

Transcription

1 ESTIMATING VALUATIONS COST PLANNING

2 Introduction This small booklet has quite a lot of words in it and will take a few minutes to read but if you are considering purchasing a ConQuest system it should give you a good idea of what the system does, where it came from, who uses it and whether it is likely to be the right system for you. Hopefully it will all make sense but if you have any questions we would be very pleased to answer them. Our contact details are on the back of the booklet. History & Reputation ConQuest comes from a stable that has been producing market leading estimating and surveying software for over 20 years. The original ConQuest product was extremely popular and led the field for many years. ConQuest for Windows was launched in 1998 and quickly established itself as the new benchmark in a modern Windows environment. The new software set new standards in ease of use and flexibility. Learning and using an estimating system was made easier than ever before and every year since the software has got better and faster and easier. ConQuest for Windows has become a tremendous success without using clever sales and marketing techniques, the system does what people want it to do, people talk and when they talk about ConQuest they say good things. Almost all of our new business comes from referrals and a very large proportion comes from companies who are switching to ConQuest from other systems. Our reputation for quality products and excellent support services has been hard won over many years. Our customers know us to be straight forward, honest and reliable. When we make commitments we keep to them. Our software is manufactured to the highest possible standards of design and reliability. You can depend on our products and our people. 1

3 Who Uses ConQuest There are over 6000 ConQuest users in the U.K. and Ireland a small selection of which are shown in this booklet. Our customers range from small local firms to some of the very largest national contractors. Users are split fairly evenly between civils and building. The number of ConQuest systems installed by each contractor ranges from one to over one hundred. We are very proud of the high level of repeat business that we receive. When a customer comes back again and again we know the system is doing its job and paying its way. Design Principles All ConQuest software is designed to be: SIMPLE to learn and use. (No codes). TRADITIONAL in its procedures and layout. FLEXIBLE enough to allow any pricing style and cope with any type of workload. RELIABLE ConQuest has been tried and tested by thousands of estimators and surveyors over many years. It has proved to be solid and reliable. Of course, the system is constantly improved and updated to make best use of new technologies. However the core system remains as a firm foundation for future development. Implementation, Training & Support ConQuest software is easy to learn and use. There are no codes and no computer skills are required. This means you can be up and running very quickly. The layout and operation of the system is tailored, by our installers to suit the existing methods and pricing styles of each estimator. It is not our intention to change the way you estimate but to make the computer do the donkey work enabling you to make the most of your estimating knowledge and experience. You work as you do now but faster, more accurately and with much less hassle. 2

4 We offer a full range of installation and training services. There are a number of professionally designed training courses you may wish to attend and we will send an experienced estimator to your office to help you get to grips with the system as quickly as possible. After training, help is only a phone call away. We employ experienced estimators whose only duty is to answer support calls. All support calls are dealt with immediately. There is no multi option call handling. Your call will be logged and you will be put straight through to the person who can best help you. All support staff have a minimum of ten years ConQuest experience. Conquest Ltd are specialist software developers We only produce software for the estimating and surveying departments of construction contractors. We have no other commercial interests to distract us from providing the best possible solution for our users. This extremely focused approach has enabled us to create a system which closely matches the needs of our customers and helps in all aspects of tendering and measurement from initial enquiry to final account. ConQuest talking to other systems The information generated by ConQuest is of great use to other departments. We have placed great emphasis on making it easy to share data with other computer systems. There is a very close link between ConQuest and Microsoft office. For example a bill of quantities can be exported to Excel as a fully formatted spread sheet with titles, sub titles, descriptions and rates properly laid out with bold text and underlining where appropriate with a few mouse clicks. The ConQuest Link module allows the user to select the information that is required by an external system from a simple tick sheet. The system compiles the data and exports it in an industry standard format. There are also a number of specially designed links to other well known construction software packages. Accounts and costing and project management are the most commonly requested links. 3

5 Plan and specification-design and build ConQuest is supplied with comprehensive priced libraries for SMM7, SMM6, CESMM and MMHW. These libraries can be tailored to suit individual pricing techniques. In addition each estimator is provided with his own electronic version of a little black book. This is a personal storage space which is typically used for items such as manhole build-ups, drain trenches, forming openings and the like. This facility gives a great deal of flexibility and allows estimators to have their own way of doing things. The system has comprehensive take off and bill production facilities which enable the rapid creation of top quality professional documents including priced bills and dimbooks in traditional formats with timesing, annotations and waste calculations all shown. For repetitive work ConQuest has a wide range of facilities using template jobs. New jobs can be created from templates, existing items can be edited, new items added, unwanted items deleted and the job then re-measured. Although this technique is only suitable in a limited number of situations, when it is used the time savings can be phenomenal. The system will retain all previous analytical or subcontractor rates and quotation comparisons along with lists of all the subcontractors and suppliers that you got prices from last time. Loading Bills of Quantities Bills of quantities are easily loaded into ConQuest from scanners, , ASCII, CITE or EXCEL files. The system even has the ability to auto correct misaligned columns on poorly prepared or badly scanned bills. There is also a manual rapid entry system for smaller jobs or hand written take offs. Registering tender details We only produce estimating and surveying software and we pride ourselves in offering by far the most comprehensive solution in our field. As well as pricing, ConQuest also handles the administration of a tender. When you 4

6 create a new job you are invited to complete a tender register for the project. The tender register is a fully featured windows database which records all of your ConQuest estimating activity. Because the tender register is completely user definable, it s up to you what information you store about each project. The register will allow you to report on jobs priced, won, lost, by value, area or any other criteria you care to define. The tender register also serves as a central point of data entry since information in the register is able to be automatically transferred to Microsoft Word to be included in subcontract and supplier enquiries. Analytical estimating Analytical estimating in ConQuest has become more and more simple and straight forward over the years. Even the most complex bill items can easily be priced using a whole range of pricing techniques. Once again flexibility is the key. Each estimator is likely to approach the pricing of the same item in a different way. Some work with outputs, some with constants and some will work out a total and divide by the bill quantity. You can even type in the rate you want and ConQuest will calculate the outputs and constants for you. For some trades you may wish to price items yourself as well as sending out for subcontract prices deciding which rate to use later on. All of these methods and more are available within ConQuest. More importantly they are all clearly laid out in English since ConQuest does not use any coding. Complete item build ups are displayed on the screen with clear sub headings for composite items. It is quite possible for one item in a bill or specification to be priced with a dozen or more activities from your library. Detailed resource analysis At any stage of a tender, ConQuest can generate detailed resource analysis instantaneously. This will show labour, material, plant and subcontractor schedules with quantities, rates and totals. Materials are further analysed to show wastage, compaction and other factors. Most systems will produce a 5

7 similar analysis but with ConQuest many other forms of analysis are possible. Unlimited contract sum analysis and detailed resource analyses are easily obtained using activity scheduling facilities. Items in a bill can be allocated to an activity. This can be done individually or over ranges of items, page by page or section by section. Once this is done, ConQuest can produce bill summaries which match the activities set by the user. This facility also allows the estimator to switch effortlessly between elemental and trade pricing. Activity scheduling also facilitates the formatting of resource analysis to match programming. What s more the ConQuest Link module will create an export file which can be sent to your chosen project management software. Cost Planning The continued growth in budget pricing, two stage tendering and other new forms of contract was the catalyst for the development of this ConQuest module. Once an outline budget price is mentioned to a client it can very quickly become, in his mind, an estimate then a maximum fixed price tender figure! For this reason it is as well to ensure that your cost planning is based on sound information, preferably your own information based on accurate historical data. ConQuest cost planning facilitates this by allowing the user to convert any ConQuest project into an elemental job analysis. The system comes with pre-set elemental cost planning headings based on industry standard forms of analysis. Items in a ConQuest job are attached to these elements and the system creates an analysis. Each element is measured creating elemental rates and also an overall m2 rate based on the gross floor area. These elemental job analyses are stored along with information such as the location, building type form of construction etc. When a new project is being considered the user can access this databank to select a number of previous projects which he considers to be appropriate. The system has the ability to update elemental rates to take account of increased costs, market conditions and other factors. The user is 6

8 then able to arrive at elemental rates for the new project by comparing, contrasting and carrying out a range of arithmetical functions on the historical elemental rates. The resultant elemental rates form the basis of the cost plan along with an elemental measurement based on the outline information for the project in hand. Further analysis can be carried out at group element, element, and sub element level before production of a cost plan. Marking up bills for subcontractor and supplier enquiries There are two ways of marking up bills for subcontractor and supplier enquiries. You can either use a point and shoot approach which involves pointing at the items/pages you want to send out on the screen and then pointing at the trade that you wish to send them to or you can fill in an abstract sheet in the traditional way by typing in the page numbers and item references on the screen and then selecting the appropriate trade or supplier. This latter method has the added advantage that you can mark up the bill before it has been loaded on the computer simply by reading the paper bill and entering the details on the screen. Whichever method you have used, ConQuest is then able to produce condensed trade abstracts giving massive savings on paper, photocopying and postage. Enquiries can also be produced in Excel format or ed directly using the ConQuest viewer software. This free software package allows anyone any where to view and print out any ConQuest reports you choose to send them. Selecting subcontractors and suppliers and assembling enquiries ConQuest holds details of all your approved subcontractors and suppliers. It also automatically monitors their enquiry activity. For each company ConQuest records how many enquiries you have sent them, how many they 7

9 have returned and how they ranked against other respondents. You are able to search the supplier database in many ways, by trade, area, past performance QA approval or any other criteria you can think of. You can carry out complex searches such as find all painters who work in Birmingham, who are approved for contracts up to 250K and have an enquiry return rate greater than 40%. The ConQuest enquiry generator compiles a list of all the items and pages you have marked up for each trade and allows you to add drawing numbers, spec pages and other trade specific information. At the push of a button ConQuest will then produce enquiry documents in Microsoft Word containing information from various sources. A typical document would contain the name, address and contact details of the recipient from the supplier database, details of the job location and the nature of the works along with contract details from the tender register. Schedules of enclosures will be compiled from the bill mark up carried out earlier and the information entered into the enquiry generator. All of this information will be merged with your standard terms and conditions on your headed paper. For good measure the system will also print a matching set of sticky labels and pass all the details across to the enquiry tracking system. Keeping track of enquiries The ConQuest enquiry tracking system compiles a list of all of the enquiries produced for a job. For each enquiry it records, what was sent including drawing lists etc, when it was sent, when it is due back in, who you sent it to, contact details including telephone numbers, fax numbers, addresses and contact names. All of this information is held in a database which allows you to search by trade or date or any other bit of information. As enquiries come in you can tick them off as returned. There is a notes facility for you to record any contact you have had. Overdue enquiries are automatically displayed in a different colour. The system also has a telephone and management system built in so that you can ring or anyone in the database by simply clicking on their name. 8

10 Like for like comparisons of quotations Comparison sheets are created automatically for each trade. The system sets up lists of items for each trade along with the names of the companies to which the enquiry was sent. Non respondents can be deleted and columns can be added for any unsolicited quotes. The system is capable of handling quotes in whatever way they are compiled whether items have been individually rated, priced as page totals only or lump sums. There are facilities for included and declined items. Missing rates can be plugged with lowest, highest, average rates or with your own analytical rate directly from the bill if you have priced it. You can add on for attendances, prelims number of visits etc. The system also copes with main contractors discount, fixed price terms and any other conceivable difference. Once you are happy that you have compared as close to like for like as possible, the system will rank the quotes, lowest first. You then choose the one you want to use and the system will update the bill automatically. If you have already priced the items in question yourself the system will ask which elements of your own analytical build up you want to replace, labour only, labour and plant or any other combination. If a preferable late quote arrives the system will swap one for the other in an instant. Final Adjustments There are many facilities in ConQuest which will help you to manipulate your net estimate to produce a final tender. Resource levelling allows you to adjust total resource quantities to take account of minimum hire periods, non productive time, wastage, buying quantities etc. Lump sum and percentage adjustments can be made item by item, over ranges of items pages or sections. The target price facility allows you to spread money around the job by reducing some rates whilst increasing others. Global adjustments can be made for overheads and profit. In addition it is possible to link ConQuest to an adjudication sheet created to your specification in Excel. 9

11 Valuations ConQuest valuations benefits from being a completely integral part of the overall system. All of the estimator s information is immediately at the surveyors fingertips. Detailed analytical pricing, resource analysis, subcontract and supplier quotations and comparisons are all brought forward into the valuation. The system creates internal and external valuation files which can have different rates, quantities and build ups. Items can be re-measured by value, quantity, take off or percentage complete. Items can be re-measured individually or in groups e.g. First fix joiner 50% complete. For variations the surveyor has full access to estimating and take off facilities and all of the estimator s price libraries. The main ConQuest resource database can be coded to match the job costing headings in your accounts and costing system. This means that when a surveyor first picks up a job it will already be coded. He has an accurate budget which is broken down under cost centre headings to enable easy and accurate cost value reconciliations. Each month the budget costs are revised based on the re-measured and amended internal valuation. In simple terms this tells him what he should have spent whilst the costing system calculates what has actually been spent. There are a number of simple and straight forward ways to bring these two sets of information together to provide a cost value reconciliation sheet. 10

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