From the Sub Amount column of the spreadsheet, you can use the bid grid to store bids submitted by various subcontractors for a group of items. After comparing the bids, you can then specify the bid you want to use for the estimate.
To enter a bid:
- In the Sub Amount column, select the items covered by the bid. How?
- Click
in the Sub Amount
cell of the main item covered by the bid. - Use the default name for the bid grid or enter a more descriptive name of your own. On the Bid Grid report, the grid name can be used to specify ranges.
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For each bid, enter the Sub Name, Bid Quantity, Unit Cost and Amount.
Right-click the Sub Name cell, and then select List Address Book (or Estimate) Subcontractors for a list of companies that are available for use as subcontractors. If the subcontractor does not exist in the address book, you can easily add it by typing the name in the Sub Name column in the bid grid, and then pressing Enter. (For more steps, see Setting up a subcontractor in the estimate.)
For more information, click 
on the title
bar of the window, and then click a field or button.
To select a subcontractor bid:
After you have entered information in the bid grid for each subcontractor and compared the amounts, you can select the subcontractor you want to use for the job.
- Right-click the Sub Name of the bid you want to use for the estimate and choose Use Subcontractor. That subcontractor appears in the Sub Name cell of all included items.
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If the included items have labor, material, other, or equipment amounts in the spreadsheet, you can remove or keep the original category amounts.
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Clear labor, material, equipment, and other amounts changes these category amounts to zero.
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Keep the existing labor, material, equipment, and other amounts changes only the Sub amount; amounts in other categories remain unchanged.
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- Click [Close].
Tips:
- You can have as many bid grids as you need, but a particular item can belong to only one bid grid.
- The self-perform row is the sum of the category amounts (except existing sub amounts) from the spreadsheet for the included items. This row is selected if no bid has been specified for the estimate. You can also choose self-perform to restore items to their original category amounts in the spreadsheet.
- To see the name and telephone number of the contact for a subcontractor, point to the Sub Name cell.
- To see a pop-up window showing the difference between a subcontractor's bid amount and your self-perform amount, point to the Amount cell for that subcontractor.
- To change the bid grid sort order, double-click a column header.