Workflow for producing an estimate

Although each estimator has a different way of doing things, the estimating process typically involves four basic steps:

1. Create an estimate. Start an estimate from scratch, copy an existing estimate, or merge several estimates into a new estimate.

   For more information, see Starting a new estimate from scratch.

2. Perform takeoff. Select the items and specify their takeoff quantities. You can enter takeoff quantities yourself or have Sage Estimating (SQL) calculate them for you.

   For more information, see About takeoff.

3. Complete the estimate. Customize items to suit the needs of a particular project, scan for missing information, or include markup costs. It is easy to adjust information directly in the spreadsheet and from the Detail window.

   For more information, see Overview of completing the estimate.

4. Print reports for the estimate. Produce a variety of professional-looking reports. There are options for including ranges, sorting the information, and applying the fonts you want.

   For more information, see Printing estimate reports.