Timberline Forum

When it comes to Estimating, you can never have enough tricks and inside tips. With the current economic situation, Estimators are worth their weight in gold. We thought we would offer a few tips you might want to use with your Timberline Estimating Software.

These are some tips given to us by top-notch Timberline Estimating Consultant Barry Cassell. If you need more than a few tips – feel free to get in touch with Barry. He’s been known to build huge databases in a single day, help estimators do more with less and bring in double the business with the same amount of people. He’s also a really nice guy and pretty easy to talk to. You can find him here. You might even want to ask him about Timberline’s new Estimating Databases!

Barry Cassell/Ledgerwood Associates, Inc. Estimating Tips…
On the estimate spreadsheet: to review & modify pricing, labor & equipment productivity & hours, as well as unit costs, wbs assignments, item notes, crew & rate table assignments. It provides excellent “one-stop shopping” for any changes to an item, (except its Takeoff quantity & Takeoff unit)

Use the Detail Window…

Risk Management…
Labor is the biggest risk in any estimate. Design a Spreadsheet Layout that inccludes :

• “Labor Productivity”, “Labor Productivity Unit/Unit” , “Labor Quantity”, “Labor Quantity Unit”, in 4 successive columns, side by side.
• With this Layout, changing Productivity changes Labor Quantity, and vice versa. It’s an extremely intuitive “what-if” exercise to fine-tune Labor in the estimate.

If you’re looking for BIG savings on that extra license or module you’ve been needing check out the deals we have available RIGHT NOW!

Offers end July 31, 2009! For all the details go here…

The next time your progress is impeded by  a roadside construction site instead of getting grumpy for the delay, remind yourself that its your stimulus dollars at work.  Arizona is the leader in the country when it comes to getting those projects awarded and started on.

The Arizona Department of Transportation received high praise from Vice President Joe Biden for the speed with which it’s moving.  Right now there are a total of 48 stimulus projects to be worked on.  Nine of those have already begun in various parts of the state.

Take comfort Arizona drivers – you are not the only ones being slowed down by construction projects.  There are 2,000 stimulus jobs across the country currently underway with a total of 5.600 already approved.  That’s a lot of orange traffic cones to drive around.

To read more about how the construction is affecting other states go here.

The number of people in danger of losing their homes continues to rise at an all too staggering rate. As the number of people losing their jobs continues to rise, the danger of them losing their homes also rises.

So far, 1.5 million homes have been foreclosed on in the first half of this year according to Realty Trac Inc, a company that lists foreclosures.

Foreclosures were up 33 percent this June compared to last year and up 5 percent from just last month. Number-wise 336,000 households received at least one foreclosure notice last month – that is 1 out of every 380 homes in this country. Last month alone, banks repossessed 79,000 homes.

On a state-by-state basis, Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in the first half of the year, with more than 6 percent of all households receiving a filing.

Right now, Arizona is the second in the state when it comes to the highest foreclosures. Nevada is number 1.

Of course all of this leads to the question of its affect on the construction industry. There is no doubt going to be glut on the market of available homes – VASTLY reducing the number of homes that will need to be built. Not the kind of news anyone here wants to see.

For more on the amount of foreclosures go here.

A Sage Timberline Customer Asks, “I would like to test out some software features that I have not previously used. I don’t want to affect my live data with my testing. Is there a way I can create a test copy of my data folder?”

Why yes client. Yes there is! You can create a test data folder by copying files to a newly created test data folder…

1. Use File > New Data Folder to set up a new folder for testing.
2. In the Company name box, type the new name of your test data folder.
3. Click [OK].
4. Use File Tools (Tools > File Tools) to copy the data from your live data folder into the new folder. Do not overwrite the new Ts.ctl or Master.qym files. For more information on how to use File
     Tools to  copy files, refer to Help topics or knowledge article KB214247.
5. Add your new test data folder to the list of data folders available to open (File > Open Data Folders (in 9.4.x and earlier) or File > Open Company (in 9.5.x and later). For more information on adding a
     data folder to the list of available folders, refer to Help topics or knowledge article KB116202.
6. Open the newly created test data folder and verify that the settings are correct. For example, verify formatting, posting settings, batch names, batch totals, accounting methods, file locations, and
     named files.
7. Remove file locations so you do not inadvertently affect live data files with changes you make in the test data folder as follows:
     a. In the test data folder, from the File menu, select Data Folder Settings > File Locations in 9.4.x and earlier, or select Company Settings > File Locations in 9.5.x and later.
     b. In the File Locations window, clear any network paths in the Data Folder box.
     c. Click [OK].

It’s being called the longest recession since the Great Depression. It looks as though economists all concur – we’re coming out of the recession What is not so sure is just how long before we slip BACK into one!

One J.P. Morgan economist predicts “growth wouldn’t be robust enough to halt the rising unemployment rate, which he projects could go up from its June rate of 9.5 percent to around 10 percent. The jobless rate might begin to fall by next spring or early next summer. That means that the next year is unlikely to feel much like a recovery, and it’ll be about 12 more months before Americans begin to feel secure about their jobs.”

Another economist says “There won’t be enough job growth until 2011 to meaningfully reduce unemployment. It will be a slog.”

Yet another claims, “By next year, the Obama administration and the Fed may have to choose between higher inflation and fewer jobs.”

While this news is less than heart-warming, it is nice to know that at least for now, things are looking up which will make facing future downturns a little easier to stomach. It won’t be one long continuous financial death march for those of us struggling to get through.

To read the Tools of the Trade Online I heavily quoted from please click here.

We here at Ledgerwood Associates, Inc. are offering a Timberline Report Designer Accounts Receivable Aging by Customer and Job Report.  This report was created by DB Data Inc’s Timberline Consulting Rock Star Gary Jacobson.  He is THE BEST at what he does!

Here’s what it does…

The report shows open invoices with the open amount using the following columns: Invoice, Draw, Invoice Date, Description, Total Aged, Current Column, Over 30 Column, Over 60 Column, Over 90 Column, Over 120 Column, and Retainage. The report is sorted by Customer, Job, and Invoice Number. The aging is by invoice date. The report includes an optional prompt for an Accounting Cut Off Date, so this report can be used to balance to the General Ledger at the end of each month.

Requirements: Timberline Office version 9.0 or later, Accounts Receivable and Job Cost.

All you have to do is give us a call so we can set you up right away!

The Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona just released its summer issue compiled by Forecasting Project Director, Marshall J. Vest.

Vest begins by stating, “The worst of the financial crisis and the economic downturn appears to be behind us as data for the second quarter begins to arrive.  Consumers, investors, and businesses all appear to be tired of hunkering down and are beginning to re-engage.” 

It expects the nationwide recession to end by summer and predicts a “gradual recovery”. It goes on to project Arizona will “lag behind” that gradual recovery by as many as two quarters because of the depressed real estate.Arizona residential homebuilding has come to a screeching halt. Only 4,000 units were allowed in the first quarter and only about 900 of them were multi-family. Since the high point in the summer of 2005 the number of permits has plunged by 91%.

There is some good to report – infrastructure spending, spurred by the Federal stimulus package is expected to help prop the construction industry in the coming months. IN fact, Arizona was just singled out by Vice President Joe Biden for being way ahead of schedule in doling out millions of dollars in stimulus money to be used by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

This is a very thorough and lengthy report – to read more go here.

We are hearing it all the time here at DB Data Inc. Construction companies are doing more work with less people just to try and keep from collapsing financially. In some cases, employees are doing double duty and doing jobs they don’t normally do. And what happens when we do something we are unfamiliar with on top of our current job coupled with the pressure to perform? Things fall through the cracks. Unfortunately those “things” often come in the form of lost dollars, whether it’s a change order that got overlooked or an adjustment to a contract that fell through. If only there was a way to avoid those pitfalls…Oh wait!! There is!!

If you are currently using Timberline’s Service Management there is a solution for you that comes in a form that is better than a human because it does EXACTLY what you tell it to, does not talk back and NEVER calls in sick!!!

My Assistant works with all of Sage Timberline Office. It can remind you to bill for work orders, assign a purchase order, order inventory and just about ANYTHING else you can imagine.

Sometimes no matter how organized we are things fall through the cracks and with the increased pressure being felt by companies across the board why not invest in some “peace of mind”. Consider My Assistant as your personal watchdog that ensures you never forget or miss a task again.

Want to know more about My Assistant? You can call me or Daren at anytime. 

You can also see a demo by clicking here.

To read a My Assistant Timberline Service Management Success Story go here.