Managing Cost Estimates

A cost estimate includes all the settings, pricing information, and estimated costs of a planned improvement. Cost estimates enable you to estimate the anticipated costs of an improvement as it progresses through different stages of planning.

From a conceptual estimate when minimal scope exists, to a preliminary estimate when detail items can be determined for the project, and finally to a letting estimate associated with a proposal, you can associate each concept, project, and proposal with multiple cost estimates, enabling you to evaluate different methodologies and pricing scenarios as needed.

The Cost Estimate Overview lists all the cost estimates in the system. To access the overview from the dashboard, click the Cost Estimates link in the Estimation component.

You can locate a specific cost estimate in the list by typing criteria in the Quick Find search box or by clicking Show first 10. You can also select the Show Profiles Only check box to list only the cost estimates that are marked as profiles. Profiles are cost estimates that are suitable to be used as a basis for creating a new cost estimate. The system displays a list of rows for all the cost estimates that match your search criteria.

Note: When a cost estimate is associated with a:
- Proposal or project, the cost estimate follows the workflow for that proposal or project. You can view, add, or edit cost estimates associated with a proposal or project if your system administrator has provided workflow phase rights to your user role.
- Proposal, any cost estimates for projects associated with the proposal are automatically set to inactive.

Each row includes an Actions button and read-only values for these fields:

Cost Estimate Name

To delete a cost estimate from the system, select Delete from the Actions menu on the cost estimate row.

Note: When you delete a cost estimate, all records associated with the cost estimate are also deleted, including any variables, markups, items, item task groups, item bid price tasks, item reference price tasks, typical sections and typical section child records, contingency assignment profiles, cost estimate categories, and file or URL attachments.
Note: If your agency has the Take Snapshot Before Cost Estimate Delete agency option set to Yes, the system automatically creates a snapshot for the cost estimate when it is deleted (see Working with Snapshots).

To reverse the delete action, click the Undo button. To save your changes, click the Save button.

To view or change information in a cost estimate, click the Cost Estimate Name link, or select Open from the Actions menu on the cost estimate row. The system takes you to the Cost Estimate Summary. See Maintaining a Cost Estimate for more information.

To create a new cost estimate, go to the summary component for the concept, project, or proposal with which you want to associate the new cost estimate. See Maintaining Cost Estimates for a Concept, Maintaining Cost Estimates for a Project, Maintaining Cost Estimates for a Proposal, and Adding a Cost Estimate.

To view or change item price information, select Cost Estimate Item Pricing Worksheet from the Actions menu on the estimate row. The system takes you to the Cost Estimate Item Pricing Worksheet component. See Managing Cost Estimate Item Prices.

To designate an estimate as a profile that can be used as a guide for creating new estimates, select Create Profile from Estimate from the Actions menu on the estimate row. See Creating a Profile from a Cost Estimate for more information.

To capture the current state of the cost estimate and save it as a separate record, select Create Snapshot from the Actions menu on the estimate row (this command is not available for profiles). The system takes you to the Add Snapshot component. For more information, see Creating a Snapshot of a Cost Estimate.

To transition a cost estimate's parametric items and typical section items to detail items, select Transition Cost Estimate to Detail Items from the Actions menu on the cost estimate row. If the cost estimate includes active typical sections or active parametric items that have a transition profile, the system transitions all of the typical section items and parametric items that have not been transitioned previously. The system displays a message to confirm that the process completed successfully. For more information, see Transitioning Items from Parametric to Detail and Transitioning Typical Section Items to Detail Items.