Cost Book

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Clicking Lists Cost Book on the Menu Bar will display a list of all your cost book items. You can sort the list by any column by clicking the column heading. Click the same column heading again to sort in the opposite direction.



The list is divided into two sections with five buttons at the top for each category. Clicking a category button will display all the Cost Book Groups you have setup under that category in the list on the left. Clicking on a group will display all the items that belong to that group in the list on the right. Double-click an entry on the right to open the entry in the Cost Book screen.

To find an item just click a field in any column you want to search (i.e. Supplier) and start typing. Quick Estimator™ 2005 will move to the nearest match. Keep typing until you find the one you want. If there is more than one match (i.e. you have more than one product from the same supplier) just hold down the Shift key and hit Enter. Quick Estimator™ 2005 will move to the next match.

F If you have the Full version you can also find items by item barcode. If you have a barcode scanner you can scan an item barcode on printed cost book list for example into the Find By Item Barcode field and Quick Estimator™ 2005 will open that item if found. If you don't have a barcode scanner, you can type the barcode number in instead and hit the Enter key. You will find the barcode number printed beside the barcode. See the example below. Cost book item barcodes are also printed on all cost book list reports.



Clicking the Options button will display the drop-down menu shown below.


Select Add New Item to add a new cost book item.

Select View Notes to view any notes for the items.

Select Quick Edit to open the Cost Book Quick Edit screen. See the Cost Book Quick Edit topic to learn about this screen.

Select Manage Favorites to remove items from your favorites list. See the Cost Book Favorites topic to learn more.

Select Add Items From Estimate to add items you have used in past estimates that are not in your cost book.

Double-clicking a row on the right will open the Cost Book screen where you can view or edit the complete details for the item.

The Cost Book screen lets you store your own list of cost book items.



Use the Browse drop-down list to browse through your items. You can also search for an item by typing an item name in the Browse drop-down list. As you type the list will filter out the closest matches. Keep typing until you find the one you want. Hit the Enter key to move to that item.

F If you have the Full version you can also find items by item barcode. If you have a barcode scanner you can scan an item barcode on printed cost book list for example into the Find By Item Barcode field and Quick Estimator™ 2005 will open that item if found. If you don't have a barcode scanner, you can type the barcode number in instead and hit the Enter key. You will find the barcode number printed beside the barcode. See the example below. Cost book item barcodes are also printed on all cost book list reports.



Clicking the Options button will display the drop-down menu shown below.


Select Add New Item to add a new cost book item.

Select Duplicate Current Item to duplicate the current item. This is useful when you want to create more than one variation of an item. Once duplicated you simply have to make the needed changes. When you duplicate an item, everything is duplicated including images.

Select View Upcoming Requirements to see a report showing how much of that item you are going to need based on accepted estimates and projects not yet started. This only applies to material items. This useful if you want to order product for multiple jobs at one time to get a better price or to save on shipping.

Select View Average Unit Cost Tracking to see what the average unit cost as been for an item. This will open the Average Actual Unit Cost screen which is shown below. Based on all the Job Tracking information for that item, this screen will display the average actual unit cost.

You can click the Update Cost Book button to update the Unit Cost field on the Cost Book screen with the average actual unit cost. Click the Close button to return to the Cost Book screen.

Select Print to print the cost book item list. See the Printing The Cost Book topic to learn about printing items.

Select Update Templates to update all Estimate Templates you have created with any changes you have made to the cost book. What this means is that if you changed the Unit, Unit Cost or Supplier for an item, Quick Estimator™ 2005 will look for Estimate Templates that use that item and update them with the changes. This will make sure your Estimate Templates are always using the latest cost book information.

F If you have chosen to use the QuickBooks® link on the Setup / Defaults then the Add To QuickBooks® option will be visible. Select this option to add the current item or all your cost book items to your QuickBooks® data file. QuickBooks® must be running with your data file open. Due to the limitation of QuickBooks®, only the first 30 characters of the item name will be copied to the Item Name/Number field in QuickBooks®. The full item name will be copied to the Description field in QuickBooks®. Also you cannot use a colon ( : ) in the item name as this is reserved by QuickBooks® and will cause an error. See the About QuickBooks® Link topic to learn more.

F Select Add To Favorites to add the current item to your Cost Book Favorites list. This will make the item available on your favorites list when creating estimates, estimate templates or change orders.

F Select Archive Item to archive the current item. This will not delete the item. it will just removed them from view so they won't show up on any lists. To restore an item from the archive, click Archives on the top Tool Bar and click Cost Book Archive. Locate the item you want to restore and check the Restore check box. See the Cost Book Archive topic.

Select Delete Item to delete the current item. You cannot delete an item if it has been used in an estimate, estimate template, change order or if it is part of an assembly.

Adding A New Cost Book Item

The first thing you must do is select the category from the Category drop-down list.

Enter a name for the item In the Item Name field. This should be a meaningful name. There is somrthing you need to consider if you are going to be copying your cost book items to QuickBooks®. Due to the limitation of QuickBooks®, only the first 30 characters of the item name will be copied to the Item Name/Number field in QuickBooks®. The full item name will be copied to the Description field in QuickBooks®. Also you cannot use a colon ( : ) in the item name as this is reserved by QuickBooks® and will cause an error.

You can select an group that this item belongs too from the Group drop-down list. This is optional but will help to keep similar items grouped together on printed reports and when selecting items to include in an estimate. Click the button to the right of the Item Group field to view or edit the list.

If you have checked the Automatically Add Cost Book Item Codes check box on the Setup / Defaults screen, then Quick Estimator™ 2005 will have automatically assigned an Item Code based on the Group Code. If not you can just type in a code.

Next enter a default variation for the item in the Default Variation field. Variation could be size, type, color etc. You can also enter multiple other variations by clicking the button. This will open the Cost Book Item Variations screen shown below. If an item has multiple variations, these will be available to choose from when the item is added to an estimate.

You enter new items on the last line with the button next to it. If your list is long you may have to scroll down to see this line.

Enter the variation in the Variation field. The Unit, Supplier and Cost fields will default to the values on the Cost Book screen. You can change these if required. This is useful if different variations have different suppliers and or different costs.

To delete an variation click the button next to the item you want to delete.

Click the Close button to return to the Cost Book screen.

Select a unit from the Unit drop-down list. You are not restricted to units available on the drop-down list.

Check the Fixed Cost check box if you do not want profit or overhead added to this item when you add it to an estimate. If you do check it the cost you enter in the Unit Cost field will be the price you charge your customers.

Enter the cost of the item in the Unit Cost field. This is the amount you pay for the item including any taxes. This is used to calculate the cost and price of an estimate.

Select a default supplier from the Default Supplier drop-down list. The default supplier you choose here will be automatically added to an estimate when you add that item. This will allow you to print purchase orders for each supplier whose products you have included in an estimate. See the Suppliers topic to learn about adding suppliers. Click the button to the right of the Default Supplier field to view or edit the list.

You can enter a supplier code or SKU number for a product if available in the Supplier Code field. This will then be printed on Purchase Orders and Quote Request sheets.

You can also select a linked Labor item from the Productivity Link drop-down list. This will only be available for material items. By linking labor items to material items you can track and analyze the productivity for installing those material items. See the Productivity Analysis topic to learn more. To delete a linked labor item just back space the contents or select < No Link > from the list. It is best to create a separate labor item for each material item, that way your productivity analysis will be more accurate and you will easily see which labor item belongs to which material item when you create an estimate. For example, if you have three different paver products called Holland, Cobble and Roman, instead of just having one labor item call Paver Installation, you should have three, called Holland Installation, Cobble Installation and Roman Installation. You should then link these to the appropriate paver.

You can select a default task from the Default Task drop-down list. This task will automatically be added to the estimate when you add this item. See the Project Tasks topic to learn more about project tasks.

Enter the number days in advance you need to order this item in the Order Lead Time Days field. This will be used when Quick Estimator™ 2005 creates To-Do List items to remind you when to order this item for a project.

Enter notes for your customers in the Customer Notes field. This is optional. If you check the Add Notes To Estimate check box, the notes will automatically be added to customer section of the line item notes in an estimate when this item is added to the estimate. This allows you to provide more information about the product or service to the customer.

Enter notes for your crews in the Crew Notes field. This is optional. If you check the Add Notes To Estimate check box, these notes will automatically be added to the crew section of the line item notes in an estimate when this item is added to the estimate. This allows you to provide more information about the product or service to your workers. An example would be installation instruction for a product. Click the button to copy the Customer Notes to the Crew Notes.

You can optionally add an image for material or equipment items. To add an image, check the Item Has Image check box and then click the Insert Image button. This will open the file selection window from where you can locate the image you want to insert. The best format is JPEG or GIF but you can also use BMP files. For best results you should size the photos so they are not too much larger than the display area. Regardless of the size, the image will be sized to fit in the box provided and on any printed reports. When you an image it is saved in the data file. Even if you delete or move the original image file, the image will remain in the cost book. Click the Delete Image button to remove an image from an item.

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