Totals without a structure
A single list of lines with a subtotal at the bottom cannot be rolled up by division or by phase. Anyone who wants the cost of the concrete scope has to filter and add by hand.
Estimating
A construction cost estimate template that turns into a budget
Most estimate templates are an Excel sheet with a total at the bottom. They work until the owner asks what the number is based on, or until the approved estimate has to become a budget someone tracks. Fidrel does not hand out a template file. What it does is read the sheet you already have: you choose the columns, check a preview and import it as groups and line items you can approve.
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Where a spreadsheet estimate falls short
Lump sums mixed with unit prices
Some lines are quantity times unit price and others are a fixed amount from a subcontractor. When both sit in one column of numbers, nobody can tell which lines would move if the quantity changed.
An approved sheet that is still just a sheet
Once the estimate is accepted, the budget is typed into a cost report beside it. Two copies of the same numbers now live in two files, and the link between what was estimated and what is being tracked is gone.
The columns a working estimate sheet needs
Code identifies the line, and Description says what it covers; a line without a description is not imported. Quantity takes up to three decimals and Unit is free text, so write the unit your trade prices in. Unit price and Fixed amount are alternatives for a line: price it per unit, or enter one amount. Amounts take up to two decimals. Add Level when the sheet is already outlined, so that a division becomes a group and its lines sit inside it.
Cost estimation
Several ways in, and one way out
You can build the estimate line by line, paste up to 5,000 rows copied from a spreadsheet, or import a CSV or XLSX file. Every estimate has its own currency and sales tax setting, and an estimate can be a baseline, alternate, working or forecast estimate, which helps when the same sheet exists in three versions. The estimate exports to XLSX, CSV or PDF, so it can go back to the people who work in Excel.
From your estimate sheet to a priced estimate in Fidrel
Step 1
Lay out the columns
Give the sheet a heading row and the columns Code, Description, Quantity, Unit and Unit price. Use Fixed amount for lump sums, and a Level column if you want groups built from outline levels. Rows without a description, such as subtotals, are skipped.
Step 2
Choose the file and confirm the columns
In the estimate, press Import estimate and pick a CSV or XLSX file up to 15 MB. Fidrel looks for the heading row in the first 30 rows and proposes the columns; change any pick, choose the sheet and the row it starts on, and read the preview.
Step 3
Import, then check the groups
Tick Build groups from levels or codes if the sheet carries them, press Import estimate and review the groups and line items. Any row that cannot be read is listed by its row number instead of stopping the import.
Step 4
Add markups and approve
Add general conditions, overhead, contingency and profit under Markups and deductions, then submit the estimate for review. Approving it as the baseline estimate locks it, and every priced line item becomes a budget item.
From the sheet to a budget someone can track
A line can hold a quantity taken off a drawing or a model, and it is flagged when the drawing changes. A unit price can be built up from labor, material, equipment, subcontract and other resources, or taken from a vendor quote attached to the line. Once the estimate is approved it is locked, and later changes are made as change orders, budget adjustments or a revision.
What the estimate feature does not do
Fidrel does not give you a template file to download; the layout below is what the import expects of your own sheet. There is no unit cost library, cost database or assembly library, so every price in the sheet is yours. Cost codes are free text; Fidrel ships no list of MasterFormat or Uniformat codes. The estimate is not turned into a bid proposal or a client quote.
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No. Fidrel does not provide a template file. It imports your own Excel or CSV estimate, so use whatever sheet you have and make sure it has columns for code, description, quantity, unit and price.
XLSX and CSV files up to 15 MB. If the workbook has several sheets, you choose which one to read and which row it starts on, and a preview shows the result before anything is imported.
They are listed with their row number in the import dialog, so you can fix them in the sheet. Rows without a description, such as subtotals and headings, are skipped and counted.
Yes. Copy the rows in your spreadsheet and paste them into the estimate, separated by tabs. A paste takes up to 5,000 rows.
Submit it for review and approve it as the baseline estimate. It is locked, and every priced line item becomes a budget item that cost tracking then follows.