Estimating
An alternate is an option the owner asks you to price beside the base scope: a different finish, an added wing, a deducted allowance. The owner needs to see what each option adds or saves, and the estimator needs the base estimate to stay untouched. This page explains how Fidrel handles an alternate as an estimate of its own and how to compare it with the baseline.
30 days free · No long-term contract.
When an alternate is typed into the base estimate as extra lines, the base total is no longer the base scope. Somebody has to subtract the option again before the budget is approved, and the subtraction is where mistakes enter.
Two spreadsheets named base and option differ in hundreds of cells. The owner asks what the option really adds, and the answer takes an hour of scrolling between two files.
After several rounds the folder holds alternate one, alternate one revised and the one that was finally chosen. A month later no one is sure which of them the budget came from.
Fidrel keeps four kinds of estimate in a project: baseline, alternate, working and forecast. The alternate is described as another design or approach to compare with the baseline estimate. Because it is an estimate, it has its own name, currency and sales tax setting, its own groups and line items, its own status and its own history. Only the baseline estimate becomes the budget once approved, and there is one approved baseline at a time, so an alternate never changes the budget by existing.
Cost estimation
An estimate starts as a draft. Submit for review puts it in review, where the reviewer can Return to draft with a comment or Approve it. Until an estimate is approved, the Change type action in More actions lets you change its type, so an alternate the owner chooses can become the baseline estimate; the approval of a baseline then locks it as the original budget. A forecast estimate cannot be approved until its type is changed to baseline. Keep the alternates you do not use; they stay in the project for the record.
Step 1
Choose New estimate, give it a Name such as the option’s title, and set Type to Alternate estimate. Under Start from, choose a copy of the baseline estimate so the option begins with the same groups and line items, or choose Blank estimate to price the option alone.
Step 2
Add the extra scope as new groups and line items, or remove and reduce lines for a deduct. Quantities, units and unit prices are edited in the grid like any estimate, and you can paste rows or import a CSV or XLSX file. The baseline is not touched.
Step 3
Every estimate has its own currency and sales tax setting. Confirm that the alternate uses the same as the baseline before you compare, so the two totals are measured the same way.
Step 4
Open More actions and choose Compare with another estimate, then pick the baseline under Compare with. Turn on Differences only to list the lines that differ, and read the lines marked Only in this one and Only in the chosen one for scope that exists in one estimate only.
The comparison puts the alternate beside the baseline and shows the difference on each line. A line that appears only in one estimate is marked, which is how an added or deleted scope shows up, and Differences only hides the lines that are the same. That is the owner’s question answered in one view: what this option adds or saves against the base scope. It is also a record, because both estimates stay in the project with their own history.
An alternate in Fidrel is an estimate for your own pricing, not an alternate on a bid form. Bidders do not price alternates on a form of their own, the owner cannot accept alternates one at a time as part of an award, and nothing here tabulates alternates across bidders. If you collect bids through Fidrel, bidders upload files, and the alternates in those files are read by the person evaluating them. Fidrel is not legal advice, and what counts as an alternate under a contract is for the contract documents to say.
Your trial applies to your first own project and starts when that project is created. No card required. Afterwards, choose card or invoice to continue.
The project system of the future connects people, documents and decisions. Discover the thinking behind Fidrel.
Read more
On site, answers need to be close at hand. Fidrel displays DWG drawings in your mobile browser, within the project’s document structure.
Read more
When everyone can see the next step, moving the project forward becomes easier. Fidrel brings activities, dates and reported progress together in a shared Gantt view.
Read moreAn alternate is an option priced beside the base scope, such as a different material or an added area, so the owner can see what it adds or saves. In Fidrel it is a separate estimate of the type Alternate estimate.
Only in the scope you enter. For an add, start from a copy of the baseline and add lines. For a deduct, start from the copy and remove or reduce lines. Both are compared with the baseline the same way.
Yes. A project can hold several estimates of the four kinds, and each has its own currency and sales tax setting. Name each alternate clearly so the comparison list is readable.
No. Only the approved baseline estimate becomes the original budget. An alternate stays beside it until you change its type to baseline and approve it as the baseline estimate.
Open the alternate, choose Compare with another estimate, pick the baseline and turn on Differences only. The difference is shown on each line, and lines in one estimate only are marked.
No. Fidrel prices alternates as estimates for your own comparison. It has no alternate lines on a bid form and no award of alternates.
