Estimating
An estimate starts with direct costs and ends with a price that carries general conditions, overhead, contingency and profit. The order in which those markups are applied, and what each one is a percentage of, changes the total. In Fidrel you add each markup as a percentage or an amount, choose its basis, put the markups in order and see the result line by line. The numbers on this page are only an illustration, not a benchmark.
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Overhead, contingency and profit are all applied to the direct costs, so none of them is applied to the others. Whether that is intended depends on how your company prices, and in a spreadsheet it is easy to do it by accident.
The markup formula covers rows 5 to 80 and a late addition sits in row 81. The total looks plausible and is short by the markup on one division.
Someone changes a percentage in a cell after the estimate was reviewed. Nothing records what the markups were when the estimate was approved.
Illustrative figures: direct costs are 1,000,000 dollars. General conditions at 10 percent on direct costs add 100,000, so the subtotal is 1,100,000. Overhead at 5 percent on the subtotal above adds 55,000, giving 1,155,000. Contingency at 3 percent on the subtotal above adds 34,650, giving 1,189,650. Profit at 4 percent on the subtotal above adds 47,586, so the estimate total is 1,237,236. Had profit been set on direct costs instead, it would have been 40,000, which is why the basis matters as much as the percentage.
Cost estimation
General conditions can be priced as line items, for example a project manager by the month or a tower crane, or added as a percentage markup. Fidrel supports both, and the suggested markup names include General conditions. Choose one way for each cost and avoid carrying the same cost in both, since the markup would then be applied to a cost already in the direct total.
Step 1
Build the estimate in groups and line items with quantity and unit price. Direct costs is the sum of the line items, and it is the first figure shown above Markups and deductions.
Step 2
Press Add markup, name it, and choose Percentage or amount. For a percentage, choose the Basis: on direct costs or on the subtotal above. The suggested names are General conditions, Overhead, Contingency and Profit, and a Discount can be added as a deduction.
Step 3
The panel says Calculated in this order. Use Move up and Move down to arrange the markups, because a markup on the subtotal above includes every markup that comes before it. Fidrel recalculates the Estimate total as you reorder.
Step 4
For a percentage on direct costs, choose Applies to and keep All items, or mark groups as Included or Excluded, or give a group its own percentage under Own %. Then approve the estimate, which saves the calculation with it.
The calculation is saved when the estimate is approved, and a locked estimate shows when it was approved. Changes are then made in a revision. Each figure is rounded once to the cent, half away from zero, so the page never shows a figure that the saved estimate would change. A markup percentage can be at most 1,000 percent and a deduction at most 100 percent.
Fidrel supplies no markup benchmarks, so every percentage and amount is your own decision. Fidrel does not decide whether general conditions belong inside overhead; that depends on your company’s practice and your contract. A markup can be limited to selected groups only when it is a percentage of direct costs, not when it is a percentage of the subtotal or a fixed amount. The estimate is not turned into a bid proposal or a client quote.
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Read moreThat is your company’s method. Fidrel calculates the markups in the order you set, and each one is a percentage of either the direct costs or the subtotal above it. Reorder them and the total updates.
Yes, for a percentage on direct costs. Choose Applies to, then include or exclude groups, or give a group its own percentage. It does not work for a percentage of the subtotal or a fixed amount.
No. Fidrel suggests only names: General conditions, Overhead, Contingency and Profit. The values are yours.
Yes. A markup can be a percentage or an amount, and a deduction such as a discount is added the same way with a negative effect on the total.
The calculation is saved with the approved estimate, and the estimate is locked. To change a markup afterward, you create a revision.
