Create an Estimate
Overview
The Buildwise Estimate Builder allows you to create a new estimate from scratch or copy an existing estimate from another project. After you create your estimate, you will Add Costs.
Notes
- While you can create multiple estimates for a project, you can only have one approved estimate.
- You can also update an estimate at any time while it is in Draft status.
In this article, we’ll cover how to build a new estimate or copy an existing estimate from another project.
Create a New Estimate
There are three ways to initiate the process of creating a new estimate, either from the project dashboard or the buttons on the left sidebar.
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| Within a project dashboard > Estimates > + Create Estimate | Left sidebar > Create New button > Estimate |
Left sidebar > Estimates button > + Create Estimate |
The Add New Estimate popup opens. Note: The popup has an additional field if you create an estimate from the left sidebar.
Enter the Estimate Name. Example: [Address] - v1.0
Click Add. The project Estimate Builder displays in Draft status.
Note: To Copy From an existing estimate, refer to the Copy an Estimate section below.
When the estimate is created for the project, the next step is to add Cost Groups and their associated Cost Sections (optional) and Cost Items.
Copy an Existing Estimate
Copying an existing estimate is especially helpful when creating new estimate projects similar to ones you’ve already done or when revising an existing estimate for a client.
Notes
- You must have at least one estimate already in the system to use this functionality.
- When you copy an estimate from another project, the cost groups, cost sections, and cost items will all appear in the destination estimate. All of the project markups will be updated to the destination projects markup settings in Project Overview. For more on how to set markups in the Project Overview, refer to the article Set Up Markup Costs.
- You can copy a fixed cost estimate into a cost-plus project and vice versa.
In the Add New Estimate popup, click Copy From.
The Create Estimate From popup opens.
Enter the Estimate Name. Example: We recommend using a conventional naming system such as [Address] - v1.0.
In the Source Project dropdown, select the project where the estimate you want to copy is saved.
Note: The list of projects includes Active and Inactive projects.
In the Source Estimate dropdown, select the estimate you want to copy.
Click Create. The project Estimate Builder displays the copied estimate in Draft status.
Review the copied estimate and add or update costs as needed.
