TurboBid 5.2.9.0

New Overhead Rate Per Hour Calculator (Video Tutorial)

The ability to accurately account for your company's overhead expenses in your estimates is of the utmost importance. If you add too much overhead to your estimates, your bid price will be higher than it should be, and you will not be awarded the job. If you add too little overhead to your estimates, your bid price will be lower than it should be, and you will not make the expected profit.

Your company overhead represents the expenses that you incur to run your company. It has nothing to do with your field employees, material for your jobs, or any direct job expenses. Overhead consists of advertising expenses, financial expenses, insurance expenses, IT expenses, legal expenses, physical business location expenses, office expenses, office utilities, office employees, taxes, vehicles, etc.

The best way to accurately calculate how much to add to your estimates for your overhead expenses, is to use an overhead rate per hour value.

Some contractors use a set percentage of the estimated prime cost for calculating their overhead expenses. The problem with this method is that the estimated prime cost includes all direct job expenses. Think of this scenario. The estimator has selected to calculate the estimate's overhead cost by using 10% of the estimated prime cost. Let's suppose that this estimate included a $50,000 emergency generator system. This method will have added $5,000 to the overhead expenses, when in fact the emergency generator system did not cause the company's overhead costs to increase one penny. This estimate will be $5,000 higher than it should be.

The Overhead Rate Per Hour is calculated by dividing your true overhead expenses by the total number of hours your field employees will be working on your job sites. If you're trying to keep two employees employed for 1,968 hours per year, you will need to win estimates that will keep your guys busy for 3,936 for the year.

By accurately identifying and accounting for all of your company's overhead expenses, and then dividing that amount by your employee's total job site hours, you will know exactly how much overhead to add to your estimates per hour.

It doesn't matter what size your company is. This is simply business 101, and will determine the financial success of your company.

Another great feature of the calculator is the Billable Rate section. Simply enter the amount of profit that you would like to make on your employee's for time and material work, and it will calculate how much you should be charging your customers per hour for each employee. An employee's billable rate per hour is calculated by adding together each employee's hourly pay rate, hourly burden, hourly overhead, and the selected profit. If you don't know your employee's burden costs, or your company's overhead costs, there is no way that you can calculate how much profit you're making on your billable rate per hour. The sad truth is that you could actually be losing money.


• Easily add any employee in your employee list to the calculator.
• TurboBid's Employee and Burden Wizards walk you through the process of entering data in order to accurately calculate each employee's burden costs, as well as hour many hours each employee will be working on your job sites.
• All required employee data is automatically added to the calculator.
• Employee data revisions are updated in the calculator in real time.
• Every tab displays your overhead summary values. The values are updated in real-time as data is entered, allowing you to immediately see the impact of new entries.
• Select to automatically use the calculator's Overhead Rate Per Hour in your estimates.
• Any changes to the calculator are automatically applied to your estimates.



Figure 1: Select Employees






Figure 2: Select Overhead Expenses






Figure 3: Summary Values are Updated in Real-Time as Data is Entered into the Calculator






Figure 4: Calculate Your Employee's Billable Rate Per Hour for Time and Material Work

TurboBid 5.2.6.0

Formal Proposal

Descriptions for items that are in the Take-Off tab are no longer being displayed in the formal proposal.

TurboCloud Assembly Grid View

We have revised the old assembly tree view into a grid view to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. The new grid view displays images for the assemblies and the assembly folders.

We will be revising the reports in the future to display images. This will be a great feature for service and remodel quotes.

Each assembly image in the grid includes an "Add to Estimate” button.



Figure 1: New Assembly Grid View.

TurboCloud Search Feature

We have improved TurboBid’s search feature to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Rather than simply displaying a list of search results, the new search feature is located within the Item and Assembly grid views.

Search results are displayed in both the folder tree and the image grid, allowing you to see exactly what you’re looking for.

By default, only folders that contain search results will be displayed. However, you can display all the folders in the tree by clicking the "Show All” button. The non-result folders will display a different folder icon so that you can easily identify the search result folders.

The search feature in the "Select Material” screen and the "Assembly Maintenance” screen will open to the new search feature.



Figure 2: New Search Feature.

TurboCloud Virtual Library

In order to meet every estimator’s material needs, TurboBid’s database include hundreds of thousands of items and assemblies. This can be a lot of material to navigate through in order to find what you need.

Since most users typically have a limited number of items and assemblies that they use on a regular basis, we have added a new database section titled "Virtual Library”.

The Virtual Library allows you to create folders that contain links to existing items and assemblies. All existing items and assemblies can quickly be added to any folder in the virtual library.

Virtual Library Templates

TurboBid’s Select Material screen includes the ability to save the material in an estimate as a template that can be loaded into future estimates.

We have added a right click menu option for "Import Template”. This allows you to import your previously created templates into your Virtual Library.

The contents of all Virtual Library folders can be added to an estimate.

TurboCloud New Items Folder

Our database admin team works closely with various supply houses. They provide us with material files that we use to import tens of thousands of new items into TurboBid’s database. These imported items include basic descriptions, manufacturer, UPC #, catalog # and pricing. Our database team tweaks the descriptions, add pictures, catalogs, and labor units as soon as possible. However, this process can take a considerable amount of time.

Rather than making you wait for our admin team to finish, we are making these items available to you in the New Items folder.

Once our admin team tweaks the descriptions, adds pictures, catalogs, and labor units, the items will be move into your Standard folder.

TurboBid 5.2.1.0

Revised the Item and Assembly folder tree

Managing TurboBid's database is now easier than ever.

Due to the complexity of the old folder tree, we have made a major revision so that there is only one type of folder. Now, all the folders are yellow, have no rules as to where they can be located, or what items/assemblies they can contain. The result is that it is now much easier to edit the database trees, and the speed of running a TurboCloud refresh/sync is ridiculously fast.

TurboBid 5.1.8.0

New Employee Icon and List

• The old "Labor and Burden" icon has been replaced with a new "Employee" icon.
• The new "Employee" icon opens a new multi tab screen that displays your Employees, Burden Groups, and burdens.
• The new employee list is highly detailed. It makes it simple to view everything about your employees, including all of their burdens.
• It is linked to and interacts with the new Employee Wizard
• It is linked to and interacts with the new Burden Wizard
• https://www.turbobid.net/EmployeeList.html

New Employee Wizard

• The old "Manpower Classification" screen has been replaced with a new "Employee Wizard".
• The new Employee Wizard is used to create new employees as well as maintain existing employees
• The Employee Wizard is very detailed and is in a simple to use step by step wizard format. It makes creating new employees really simple
• Employees can assigned to use a specific Burden Group that was created and maintained in the new Burden Group Wizard.
• If an employee is assigned to use a specific Burden Group, the Hourly Burden cost will automatically be calculated and assigned to the employee.
• https://www.turbobid.net/EmployeeWizard.html

New Burden Group Wizard

• The old "Burden Calculator" screen has been replaced with a new "Burden Group Wizard".
• The new Burden Group Wizard is used to create new Burden Groups as well as maintain existing Burden Groups.
• The Burden Group Wizard is very detailed and is in a simple to use step by step wizard format. While the old calculator could be a little confusing. this new wizard guides you through the process step by step.
• https://www.turbobid.net/BurdenWizard.html

Misc.

• Revised the report that displays the items in an estimate that have a zero price.
• Resolved an issue with renaming the take-off tabs.

TurboBid 5.1.7.3

New Database Maintenance Tools

• Added an Advanced Group Renaming tool that allows you to edit the description of items/assemblies, and the quantity take-off description and/or formal proposal text of assemblies for a selected folder. This includes all of the items/assemblies in all of the child folders of the selected parent folder. Rather than editing one at a time, this will give you the power to edit thousands of items/assemblies at a time if needed.
• https://www.turbobid.net/RenameTool.html
• Added a Group Assembly Item Manipulation tool that allows you to edit the items within all of the assemblies for a selected folder. This includes all of the assemblies in all of the child folders of the selected parent folder. You can replace items, add new items, and/or delete existing items. Rather than editing one assembly at a time, you will be able to edit thousands of assemblies at a time if needed.
• https://www.turbobid.net/AssemblyItemManipulationTool.html

Misc.

Revised the Project List to display the project value of Original status projects.

TurboBid 5.1.6.0

Set-Up Wizard

• Added a setup wizard that is designed to walk you through the process of entering your default company information, overhead, profit, sales tax, and field employee information. A setup wizard icon was added to the top toolbar.
• https://www.turbobid.net/SetupWizard.html

Manpower Classifications

• Revised the manpower classification list to allow the deletion of existing manpower classifications.

Bid Package Documents

• Added company footer info to the footer of all bid package documents.
• Added Cell Phone and Email fields to the footer.
• Added an "Insert Company Name" feature that will insert a company name placeholder to the format proposal opening paragraph, inclusions and qualifications, and 2nd paragraph that will cause the default company name to automatically be inserted in the documents.
• If the Estimate Info tab is missing the blueprint date, latest revision date, or architect name, the formal proposal will automatically keep the appropriate reference out of the formal proposal.
• When selecting to generate the formal proposal, an optional prompt is displayed asking if you want to open the Format Formal Proposal screen.
• When selecting to generate the bid price by phase report, an optional prompt is displayed asking if you want to open the Format Bid Price screen.
• Revised the Flat Rate Price Book report to wrap the category heading lines if needed.
• Revised the Flat Rate Price Book report to remove the Regular Labor and Ceiling Labor text from the category headings.

TurboBid 5.1.3.0

Trial Mode

• Any available updates are automatically installed.

Log-In Screen

• A "Log me in automatically" checkbox has been added. This eliminates the need to log in every time you open TurboBid.
• A "Switch User" icon has been added to the toolbar. The icon opens the log in screen.

Project List

• In order to display a minimum screen size, the size of the screen is based on the contents.
• Alternate line shading has been added for better readability.
• The "Select a Status" dropdown selection automatically displays projects based on the dropdown selection.

Training Mode

• Includes more instructional messages where needed.

Video Player

• An auto play on/off button has been added.
• An "Exit Training Mode" button has been added.

Take-Off Tab

• Rows that do not represent an item or assembly cannot be selected.
• When a cell is clicked, the row's description and the column's heading is highlighted for easier cell identification.
• When you move your curser over a cell, the row description and column heading are highlighted. This allows quick identification of the cell without having to select a cell.

Assembly Maintenance Screen

• The item tree section is expanded to its maximum width based on the contents of the assembly.
• Alternate line shading has been added for better readability.
• Right clicking on an item selects the item and opens the right click menu.

TurboBid 5.1.1.1

Fixed Issues

• Long vendor names were not being displayed in the item maintenance screen.
• Fixed an issue with the Project Detail Report in networked databases.
• Certain items were not being displayed in certain reports.
• Allowed networked databases to use a custom address for Auto Back-Up.
• When deleting a folder of items in TurboCloud, certain items in the folder could not be deleted.
• The Take-Off tabs' templates have been revised to use the material Master ID number. Local ID numbers can change and make the original templates obsolete. Master ID numbers never change.
• Click here to download the revised assembly templates.

Modifications

• After adding new items to the Assembly Maintenance screen, the quantity cell is active so you can enter a quantity without selecting the item.
• Modified the Assembly Maintenance screen to allow 0.xx to be entered as a quantity.
• The report selection screen displays the first estimate and first take-off as default selections.
• The "Material" link in the "Direct Cost Detail" tab opens the material report for the selected take-off tab.
• The Take-Off tab's sort order now displays all of the material beneath each red category in alphabetical order.

TurboBid 5.1.0.5

Add Items to TurboBid's Take-Off Tab

• Items can now be added to the take-off spreadsheet.
• Items in the take-off spreadsheet are highlighted in a light blue color for easy differentiation from assemblies. (Figure 1)
• Double clicking an item in the spreadsheet will open the Item's Preview screen.
• Pressing the Ctrl key and double clicking an item in the spreadsheet will open the Item's Maintenance screen.
• Renamed the Take-Off tab's Select Assemblies button to Select Material.
• The Select Material screen now includes one tab for adding Items and one tab for adding Assemblies. (Figure 2)

Add Items and Assemblies to the Take-Off Tab's spreadsheet directly from TurboCloud

• Users can select a single Item, or multiple Items via Ctrl / Click, and select Add to Estimate from the right click menu. (Figure 3)
• The Items in the Image Grid View include a new Add to Estimate button. (Figure 4)
• Users can select a single Assembly, or multiple Assemblies via Ctrl / Click, and select Add to Estimate from the right click menu. (Figure 5)
• Users can right click on an item or assembly in the take-off spreadsheet and select Locate in Tree from the right click menu. (Figure 6)

Add Items and Assemblies to the Take-Off Tab's spreadsheet from "Load Template"

• The Load Template feature in the Select Material screen has been revised to include Items and Assemblies in the same template.

Revised the Take-Off Tab's Sort Order Procedure

(Figure 7)

• Renamed the Take-Off tab's Take-Off Sort Order button to Material Order.
• The Material Order screen now allow users to easily drag/drop folders into the order they want them to appear in the take-off spreadsheet.
• Item folders are highlighted in a light blue color for easy differentiation from assembly folders.
• Each folder's Parent folder name is also displayed so that you can easily see the difference between Flat Rate Assemblies, Standard Assemblies, etc.
• Includes a Reset button that resets the folders back to an alphabetical sort order.

The Assembly Preview screen now displays an image of every item in the assembly.

(Figure 8)

Misc.

• Added the word Assembly to the end of every assembly's Quantity Take-Off Description so that the various reports clearly differentiate between Items and Assemblies. TurboCloud's Refresh and Update local Assemblies process will revise these assemblies in your local. (Figure 9)
• Added a new Exclude from Quantity Take-Off Reports checkbox to the bottom of the Item Maintenance screen. (Figure 10)
• All of the Material folders were removed from TurboCloud's Master Assembly Database. TurboCloud's Refresh and Synchronize local Assembly folders process will move these folders to a new Under Admin Review folder in your local. You can delete all of these from your local as long as they have not been added to an estimate.
• Prior to running an update, as a safeguard, a backup copy of your database is automatically created. (Figure 11)
• The Item Maintenance screen has been slightly revised so that the entire screen is visible in smaller computer monitors.

Images

Figure 1: Items in the take-off spreadsheet are highlighted in a light blue color for easy differentiation from assemblies.

Figure 2: The Select Material screen now includes one tab for adding Items and one tab for adding Assemblies

Figure 3: Users can select a single Item, or multiple Items via Ctrl / Click, and select Add to Estimate from the right click menu

Figure 4: The Items in the Image Grid View include a new Add to Estimate button

Figure 5: Select a single Assembly, or multiple Assemblies via Ctrl / Click, and select Add to Estimate from the right click menu

Figure 6: Right click on an item or assembly in the take-off spreadsheet and select Locate in Tree from the right click menu

Figure 7: Revised the Take-Off Tab's Sort Order Procedure

Figure 8: The Assembly Preview screen has been revised

Figure 9: Added the word Assembly to the end of every assembly's Quantity Take-Off Description

Figure 10: Added a new Exclude from Quantity Take-Off Reports checkbox to the bottom of the Item Maintenance screen

Figure 11: Prior to running an update, as a safeguard, a backup copy of your database is automatically created

TurboBid 5.0.9.2

TurboBid: Fixed a license verification issue when using a tethered internet connection. Item and assembly preview screens now open faster.

TurboCloud:

• Removed virtual custom folders from the cloud master. These folders were intended to hold virtual copies linking to existing items and assemblies.

Misc:

• Fixed a couple of minor bugs that we found when doing random sequences in the folder tree that nobody would ever do. For example: Opening an assembly maintenance screen, making an edit, closing the maintenance screen and then double clicking on the assembly would generate an error message.

TurboBid 5.0.9.0

TurboCloud: Fixed an issue when renaming new folders. Previously, multiple folder names could remain highlighted.

TurboCloud Refresh:

• If the "Display new items and assemblies after cloud synchronization completed" checkbox is checked, after the refresh, the cloud master tree will be expanded so that you can quickly view the new items and assemblies. If nothing new was added, the newest items/assemblies that were added during the previous refresh will be displayed.

TurboBid:

• Fixed an issue for computers with low memory. Previously, if a computer's memory was too low, if you updated an item's price, assemblies and estimates might not update correctly. This issue has been resolved.
• Improved the process of updating prices for assemblies and estimates. It is now 99% faster.

Price Update from File:

• Added "Trade/Target" to the "Update price from file" selection. This allows both to be updated at the same time.
• Added a prompt "Do you want to update the "xxxx" vendor pricing?" This will ensure that you have not accidentally selected the wrong vendor to update.
• When running a price update, a pre-check is performed to ensure that the price file includes the required data. If there is an issue, you will receive a notification of what needs to be corrected.
• After running a price update, the default exception report only displays items that were not updated in your active projects. After you close the report, a prompt will ask if you want to view all of the items in your database that were not updated.

TurboBid 5.0.8.0

Global Labor Unit Adjustment: The time to process global labor unit adjustments has been substantially improved. The process now takes about one second. Added an icon to the top ribbon to open the global item labor unit adjustment screen. This adjustment allows you to fine tune TurboBids original labor unit to better reflect your company.

Items:

• When revising an item's price and/or labor unit, the time to update all associated assemblies has also been substantially improved upon.
• When adding new items from the cloud to the local database, the items will automatically reflect any default global labor unit adjustment you have selected.
• When creating new items, the items will automatically reflect any default global labor unit adjustment.

Videos:

• Fixed an issue with the video icon not opening the video player.

TurboCloud Grid View:

• Revised the item grid view container to only display the bottom tool bar when the curser is over it. It used to always be visible on the selected item and would hide the labor unit.

Take-Off Tab:

• Improved the performance when opening the take-off tab. Previously, the amount of time it took to open was greatly affected by the number of projects and estimates in the database, as well as how many assemblies were in the take-off. The take-off tab now opens within seconds regardless of these factors.

Bid Price Tab:

• Improved the performance when opening the bid price tab. The tab now opens within seconds.

Misc:

• Fixed an issue with creating new users in project security.
• Fixed an issue when clicking the Material link in the bid price tab.

Reports:

• Revised the report that displays the items in a project that are missing material pricing and/or labor units. Previously, the report displayed the same item multiple times if it was used in multiple assemblies. Now each item is only displayed once.

TurboBid 5.0.7.0

TurboCloud: (View Video) Added a new "Local Grid View" that displays images to make it extremely easy to find exactly what you're looking for. The left side of the screen displays the local item tree and the right side of the screen displays images of the items within the selected tree folder. Each image container includes a picture along with complete data for the item. Items can easily be added to an open assembly maintenance screen by clicking an icon on the grid view image. Added a new "Master Grid View" to make it extremely easy to find exactly what you're looking for in the master database. The right side of the screen displays the master item tree and the left side of the screen displays images of the items within the selected tree folder. Each image includes a picture and complete data for the item. The grid view displays the selected folders with images on the top of the screen and the items within the folders on the bottom of the screen. An active TurboCloud Subscription and TurboBid Maintenance Plan is required for all the images to be displayed in the grid view. This is due to the cost of our cloud-based server as well as the cost that we incur to transmit the image data from our server to your computer. The traditional Local/Master view is still available and has not changed. Double clicking on the vertical bar that separates the tree view from the grid view will cause the bar to move to the end of the tree view's longest description. This makes it easy to quickly adjust the tree side so that you can read the full descriptions. The item preview screens have been revised to display the same size image for all items. In the past, the image size varied from item to item. When adding an item to an assembly maintenance screen, the added item is highlighted in the assembly. This provides a quick visual verification as to which new items have been added to the assembly. When a new folder has been added to the tree view, the folder name is highlighted and in edit mode. This allows to start typing the new folder name right away. When an assembly maintenance screen is opened, no cell is active. This will prevent data from accidentally being entered. After dragging and dropping a folder, a confirmation prompt will appear. This will prevent folders from being moved by accident. Customer Info Tab: If you edit a customer's information and the customer is used in other projects, you will receive a prompt notifying you that the changes you are making will be applied to the additional projects. A "New Customer" button has been added to the customer info tab. When clicked, it will delete all existing data, including the Customer #. This will prevent accidentally changing an existing customer's data. Reports: Reports can now stay open while you continue to work in TurboBid. The font in the Formal Proposal has been changed back to Times New Roman. This is a better look for the proposal. The other reports still use Arial, which is a better-looking font for those type of reports. The Flat Rate reports have been revised for the tab #2 selection. If the labor hours for the assemblies in take-off tab #2 will cause the job to be extended for additional days, the appropriate additional labor costs will be displayed in the tab #2 selection of the flat rate reports. The total bid price values in the reports will now match the bid price values displayed in the bid price tab. Bid Price Tab: Additional labor hours will now be displayed in the Bid Price Tab's > Take-Off Tab #2 section. If the labor hours for the assemblies in take-off tab #2 will cause the job to be extended for additional days, the appropriate additional labor hours and labor cost will be displayed in the tab #2 section of the bid price tab. Price Update from file: An issue when exporting the trade and target price files has been fixed. Manpower Burden Calculator: The wage base for calculation has been revised to include any paid time off. The calculator now includes a summary of the annual hours the employee will be available to work on the jobsite, as well as the annual hours the employee will be paid for.

TurboBid 5.0.5.0

TurboCloud: TurboCloud has been revised to be an amazing one-click database maintenance powerhouse! The processing speeds have been substantially improved upon. Receive a notification whenever new items and/or assemblies are available. Receive notification whenever items and/or assemblies have been revised. Receive notification whenever material prices have been revised. Click the "Refresh Now button" on the notification screen to run a one-click procedure. The one-click process will update your folder tree, item data revisions, assembly revisions, price updates, and it will even automatically add the new items and assemblies to your local database.

Receive a notification whenever new items and/or assemblies are available

One-click is all it takes to maintain your local database with TurboBid's cloud based master database

Take-Off Tab: The main assembly category is displayed once in black and each subcategory is displayed beneath it in red. Double clicking on an assembly opens the assembly preview screen. Assembly descriptions have been revised. They now begin with the main description, followed by the details. The sort order of the assemblies within a category have been revised so that they are in the same order as they appear in the database tree.

The main assembly category is displayed once in black and each subcategory is displayed  beneath it in red

Select Assemblies: A right click option has been added to locate the assembly in the database tree. This will help to quickly locate assemblies in the tree if you need to add similar assemblies. Entire folders of assemblies can now be added to the take-off. You can now add new assemblies to folders in this view via a new right click option. The search feature has been improved to employ smart search capabilities.

Entire folders of assemblies can now be added to the take-off

Select Assemblies Screen - Locate Assemblies and Create New Assemblies

Assembly Maintenance Screen: Double clicking on items opens the items' preview screen. This really helpful to quickly look at the pictures of the items that are included in the assembly. A right click option has been added to locate an  item in the database tree. This will help to quickly locate an item for a mass substitution. You can now add new items to folders in this view via a new right click option. The search feature has been improved to employ smart search capabilities.

Double click on items to open the items' preview screen and quickly locate items in the tree

Add items from within the assembly maintenance screen and quickly locate items in the tree

Reports: The font type used in the reports has been changed from Times New Roman to Arial. Arial offers better readability. The Quantity Take-Off by Category has been revised to only display the main category headings. The subcategory headings have been removed because they made the report look too busy.

Report font revised and Qty Take-Off reports only display main categories

Misc: In the item tree, the manufacturer and catalog number displayed at the end of the description has been revised. It is now in blue text and is italicized for clearer separation. A new TurboBid owners community forum has been added. The Search feature has been revised to include Smart Search. It is more forgiving in regards to exact spelling, spaces, and symbols.