[Doug McLean]

You will need a second area markup, but you won’t need another Column.

You could do a second custom column, ‘material 1’ ‘material 2’ but I’m not too sure how any value associated with the material would play out in that scenario.

Run an experiment

[Doug McLean]

I just checked this and it worked out fine.
I set a Material 1 and a Material 2 Custom Column and gave them each a value.
Then I build a total column with the formula (Measurement*Material 1)+(Measurement*Material 2)

To save yourself some headaches, I would put your materials and their cost into a csv file for easy import.

[Bob Korup]

Thanks for the information Doug! I have decided to use different areas for each material as this seems to help everyone understand the estimate more clearly. However, I am now running into an issue when calculating the material costs, where the columns that are not part of my equations are calculating costs. As an example I have four material columns and different costs but my material cost columns are all filled in. Is there anyway around this?

[Doug McLean]

One of the headaches with the markups list is that there is no if statement available.

The work around is get the data to Excel or some other estimating software and do the math there.

[David Cutler]

Welcome to the Brainery @korup73

Great question. I’ve considered doing something similar with my next generation of tools, but haven’t got there yet so I’m curious to see where this leads for you.

The way I handle this type of situation now for paving as an example is to measure the area of the first step in the paving process, finegrade subgrade. Next I find the paving cross section and make a series of “0” SY takeoffs for my 6” stone base, 6” base paving, 3” Binder, Tack and 1.5” Top. (I set the scale on the detail sheet as 1 inch = 1 Foot on this sheet so a small square measures 0 SY)

Next I export my markups in a .CSV file and “wash” the data in Excel prior to uploading the “clean” items and quantities into our estimating software, B2W. Part of this washing process is copying the original fine grade quantity into the above referenced “0 SY” items.

I’ve started to streamline the washing process using Power Query (thank you @Doug McLean and @Vince !), but I have a ways to go….

[Doug McLean]

keep learning David, you’ll get there

[Don Walke]

Bob, I use an area measurement in painting take-offs to quantify the ceiling area, the wall area (using “length” function of an area markup multiplied by the “depth”), the lf of baseboard and lf of crown. You have to get a little creative with formulas and additional columns to isolate your totals of specific items. though. I wish that Revu had an “if” function, but there are work-arounds. It seems that a polyline is a polyline no matter what you call it in a toolbox be it a lenth of pipe or lf of crown moulding. My workaround if I want to total a particular line item is to create a choice column with Yes = 1 and no = 0. The column that will total a particular tool will be a formula column that multiplies the length by the result of the choice column (1or 0) so that only tools with a pre-selected “Y” will populate the column. This allows me to sort a plan by space and get totals for each selected tool for each space (in my case room numbers)

[Troy DeGroot]

I try to get as many materials estimated out of one markup as possible. I’ve built asphalt volume tools that will give me the cubic ton. then I have a custom column where I enter the thickness of the base under the asphalt area, and another column that calculates the volume of the base in cubic yards. I avoid markups on top of markups. Great discussion and ideas/use cases being shared!