[David Cutler]

Format painter is a great tool!  I use it in Word, Excel and even Outlook.  To make this even easier you can add the format painter button to your toolbars to save a couple of clicks when you need it.

If you need to change the description on a number of markups – say to change from asphalt to concrete – you can select multiple items in the markup list and then open up the properties menu and make the change once there.

 

[David Cutler]

The estimating software that we use, Bid 2 Win (B2W), only allows 4 specific columns to be imported from Excel.  If setup correctly when you import your takeoff quantities the software will match your data with the pay item database that has already been established.  The challenge is that the task number, description and unit of measure must match <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>exactly</span> in order for the match to work.  To make this work I exported a master list of tasks from B2W into Excel and then I copy and paste the item number and description from Excel into my custom tools as I create them.

At this point I include both the task ID and description in both the “Subject” and “Label” fields for my custom tools.  I also use this information in separate custom “Item” and “Description” columns.

Once I complete my takeoff I export the comments into a .CSV format.  I then use a number of Excel tools to combine the individual takeoff items into groups and sub totals and then import the data into the software.  It took some practice to work out some kinks but I have it working pretty slickly now!