Cassell Construction Estimating

APRIL 18, 2024

Most general contracting firms use the CSI Masterformat coding scheme for their cost codes, to generally match project specifications. For any General Contractor contemplating revising its cost codes, we strongly recommend using the 2004/2010 Masterformat, (50 Divisions), rather than the tried and true 1995 Masterformat (16 Divisions). Time marches on, and despite the familiarity and comfort zone of the old format, the new system is gradually replacing the familiar one.

CSI 130

CSI Guidelines Zoning US 130

Cassell Construction Estimating

MARCH 29, 2024

P6 Training in Sunny Honolulu, HI Our next P6 Training opportunities are coming up this May 2024 in sunny Honolulu, HI. Please register soon if you’re interested in attending. The cost for the 2-day training is $1,600, with a $150 Early Bird registration discount if registration is received by April 15. Discounts are also available for 2 or more attendees.

Honolulu 130

Honolulu Schedule Contract US 130

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Focus: Estimating & budgeting for Department of Defense projects, facilities, manufacturing, and public utilities. Optimum company (type): > 50 million dollar D.O.D. contractors, government agencies, owners Quick evaluation: Easy to use right out of the box for estimating & budgeting. More popular with D.O.D., governmental agencies, and facility owners #1 Strength: US Cost Success Estimator is an estimating system created by estimators, and doesn’t require a fully-developed database

Estimating 100

Estimating US Defense Budgeting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Focus: Conceptual budget estimates Optimum company size: > $10mm Quick evaluation: Lightning fast budgeting (even without plans) based on similar, comparable estimates #1 Strength: Winest Modelogix potentially stores a company’s entire estimating intellectual property in a single database. This is huge. Extremely fast & intuitive budgeting, based on comps from in-house designed categories & queries. #1 Disadvantage: As is, Winest Modelogix can’t be used as a basis for detailed estim

Budgeting 100

Budgeting Budget Estimating Permits 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

The Five Basics of Fundamentally Sound Construction Operations 1. Accurate Estimating a. Build the entire job, step by step in your head b. Take a consistent, organized approach (computer OR manual) c. Take off material in reasonable detail; don’t get bogged down in minutiae d. Focus on managing your biggest risk- LABOR i. Estimate labor & equipment hours required for each major task e.

Subcontracting 100

Subcontracting Estimating Construction Schedule 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Does this sound familiar at your company? 1. Bids are time‐consuming 2. Job costing is tedious 3. We’re too busy to change now‐ and besides we’ve always done it this way This article takes a light-hearted look at excuses for operating out of control. 1. Bids are time‐consuming: How are you doing your takeoff? Are you still using a scale and wheel? Digitizing on the 
computer?

Estimating 100

Estimating Las Vegas Bidding Software 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Timberline Estimating Training – Bid Day Emergency – File Won’t Open I had an urgent support call recently from one of our Montana contractors who use Timberline Estimating. Here’s the scenario: It’s Bid Day, getting down to the last hour before the bid is due. The system kicked them out of the estimate, and when they try to reopen the file, they get an error the message: “Estimate is open on another computer or marked as Read Only.

Estimating 100

Estimating Bidding Montana US 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Timberline Software Support Issues Listed below are 4 common Timberline Estimating issues and their solutions. 1. Issue: Attempting to open a Timberline Estimate, message appears, “File needs to be inspected”, followed by message, “File is corrupt” a. Problem: file was copied, renamed, or moved using Windows Explorer. The Pervasive file structure is two-dimensional, and doing the above disconnects the “gateway file” from its underlying (and essential) data table files. b.

Estimating 100

Estimating Software Software Budgeting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Reprice Crews (Labor, Equipment, or both) after changes to the Timberline Rate Tables in the Database Use Re-price Crews, as follows: 1. FIRST – MAKE A COPY OF THE ESTIMATE- IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME UNFORESEEN CHANGES COULD OCCUR, AND A BACKUP OF THE ORIGINAL IS THE SAFEST WAY TO GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE, IF NECESSARY !!!! 2. (In the new copied estimate), from the Pricing menu, select Reprice Crews. 3.

Estimating 100

Estimating Equipment Consulting Software 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Intorducing The New Sage Estimating To Vista Exporting Tool Quickly convert your sage estimates into a viewpoint vista project management budget Works with the sage estimating versions 9.8 to 13.X (Pervasive) Flexible Contract Items & Cost Codes Compatible with standard complexity markups Material & Subcontract Records included Avaialable exclusively from Cassel Consulting Introducing Price $1995 plus 20% annual support Optimize Simplify Improve Grow The post Sage Estimating to Vista Exp

Sage 130

Sage Estimating Subcontracting Viewpoint 130

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 20, 2023

After more than 25 years of continued success providing our clients with Construction Technology Consulting Services, Cassell Consulting is expanding our capabilities to offer even more value to our Construction clientele. With the launch of our new website, we now are proud to introduce a suite of software products, point solutions that solve some of the major problems facing Construction Companies and their use of technology.

Consulting 130

Consulting Sage ProCore Estimating 130

Cassell Construction Estimating

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

A client asked recently for some advice on Jobcost coding. Should they just have a 1:1 relationship between Contract Items and JobCost Phases? What are best practices for setting up the Phase Master list? While there’s no single right answer for all contractors, here are some guidelines based on our more than 25 years of construction consulting experience: The strategy for building useful and meaningful Jobcost phase codes is one of the most important decisions a company faces when setting

Contract 130

Contract Consulting Estimating Project Management 130

Cassell Construction Estimating

JULY 25, 2016

We received a call from an old friend and seasoned Sr. Estimator who was having problems importing an estimate to Sage 300 Accounting. Problem: All the estimated costs were interfacing correctly to the JobCost budget except one cost code's Labor. Some of the Labor costs and hours showed up, but not all.

Sage 100

Sage Estimating Budgeting Budget 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

AUGUST 25, 2016

We’ve recently returned from our 3-day, “P6 for Government Contracts” training session for Dawson Construction in Honolulu. One significant takeaway that reinforced what we were already noticing is that new government personnel are changing NAVFAC’s & USACE’s scheduling specs for recent projects.

Schedule 100

Schedule Honolulu Contract Construction 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

DECEMBER 2, 2016

Our CEO Barry Cassell spoke at the 68th annual AGC Alaska conference in Anchorage last month. Barry's session, "Construction Tech Today and Tomorrow" provided historical perspective and a look ahead at the progress of technology in our industry.

Alaska 100

Alaska AGC Conference Industrial 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

MARCH 19, 2017

Most of our work lately has been P6 training, and I find myself during that training to be referring often to Generally-Accepted-Scheduling-Practices. However, I don’t know if a written set of such practices exists – yet.

Schedule 100

Schedule Construction 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

AUGUST 15, 2017

No more corrupted or misplaced estimate files- all estimates are stored in the faster, more stable Microsoft SQL database. Virtual Licensing eliminates the need for physical USB devices and product activation codes.

Estimating 100

Estimating Sage Security Products 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JANUARY 25, 2018

When Kissick Construction called us last March, they were looking for 3 things: personalized service, quick response, and Viewpoint expertise.

Viewpoint 100

Viewpoint Consulting Construction US 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

The 2018 Viewpoint Collaborate conference in Portland provided the opportunity to get out of the office routine and interface with clients, vendors, and peers ,which I always find worthwhile. The conference also presented the welcome opportunity to attend a session presented by FMI, the nation's premier construction consultancy. I never pass up a chance to [ ] The post FMI advice for Contractors- Digital Dryshack #96 appeared first on Cassell Consulting - Construction Operations Consulti

Contractors 100

Contractors Portland Viewpoint Consulting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JULY 17, 2018

We were providing P6 training for Government Contracts at AGC San Diego, a first-class contractor and apprenticeship training facility, when we were surprised by a P6 undocumented feature. Here's what we discovered: checking 'Use Steps to Calculate Percent Complete' (a required setting for D.O.D. schedules ) disables updating status when not using steps.

San Diego 100

San Diego AGC Consulting Schedule 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JANUARY 25, 2018

When Kissick Construction called us last March, they were looking for 3 things: personalized service, quick response, and Viewpoint expertise. When Dennis asked if we were up to the challenge to meet all three objectives consistently and help his company take its Viewpoint Vista system to the next level, we guaranteed personalized response within one [ ] The post Case Study: Kissick Construction Viewpoint Consulting appeared first on Cassell Consulting - Construction Operations Consult

Viewpoint 100

Viewpoint Consulting Construction US 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

AUGUST 15, 2017

No more corrupted or misplaced estimate files- all estimates are stored in the faster, more stable Microsoft SQL database. Virtual Licensing eliminates the need for physical USB devices and product activation codes. No more passwords with more robust, granular, Estimating Security Groups Shared report and screen layouts created by administrators can’t be accidentally overwritten, while still [ ] The post 10 Reasons to upgrade to Sage SQL Estimating 17.11 appeared first on Cassell Consult

Sage 100

Sage Estimating Consulting Security 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

MARCH 19, 2017

Most of our work lately has been P6 training, and I find myself during that training to be referring often to Generally-Accepted-Scheduling-Practices. However, I don’t know if a written set of such practices exists – yet. So the purpose of this blog is an attempt to do just that, condensing my 30 years of construction [ ] The post Digital Dryshack # 93: GASP !

Schedule 100

Schedule Consulting Construction 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

DECEMBER 2, 2016

Our CEO Barry Cassell spoke at the 68th annual AGC Alaska conference in Anchorage last month. Barry’s session, “Construction Tech Today and Tomorrow” provided historical perspective and a look ahead at the progress of technology in our industry. Among topics covered, a recent survey by McKinsey Global Institute pegged Construction next-to-last of all major industries at technology adoption (only Agriculture does worse than we do!

Alaska 100

Alaska AGC Conference ProCore 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 27, 2016

By Laurel Cripe A company which is implementing Vista has many resources for learning: the Viewpoint Learning Center, aka “ClearView”, 4988 articles for Vista in the Knowledge Base at last count, the online Help System (F1 or Form Help from Vista), and of course, their Vista consultant. If the help that is needed is a basic list of steps for a process, sometimes the Knowledge Base articles or the videos in ClearView can be overkill, and searching for the right resource time-consuming.

Viewpoint 100

Viewpoint Consulting Documentation Resource 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

OCTOBER 21, 2016

Please come join us at AGC Alaska in Anchorage November 9-12. We’re presenting the session “Construction Tech: Today + Tomorrow” on Wednesday at 2:45. Our session takes a look at the current state of tech in our industry as well as what’s coming in the next few years. We’ll discuss Cloud, Mobile, Drones, 3-d printing and Robotics, to name a few.

Alaska 100

Alaska AGC Conference Consulting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

AUGUST 25, 2016

We’ve recently returned from our 3-day, “P6 for Government Contracts” training session for Dawson Construction in Honolulu. One significant takeaway that reinforced what we were already noticing is that new government personnel are changing NAVFAC’s & USACE’s scheduling specs for recent projects. For years we had been able to count on a rigorous but largely boilerplate scheduling spec for both branches of the service.

Schedule 100

Schedule Honolulu CSI Consulting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JUNE 10, 2016

We’ve been working with Sage SQL Estimating over the past few months, and are becoming bigger fans of the recent updated version, 15.2. The upgrades over the past year and more enthusiastic client interest had prompted us to put together the first cut of feature comparisons between the 2 versions of Sage Estimating. The 3 biggest changes in most recent version: Totals Page Templates.

Sage 100

Sage Estimating Consulting Comparison 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JULY 25, 2016

We received a call from an old friend and seasoned Sr. Estimator who was having problems importing an estimate to Sage 300 Accounting. Problem : All the estimated costs were interfacing correctly to the JobCost budget except one cost code’s Labor. Some of the Labor costs and hours showed up, but not all. Cause : Exporting multiple units from the same Job Cost Code and Category AND those Items flagged in the Database to “Send Units to JobCost” In this case it turned out that tw

Estimating 100

Estimating Sage Consulting Profitability 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JUNE 10, 2016

We’ve been working with Sage SQL Estimating over the past few months, and are becoming bigger fans of the recent updated version, 15.2. The upgrades over the past year and more enthusiastic client interest had prompted us to put together the first cut of feature comparisons between the 2 versions of Sage Estimating. The 3 biggest changes in most recent version: Totals Page Templates.

Sage 100

Sage Estimating Consulting Change Orders 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

APRIL 15, 2016

Recently, Cassell Consulting was contacted by a planning engineer who encountered difficulty during critical path analysis. Our resident P6 guru, Ken Wagner, weighed in to clarify best procedures for utilizing multiple critical paths in P6. The following is an edited transcript of their exchange: Q: “I have a question regarding how to know multiple critical paths.To know first 10 critical paths in Primavera P6.

Consulting 100

Consulting IDEA Schedule US 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

MARCH 28, 2016

Last month, the Cassell Consulting, Inc. team flew down to sunny Santa Barbara, CA, to meet fellow Procore partners and demonstrate our CCi Fusion: Sage to Procore and CCi Fusion: XL to Procore tools to Procore users. We met a cavalcade of engaging, professional users, and the turnout had the Fess Parker Hilton brimming. Procore staged a series of workshops and seminars throughout the Hilton, led by members of its staff, and focusing on the accounting, collaboration, and project management aspec

ProCore 100

ProCore Consulting Sage Estimating 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

MARCH 14, 2016

Our work as consultants requires travel to such interesting places as Arnpior , Ontario Canada, population 8,500. Arnprior is a picturesque, and architecturally lovely small town at the confluence of the Ottawa and Madawasca Rivers in Eastern Ontario. If you ever find yourself needing accommodation in Arnpirior, it would be a mistake not to check availability at Ellen’s Kirkman House B&B.

Sage 100

Sage Bidding Estimating Consulting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

JANUARY 30, 2016

Working with a G.C. firm providing scheduling training in Honolulu last week reminded me of the struggles most midsize contractors face when submitting an Initial Project Schedule (IPS) to NAVFAC or the Army Corps of Engineers. Most contractors produce a simple bar chart in MS Project for their typical jobs and aren’t familiar with P6. Rarely are the rigorous and demanding scheduling complexities included in D.O.D. project manuals required by private industry or commercial work.

Schedule 100

Schedule Honolulu Negotiation Consulting 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I was in Tennessee last week, and stopped by one of Tennessee’s largest builders to provide some training and suggestions to increase their estimating productivity. One of their senior estimators was new to the company’s Sage Timberline Estimating system, and was struggling to find the best way to make adjustments to their highly-detailed bids.

Tennessee 100

Tennessee Estimating Nashville Sage 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

DECEMBER 1, 2015

The 4th Annual JBK Construction Technology Report is here! This report reveals the comprehensive results from the 45 question 2015 survey with commentary and analysis from the perspective of a construction technology solutions provider. If you participated in the survey in July 2015 than you’ll want to see the results from your participation. To receive your copy today, fill out the form below to immediately get access to the full report.

Consulting 100

Consulting Construction 100

Cassell Construction Estimating

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

In the course of doing business as consultants, we encounter many different types of companies and managers, with many different styles, methods, and business issues that they’re trying to fix. Of those companies we’ve worked with in the last few years, none stands out more than Wolf Construction in Topeka, Kansas. Wolf is an industrial general contractor, with blue-chip clientele including electrical utilities, petrochemical, and manufacturing customers.

Viewpoint 100

Viewpoint Construction Consulting Portland 100