NOTE-- MacNail
estimating was replaced by Goldenseal construction
estimating software back in 2000. There are still die-hard MacNail
users, so we keep the MacNail manuals online for them! Goldenseal also
includes accounting, job
costing and project
management features.
Soft Cost Formulas You can edit any of the soft cost formulas in the MacNail
construction estimating software, using standard
Excel formula-editing techniques.
For example, to change the formulas so the MacNail construction estimating
software handles overhead,
profit, sales tax or other 'soft cost' items
as a percentage of the total project cost rather than as a percentage of hard costs, follow these steps:
1. Open the estimating file you'd like to change. You may first want to create a copy of the file to work on,
and work on the copy rather than the original.
2. Choose Summation from the MacNail menu, then scroll down to the 'soft costs' area.
3. Choose Display from the Options menu, and turn on Formulas. This will display the worksheet formulas (see
illustration).
4. You can edit any of the formulas, and include additional items besides the hard costs. For example, the
cell for labor overhead shows the formula =D34*oh. D34 refers to the subtotal line for labor, and 'oh' is
a defined name that contains the overhead percentage.
5. To change the formula, first click in the cell, and check the formula bar.
6. Click the mouse between = and D in the formula bar, and type an open parenthesis (.
7. Click the mouse just after D34 in the formula bar, then click in the worksheet on every cell on top of
which you'd also like to figure overhead. Notice that the addition sign is included automatically,
each time you click on a cell.
8. When you've clicked on every desired cell, type a close parenthesis (see the formula bar in the
illustration below).
9. Hit the enter key. If you've typed everything correctly, the formula will be accepted.
10. Repeat the process for any other cells you'd like to change.
11. When you're done, choose Display from the Options menu, and turn off Formulas.
12. Choose Protect Document from the Options menu, so you won't accidentally damage the worksheet,
later on.
13. Choose Save from the File menu to permanently save the changes you made. If you make an error, close
the worksheet instead without saving changes.
If you want to make several of the 'soft costs' refer
to other soft costs in the MacNail construction management
software, make sure that you don't set up a circular reference! For example, if you
figure sales tax on top of overhead, don't
also figure overhead on top of sales tax, or Excel will give you a 'cannot resolve circular reference' error.
HINT:
If you do accidentally create a circular reference and can't 'undo' it or figure
out how to remove it, close the worksheet without saving changes.
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