13.01.01 creating bid areas

Bid Areas video

Bid Areas are defined locations within a single project such as buildings, floors, levels, or wings.  Area names generally refer to the contract drawings (Building 1, Floor 2, for example) or page numbers but can be any first-level separator for your takeoff quantities.  On-Screen Takeoff uses Areas to allocate takeoff quantities associated with these specific locations and then you can group the Takeoff Tab by Areas to see exactly where your takeoff quantities are coming from.  Bid Areas usually transfer to your estimating program so your final estimate can be broken down by Area as well.

If you are going to use Typical takeoff, it's important to start with Bid Areas so your takeoff quantities are properly allocated.

To create Bid Areas:

• Click the Areas button on the Cover Sheet, click Bid > Show Areas - the Bid Areas dialog appears, or, click the Lookup button next to the Areas drop down on the Image Tab, the Bid Areas dialog box opens
  
  

• Click New and a blank line is added to the list
• Type the name of the Area
• Click OK

Using Quick Add

To add multiple Areas all at once, such as Floors 1 thru 3 use Quick Add.

• Open the Bid Areas dialog box
• Click the Quick Add button
• Select a name from the Area Quick Add dialog drop down list, or type in a custom name
  
  

• Type a range in the From and To fields such as 1 to 3

• Click OK - Floors 1, 2 and 3 are added to the Areas list

Sub Areas

To create sub-areas, for example a project that includes two buildings and each building contains several floors.

• Use Quick Add to add Buildings 1 and 2
• Click on Building 1 in the Area Name list
• Use Quick Add again to add Floors 1 - 3, click the "Indent under Building 1"

• Repeat for Building 2

Move areas left or right to indent or outdent by selecting the area(s) and dragging and dropping them where they need to be or use the or buttons.

To move areas up or down in the list, select or as desired.

To delete an area, highlight the desired area and click - if an Area is used, meaning it has takeoff assigned to it anywhere in the Bid, it cannot be deleted.

Reminders about Bid Areas:

• Takeoff is assigned to Bid Areas, Conditions are not (Conditions are assigned to specific Layers and Types, not Areas).
• Takeoff can only be assigned to a single Area.
• A single piece of takeoff cannot be split between two areas - it's all or nothing.  To 'split' takeoff, you can use a Zone.
• Typical Areas can be allocated between multiple Areas
• Each use of a Typical Group (the Typical Group Marker) can only be assigned to a single Area.
• Virtual Pages' Area assignments are relative to Area assignments on the Typical Page

Please review the articles about Typical Areas, Groups, and Repeating Pages later in the chapter for details on using Typical takeoff.

Assigning Takeoff to an Area