Every Bid, Change Order, and Alternate uses a Cover Sheet that contains all sorts of information about the Bid. When creating a new Bid, the only field you are required to enter is the Project Name but it's important to fill it out as completely as possible.
Some fields are filled-in automatically based on your New Bid settings in Tools > Options (Bidding Company, if configured, Job Status (top one in list), Bid Date/Time (today, now).
Some fields are optional but can affect how Quick Bid performs calculations (Total Sq. Size, and the options under the Preferences tab, as well as Areas, Typical Areas, and Payroll Setup (for imported bids).
The grid below provides detailed information about the Cover Sheet fields and each sub-tab.
The Project Name is he only required entry, although it is wise to set Job Type, Job Status, and Estimator as these are used as filter fields or grouping options on the Bids Tab.
Cover Sheet - General Bid Information Fields
| Field/Option | Description/Action Needed |
|---|
| Job Status * | Select a Job Status from the list using the Lookup button  or add a new Job Status by typing its name. |
| Bidding Company * | This is the company preparing the Bid (usually your company unless you are preparing Bids for another entity). |
| Project Name | Type in a name for the Bid - limit: 75 characters. Required field Project Names must contain only standard alpha-numeric English characters - do not use Special Characters such as #, % or and -, any of the '<Shift> + Number' combinations or any brackets or back/forward slashes. |
| Lead Estimator * | Select the Lead Estimator for the project. See Related Articles for more information. The "Lead Estimator" is shown on the Bids Tab. |
| Job Type * | Select a Job Type from the list using the Lookup button or add a new Job Type by typing in the field. |
| Bid Date | This field populates with the current date. To select another date, click the arrow and select a date from the calendar, or simply type in a date. |
| Bid Time | This field populates with the current time. To select another time, click the arrow and select a time from the list, or type in a time. |
| Total Sq. Size | This is an optional entry that accepts the square footage of a building or site area and is used in the "Cost per Sq. Size" report to establish cost ratios. |
| Auto sum | Place a check in this box to have Quick Bid automatically sum the cumulative total of all Bid Areas and insert that into "Total Sq. Size" field. Auto sum does not include indented or sub-areas - only first level entries in the Bid Areas grid are included. See Related articles for more information on setting up and using Bid Areas. |
| Bid No. | This field auto-populates, but can be changed to any number not already used in the database. Based on the "Next Bid Number" field under Tools > Options > New Bid. |
| Job No. | User defined number/code - can be a number or an alpha-numeric entry. |
| Acct. ID | Used to identify different Accounts (customers/departments/offices, etc.) for whom an estimator creates Bids. |
| Plans Date | This field populates with the current date. To select another date, click the arrow and select a date from the calendar, or type in a date. |
| Job Start | This field populates with the current date. To select another date, click the arrow and select a date from the calendar, or type in a date. |
| Job End | This field populates with the current date. To select another date, click the arrow and select a date from the calendar, or type in a date. |
* These fields draw from the Masters. If you enter something that does not exist already, you are prompted to add it to the Masters first, then select it.
Buttons
There are several buttons along the right side of the Cover Sheet.
| Button | Function/What it does... |
|---|
 | Saves changes to the Cover Sheet and closes the dialog box. If there are any required fields that have not been filled in, an error is displayed. |
 | Discards changes and closes the Cover Sheet. You are prompted to save unsaved changes first. |
 | Opens the Bid Areas dialog box where you can setup Bid Areas for separating your estimate costs into groups (such as Floors 1 through 10, or Building A, Building B, etc.). * |
 | Opens the Typical Areas dialog box where you can setup Typical Areas to be used later in your estimate. * |
 | Opens the Bid-level Payroll Setup dialog box. ** |
* Bid Areas and Typical Areas are discussed in Related Articles. If you are using On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid interactively, Bid Areas and Typical Areas are setup and managed in On-Screen Takeoff.
** Payroll Setup - the Payroll Setup button is displayed only when a Bid is imported from a bid package or copy/pasted from another database. Usually, a bid just draws its wage types and burdens from the databases's Payroll Settings, however, to protect those from outside bid's, when you import or paste in a bid, its Payroll Settings are 'encapsulated' within itself. This way, your database-level settings are not altered when you import a bid from another database and prevents a bid's Payroll Settings from being changed when imported/copied into a different database.
Cover Sheet Tabs
The Base Bid Cover Sheet contains five tabs in addition to the General Bid information area:
- Job Site/Contacts
- Preferences
- Notes
- Estimating Team
- Results
| Tab | What it does/How it is used... |
|---|
| Job Site/Contacts | Job Site is an optional section where you can define the physical site information. If you are planning on using eQuotes, you must enter a zip code.
Project Contacts section holds any contacts for the job such as architect, owner, other subs, etc. Enter Company information first, then select a Contact from the drop-down list. |
| Preferences | Set preferences related to pricing, calculating, Indirect Expenses, MWBE, and Report Cover Page text. All these fields default to the settings under Tools > Options > New Bid - changing preferences here does not affect database-level defaults. See Setting Bid Preferences (the next article) for more information. |
| Notes | These notes can be printed in many Bid Reports. |
| Estimating Team | If multiple estimators will be working on a project, it is possible set access rights for each estimator. These rights cannot be higher than the estimator's rights as defined by the database administrator but can further limit a user's access. See Related articles for information on using Logins to secure your database. |
| Results | This tab is used to record competitors pricing and the final results of a Bid. Enter competitor information and whether they were awarded the Bid or not. To search for a competitor, click the Lookup button and select from the list in the Contacts dialog. |
Creating a Project