Sometimes, you'll use the same Item in two Conditions even though one may be measured as a Linear and the other an Area. Let's discuss how you would set up these Items and Conditions in Quick Bid and see that the end result (what you'll order from your Supplier) would be the same.
First, just as an example, we want to show you that you takeoff the same objects using different Styles of Conditions, but as long as they generate the UOM you need, you're in business...
- One drawn with a Linear Condition that is 100' long by 10' high with Q1 set to LF and Q2 set to SF
- One drawn with a rectangular count object that is 100' wide by 10' deep with Q1 set to SF (we used a Count Condition just as an example so we could set the dimensions to an exact value.)
These two items represent the exact same object, just taken off two different ways.
We just want to illustrate that there is flexibility in how you do your takeoff, and how you calculate Containers.
Now let's investigate how two different Items calculate Containers when used in these Conditions.
In the first example we have a 2'x2' tile applied to Quantity 1 on the Linear Condition's takeoff results using the Standard formula with no waste.
This item is set with a UOM of SF so "Repeat every" is greyed-out ("Repeat every" only applies to EA) and the On Center (OC) field is set to "0".
Quick Bid uses the 100 LF from Q1, multiplies it by the 10' height to get 1,000 SF, and then divides that SF total by the tile size of 4 SF each (2'x2').
This calculates the number of tiles needed, which is this divided by the number of tiles per carton to arrive at the number of Cartons needed.
The final calculation is 1,000 SF divided by 4 SF = 250 tiles (EA)
And then 250 Tiles divided by 12 (the number or tiles per carton) which brings us to our final value of 20.83 cartons as seen in the Condition Detail (and on the Materials Tab, if this was the only time this Item was used).
Our next example uses the same Linear condition, but the tile is set up as "No Sizes", also applied to Q1 using the Standard formula with no waste. The item is set with a UOM of EA this time.
Without sizes, there is no way for QB to calculate how many tiles I need unless I use the OC and Repeat every fields. I set the OC spacing to 24" (I could change it to LF, but why bother?) and then repeat every 2'. This represents the tile size.
The result is 250 EA. The Material tab displays 20.83 cartons.
If I remove the Repeat Every value, the calculation breaks and results in a red 0.
For the final example, I used the area takeoff. I used the EXACT same set up as the previous example: Item set as EA, no sizes, Q1 (set to SF this time instead of LF), OC set to 24" and Repeat Every set to 2' and the calculation works the same. HOWEVER, using this item I can delete the Repeat Every value and the formula still works.
The reason is because when an EA item is applied to a SF number directly (rather than Length x Height) the Repeat Every field is ignored and instead the OC number is squared to represent both planes of the object, horizontal and vertical (or length and width however you want to think of it). So in this example I could put whatever I wanted in Repeat Every and it would never matter. The item is spaced 24 inches apart across both planes of the object based on the OC entry.
Now, on the Materials Tab, you can see that it displays 20.83 cartons for this item.
So you would only want to use an actual square item in this final case on SF number. You would not be able to get an accurate number for a 2x4 tile unless you used Sizes or the LF quantity with the standard formula which allows a different OC and Repeat every figure.
