How-To Guides
How to Estimate Construction Costs
Keep reusable material, labor, and subcontractor cost and sell rates in Costing, then turn reviewed takeoff quantities into editable quote lines with cents-exact totals.
See it in BuildVision AI
Costing spreadsheet import
Import CSV, XLSX, or XLS price lists, choose a worksheet, verify automatic column mapping, preview valid rows, and review row-level failures.
- CSV and Excel input
- Adjustable column mapping
- Preview and row-level results
What you'll accomplish
Maintain a reviewed cost reference and create a defensible quote total from takeoff-derived quantities.
Steps
- Open Costing and review Materials, Labor, or Subcontractors, or import CSV/XLSX/XLS rows with worksheet selection, mapping, and preview.
- Create or edit reusable rates, archive obsolete rows, or open Calculators for a formula-driven estimate.
- Export reviewed takeoff quantities to a quote, save selected calculator outputs to a new or existing quote, or start a blank/template quote.
- Use Manual line or From Costing to complete the quote and organize sections and row order.
- Review quantity, unit, sell price, cost, tax, discount, overhead, expiry, subtotal, total, and validation states.
What to expect
- Costing rows show cost, sell price, and markup in the workspace currency; Labor uses hours as its unit.
- Quote values stay in cents, and Preview uses the same calculation rules as the saved quote.
- Line subtotal is quantity times unit price; tax is line-based, and discount subtracts last.
- Spreadsheet import caps a run at 500 valid rows and reports skipped rows; larger files must be split.
- The quote builder supports direct inputs and Costing-backed insertion, but does not imply live market pricing or a supplier feed.