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Materials List to Import Into SoftList

lumber yard materials list materials list data base

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#1 Verlin Klassen

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 11:31 AM

I am wanting to offer my customers budget pricing so they have an idea if their can afford their dream and approx. what it will cost. I know I could tell them that your house will cost approx. so much a square foot, but I am wishing to get something more accurate. I can use software such as RS Means online for this, but am thinking that if I could get soft list set up properly i would have the information as soon as the drawing is done. The issue i have with that is that I don't want to be contacting a lumber yard for a quote on materials for every few projects. I am wondering if there is any lumberyard or perhaps chain lumberyard such as Home Depot that would have a price list to download. I know that pricing varies by region, but I am only looking for budget pricing.

Better yet would be if there would be a resource for pricing that could be brought right into SoftList.


Verlin Klassen

Westman Drafting


#2 Martin Livingston

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 05:32 PM

I have my lumber tables set up to work with external tables that I can import revised pricing into. For everything else I just tried to do what you are asking and it can be done. If you assign an Order Number to each and every Material Definition that you want to "source out" for price updates you can export the costs for those items to a new .SPX file with a name of your choosing. If you import that file into Excel and use the settings for "comma delimited" you wind up with a spreadsheet that you can email to a supplier who can edit your costs and send it back. Export the Excel spreadsheet back to a Comma Delimited file, change the file extension to SPX and you can use the Softplan Cost Import function to update all the order numbers in the list. To be effective your order number (max 16 characters) should be the SKU used by your supplier so they recognize the item. I would advise that you review the returned EXCEL spreadsheet VERY carefully before importing it into your system in case the data is corrupted. It should consist of two columns only with the first column being the Order Number and the second the Cost like the sample below.

Attached Thumbnails

  • EXCEL COSTS.jpg
  • MATERIAL DEFINITION.jpg

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#3 Verlin Klassen

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Posted 19 January 2018 - 07:24 AM

Thank-you Martin. I knew it could be done that way, but part of my question is where can I go to get an updated materials price list if I am not actually buying or getting them to quote my project.

Another question , how do you deal with things like floor and roof packages where there is no set price and each project is different? Cabinetry and windows are a couple more items where there are so many options and so many sizes.


Verlin Klassen

Westman Drafting


#4 Martin Livingston

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Posted 19 January 2018 - 11:59 AM

The building supply business, like any other, is a dog-eat-dog environment. Every outside sales rep is hunting for new business. If you are promoting that supplier to your clients then I imagine the sales rep will be pleased to update your prices a couple of times a month. It is not a big time investment on his/her part depending on the extent of the list.

 

As far as floor and roof packages  simply leave the joist/truss definitions at a zero cost and add a material definition for the packages with a lump sum price or create a user defined variable with a prompt to enter the quote amount at the time of the report. Once it is entered you can freeze that amount for that job. You can also create a speed note for the truss/floor specifications and assign a value to it. There are lots of ways to use Softlist to add the costs to the takeoff.

 

Cheers!


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#5 Martin Livingston

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Posted 19 January 2018 - 12:04 PM

Typically I would use individual component pricing to get a budget figure for the project. Once the project starts the budget can be recalculated with hard quotation figures for foundation, floor, roof, cabinet, plumbing, electrical, etc. package.


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