Feature RequestsReport by Assembly Level
Is it possible to have a report that is grouped by assembly level? Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc....
For Example, I have takeoffs, where the primary assembly is the controlling quantity. In this Slab on Grade assembly the overall quantity being placed is 21,708 sf. So in the estimating software, this is the main quantity I need to know, with all the items being summed underneath it. Some of those items are parts of other take-off's of either the same or different types, like Construction Joints that are Linear Feet, or thickened areas that are sub areas.
In this image above the Joint and the thickened areas are all part of the 4" Slab on Grade assembly.
Report by Take-off type preserves this structure, but the independent items that are of the same name are not summed together.
What would be helpful is if all the items and takeoff could be collapsed back to and/or summarized by the primary or secondary takeoff level.
The group by folder level 1, level 2, level 3 etc would also do this in terms of summarizing items in the right groups, but it lacks the detail of what the primary unit and primary quantity is.
The reason the primary unit is needed, in the estimating software there is the primary quantity which determines the primary unit cost for the slab (or whatever the thing is) and this would include everything that is subsidiary to that takeoff.
Thank you!
Hi, thanks for the feature request! I have shared it with the dev team. Please feel free to outline your workflow so we can make the best feature!
I have had a couple conversations with the team @ Bid Bow.
The idea is to get the data sorted in a way that is easily identifiable over there. Hadeel mentioned she has a meeting set up with you all tomorrow.
If there was a report that was collapsible to the primary take-off level. That assembly would become the "Item" over in Bid Bow. With it's parents quantity that is the controlling quantity for the bid item. In the example above "4" Slab on grade" with a unit of SF and a quantity of 21,708 SF would be what brought in as the "Parent". The other information below can be summarized by either Item Name or TakeOff name which would preserve all the relevant data as a quantity with a unit. These summarized items would be pulled into Bidbow as "variables" that can be chosen from when cost out the Parent Item "4" Slab on Grade". This is what the end result would look like ideally:
4" Slab on Grade 21,708.22 SF
-->Slab on Grade Concrete 440.94 CY
-->Expansion 895.15 LF
-->Thickened Area 5,282 SF
-->Construction Joint 460.20 LF
-->Form Lumber 179.2 Bd-Ft
-->Dowels @ 12" OC 269 EA
-->Form Stakes 12 Bndl
The "-->" Summarized items become usable variables over in Bid Bow.
If there are other Take-Off Assemblies with sub-takeoffs those would summarize in the same way.
Let me know if that makes sense, or if we need to hop on a meeting to discuss I am happy to help.
Thank you again!
@David,
We have this workflow sketched out 166 days ago in Ediphi. Check out the "assembly" workflow. LINK to Thread. Hope it sparks a idea. I know bid bow is ahead of the curve tho with detail trade selfwork estimating in the web.
Hi @Stephen, this is Hadeel from BidBow. Thanks @David for looping me in!
In addition to the summary David explained in his last message, here's what's on our wish list that would make the workflow we're building much more predictable:
- Can we please use one set of quantity/unit columns e.g. Units 1 and Measurements 1 as the primary measurement across the board? (i.e. at the assembly and item levels) currently, some rows have measurements/units in one column and others have it in another column
- If zz has a unique "behind the scenes" identifier on the assembly and items, this would help with update workflows. i.e. if the user renames their assembly and items, then with an identifier, we can detect that as an update vs deletion/addition.
- If zz can send the level in a column that would help as well, currently we rely on parsing spacing on our side which could be fragile
See below example. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for your partnership, and excited to be building together!
Now its a party. @Hadeel thank you for pushing us.
Few thoughts, since zzTakeoff is so customizable we need your tool to also allow more flex. There needs to be a "mapping" process that would need to get configured at setup for each company you work with. I see this being a "drag and drop" type interface to map stuff together that super-users can figure out to make the tools work together.
Check out this link for the GUIDS (aka unique identifiers) LINK
As far as one set of quantities, that is covered at the item level in zzTakeoff and is going to work epic. This tool you need to have a fundamental shift from other QTO software's, as zzTakeoff will be the source of truth for many of the things you think you should be the source of truth in your tool.....you need to share now.
The level's comment does not make sense to me.
@Hadeel Looking forward to deeper integration with BidBow 🚀
Lots of good things ahead. Once we have our integration system built, then you will be able to add Custom Properties in zzTakeoff that are dropdowns directly from other apps we integrate with (primarily estimating apps). These dropdowns can be used to pick a Product, Project, Vendor, Customer, etc. This will tag data directly to zzTakeoff items, assemblies, folders, projects, and will be attached when syncing back to the external app.
@Heber,
I'm hopeful BidBow has the ONE project to MANY estimates figured out too. Still dreaming that the zzTeam will nail this soon too and its getting even more critical before any useful integrations starts with estimating tools. Here is the link on this topic LINK
@Kyle Yes, we'll get it as soon as we can. Just juggling a lot 😊 Our team is moving fast, though. We'll keep pushing.
@Heber @Kyle appreciate the warm welcome and we always value feedback that helps us validate we're building something that works for most people.
I love seeing the ideas and passion around this! This integration topic specifically has generated a lot of conversations for us over the past months. We've been downstream from many takeoff workflows that are so different depending on the estimator, trade, and company. We've iterated through multiple approaches, challenged our own assumptions, and our recent conversations with @David pushed us toward a framing that feels different. It's flexible enough to fit almost any situation, especially for self-perform workflows where both takeoffs and estimates tend to go deep, so mapping isn't always straight forward.
We've spent many hours working through it, so there's more nuance than a community post can do justice to. But we're working towards a solution that will feel like it just works, easily, without complexity, and a lot of flexibility, using reports we already have from zz today. That said, I'm certain that it will evolve. The goal right now is getting it in front of people who understand both BidBow and zzTakeoff well enough to give us feedback that moves the needle. This feedback will make the API integration better once that collaborative effort kicks off.
If others are interested in the near-term solution we are building, I'll make a mental note to post a video here in the coming weeks, and always happy to meet if you'd like to do a deeper dive. This topic is a big priority for us.
@Hadeel Awesome! I'm very interested to see a video when you get a chance. It's great that you are starting with a clean straightforward solution that works today, and we can always continue to iterate to improve like you mentioned.