Price a proposal

Pricing is the first of three steps that turn an Open proposal into a Finalized one: Review, Indirect costs, then Summary & finalize. In this first step you check what each specification costs in material and labor. A specification is a group of elevations (drawings of one opening or wall of glass) that share a system and finish.

You need at least one elevation before you can price. To add one, see Add specifications and elevations.

Start pricingCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the project, then open the proposal.
2. Click Price & quote proposal.

BidUnity works out the prices and opens the Material and labor costs page. While it works, a note says Pricing is being calculated (or Pricing is queued). If it fails, you see Pricing build failed. Click Update pricing to try again.

The button doesn't show once the proposal is finalized (you see View & send instead) or the project is closed. If it is greyed out, the proposal has no elevations yet.

You can leave and come back later. Click Back to proposal in the bar at the bottom of the page to leave the pricing steps. When you click Price & quote proposal again, your part, finish and door choices are kept.

Check the material and labor costsCopy Anchor Link

The page shows one card per specification, with its price, system, finish and labor time. Click Pricing review help at the top for a short guide to how prices are worked out. For the full math, see How pricing works.

1. Look for a Pricing needs attention box on each card. It tells you what's wrong:
   • Some required components could not be found.
   • Some required parts are missing prices.
   • Some parts use a different or fallback finish.
   • One or more doors have pricing warnings.
2. Click the material row to see the cost accounts. Click an account to see its parts, with the vendor, quantity, unit price and Your cost. Badges such as Missing price, Finish warning and Door warning point you to the rows that need work.
3. Click Labor to see shop and field labor. The Labor row shows the labor cost per square foot for the specification. Each account shows its rate per hour or per square foot. When labor is priced part by part, an account also shows its cost per square foot, such as "$4.50/sqft @ $65.00/hr".
4. Fix any problems using the sections below.
5. Click Next: Indirect costs.

If Next: Indirect costs is blocked, a message beside it says why, for example while pricing is still being rebuilt.

Add a missing priceCopy Anchor Link

A part with no price for the chosen finish shows Missing price.

1. On the part row, click Add missing price.
2. On the Choose a vendor part page, click an existing vendor part number. If none fits, click Create a new vendor part and create it first.
3. On the Custom finish price page, choose the Finish color and Finish type, and enter Your list price.
4. Click Save finish price.

You go back to the review, and BidUnity updates the proposal's prices. For more about finish prices, see Add parts and finish prices.

If many parts are missing prices, your vendor multipliers may need a look. In Pricing review help, company admins see a Check company vendor multipliers link. Other users see Ask your company admin to check vendor multipliers. See Choose vendors and set multipliers.

Choose a different part or finishCopy Anchor Link

BidUnity picks the lowest price for each part in the specification's finish. If a part has no price in that finish, BidUnity uses a mill finish or Not Applicable price if there is one. Otherwise it uses the most expensive price in another finish and marks the part Doesn't match the specification finish. Check those parts and choose a finish yourself. To use another one:

1. On the part row, click the button that shows the part number and finish in use. If no part is chosen yet, the button says Choose vendor pricing.
2. The Choose vendor pricing for window lists every vendor, part number and finish you can use, with Units sold, Unit price and Your cost. Type in the search box to find a vendor, part number or finish. Click the Vendor, Part #, Finish or Your cost heading to sort by it.
3. Click Select on the one you want. The one in use says Selected.

Your choice applies to every place the part is used in that specification. If a part has only one option and it's already in use, the row shows it as plain text, with no button.

Change a door's costCopy Anchor Link

When a material account includes doors, they have their own table inside that account, below its parts. A door warning tells you what to fix, for example that no price was found for that door size, or that a cheaper door setup is available.

• Click View frame or View leaf to see what the door's frame or leaf (the part that swings) costs. To change the door itself, click Open elevation editor in that window.
• Click Change cost to enter your own Custom unit cost, then click Save cost. The table then shows the original cost next to yours.

A custom cost is kept when you change labor rates, but Update pricing replaces it.

Change labor ratesCopy Anchor Link

1. On a specification card, click Change labor rates. The same button is also on the card's Labor row.
2. For each system type, choose a Labor pricing method:
   • Elevation square feet prices labor by the area of each elevation.
   • Individual part labor adds up the labor for each part.
3. Enter the shop and field labor rates, per hour and per square foot.
4. Click Save and update pricing.

The new rates apply to this proposal only. New proposals start from your company's defaults. See Set proposal defaults.

Update pricingCopy Anchor Link

If you change elevations or catalog prices after you start, recalculate the prices.

1. Click Update pricing, either on a specification card or at the bottom of the page for the whole proposal.
2. Choose Keep selected parts to keep the parts and finishes you picked where they still fit, or Select lowest prices to start over with the lowest prices.
3. Click Update pricing.

Either way, BidUnity rebuilds door frames, leaves and other door choices from the current elevation drawings, so any custom door cost you entered is replaced. Enter it again after the update.

What happens nextCopy Anchor Link

• You move to Add indirect costs, the second step.
• The proposal stays Open until you finalize it in the third step.