DOT Bid Item Import from State DOT Websites

This is Josh over at HSS. Today what we're going to do is we're going to look at how HeavyBid can quickly help you make estimates and reduce a lot of the repetition that you have to make using DOT websites. So right now I have HeavyBid open and we are in a blank estimate. Right now I have the estimate name but normally I'd have my bid items all right here. So what we're going to do is we're going to use the DOT files in order to create this. Going over to exchange I'll be able to move to the Import DOT button and that will bring me to this screen. In this screen I can choose the specific DOT state that I'm going to be working with or a specific format or tool I want to use. Beneath that what you're going to see is the ability to pull in that specific file that you're getting from the DOT website. Now whenever I hit Import DOT bid items it's going to create a quick backup and on the left hand side which you'll notice in the table of contents is all the different bid items I need to estimate. Now you can see about 17 bid items were created from that. Some of these are going to be again repetition. So I already have ways that I want to estimate those items. By hitting Build Activities it's going to ask me if I want to create a quick backup and on the left hand side what you're going to notice is all of these items were already created. In fact it says 19 activities were created with a total cost of about 1 million dollars. Four bid items remain without activities. Now I can go in and start creating these activities from scratch if I want to or you can see from the DOT import we have all of these items already created for you. Now whenever I select them I can see more details on the right hand side. Right here I have the name of the bid item. I have the name of the step that I need to complete so clearing and grubbing and then I have all of the resources that I'll need as far as my crew goes. Now with that I have all my costs, hours and of course the grand total of how much that's going to cost me. Whenever I'm done estimating all of my costs I can start moving into the fun stuff like markup. I'll go over to the bid summary screen in order to do that Right here at the top left hand side what we're seeing are all of the different costs broken down into separate items and then I can apply whatever markup percentage I want to on those. What you'll notice is in the yellow right here I have my grand total my total desired bid price. Now if I want to manipulate this on a line-by-line basis I can go over to the bid pricing screen. Right here what I can see are all of my bid items listed out for me. Now with that I have the markup right so that is already calculated but if I want to go and overwrite any one of those things I can very easily come in here type in whatever my new unit price is going to be and it will recalculate those for me. That being said whenever I'm ready to start sending this out to DOT or to any project owner I can go over to the print screen and what it will do for me is it will print it in the specific format the DOT requires. So right here I have everything already listed out for me with a grand total and I can include any of my inclusions, exclusions, terms and conditions. So to recap, that is how the DOT import inside of heavy bid can help you quickly estimate, reduce repetition and give you a standard while estimating. Do you have any questions about this feature or about how our software can help you take better control of your workflow call, chat or request a custom demonstration on our website.