How To Use National Estimator Software by Craftsman on your PC

How To Use Craftsman National Construction Estimator Software on your PC

National Estimator is a highly competitive building cost estimating program made for the US market. Its rich and well researched cost database covers all 50 states in the USA as well as Canada, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. It’s a simple but useful program which can be installed on your PC or used online in the cloud. We discuss how to install and use the program on your PC to build a quick estimate for your project:

1 – Download Craftsman National Estimator from their website.

2 – Install the software on your PC

3 – Double click the desktop shortcut to open the software.

The Area Modifications window will pop up. Its basically a window to define your Location by City and Zip Code before you start estimating building your project. Thats because the cost of building or construction index differs by location. On the same window, there is a section to select the items (cost breakdown) you want to price. These are Materials, Labor and Equipment.

4 – Enter your Zip Code. Lets say your building project is based in Sacramento, California. You should enter the Zip Code 958 for Sacramento in the window, then click OK. That means building cost rates in the city of Sacramento will be used to calcuate your project amount.

Craftsman National Estimator_Starting the Program – Enter Your Zip Code

The User Interface:

Upon entering your Zip Code and clicking Submit, you will be taken to the user interface.

The main navigation bar has 4 rows.

1st row – The top menu >> File | Edit | View | Utilities| Window | Help
2nd row – The icon menu >> Shows all the tools as icons
3rd row – The page you are currently on (in the Cost Book) is indicated here.
4th row – The estimate headers are shown here >> Craft@Hrs | Unit | Material | Labor Equipment | Total.

To begin building up your BOQ items and estimating, you need the Cost Book and the Estimate Window.

The Cost Book contains all the BOQ items as well as cost rates which are needed to build up your project. Cost rates can be updated as needed with each quarterly publication of the Craftsman Book.

You will start by going to the Estimate Window, which is a blank page or Blank Estimate. This is where you must insert measurement items from the Cost Book.

The best view or mode for estimating is the Split Window, which gives you a view of the Estimate and the Cost Book at the same time. The views are split horizontally, with the Cost Book at the top and the Blank Estimate at the bottom. As you can see, this mode is good for productivity, you can easily select items from the Cost Book and insert them in the Estimate.

Spit Window_Cost Book and Blank Estimate View – National Estimator

To start inserting items into your Estimate,

1 – Click “Split Window” in the top menu, to show the Cost Book and Estimate in the same view.
2 – Click the magnifying glass icon “Index Window” in the top menu. The Item Index Search Bar will pop up on the far right side of the screen. This allows you to pick items from the Cost Book by clicking through the index list or searching for a specific item in the Cost Book using keywords.

As you can see, you should be an experienced Construction Cost Estimator to know which cost items are needed in your Estimate. Knowledge in building construction and technology as well as experience in preparation of Bills of Quantities will be essential to build your project costs.

Let’s say you are building a slab foundation, enter the keyword “Foundations” in the Index Search Bar. Select all the Elemental Items that form the structure of a Slab Foundation, also known as the Substructure. These are constituent items such as Excavation, Concrete Footings, Foundation Brickwork, Filling, Reinforcement, Waterproofing and Concrete Slab.

So we will start our estimate by adding Excavation items:

In the Index Search Bar, select “Excavation” under Foundations by double clicking the item, so that it appears in the top window of the split view.

From the Cost Book window, Select all the items you want to add in your Estimate using your mouse or touchpad. These include Item Heading, Item Descriptions and Cost Rates.

Right click and choose Paste to add the selection in your Estimate.

Upon pasting a selection that includes a Cost Rate, you will be prompted to enter Cost Information in the box that pops up. Here you are required to enter quantities, and alternatively your own inhouse hourly labour rates, manhours, material and equipment costs. You can use rates from National Estimator if you dont have time to build up your own rates.

Spit Window_Cost Book and Estimate View – National Estimator

Entering Quantities:

Note that you need to do the required plan takeoff before estimating. That means you should have the measurements and total quantities ready when you are using National Estimator.

At this point, you should have noticed that National Estimator is a construction cost estimating software with a huge and detailed cost database in the local construction industry in the USA.

The cost estimating program could be used in conjuction with an advanced quantity takeoff software, to make up for the basic measurement features which are limited to one-dimensional entries.

Automatic Linking and SubTotal Calculation:

One of the things you would love about Craftsman National Estimator is the automatic calculation of SubTotals, which eliminates the possibility of human errors and the need for manual calculations. All you need to focus on is creating a qualitative estimate by carefully including all the required BOQ elements and entering takeoff quantities. It’s quite easy to miss a few cost items in your estimate if you are in a hurry. Automatic calculation gives you more time to focus on what matters. The Cost Book is fully automized, so any item you add to the Estimate will be automatically calculated and linked to the SubTotal, which saves you a lot of time.

Automatic Subtotal Calculation_National Estimator