Greg Harth, co-owner with his father, Allyn Harth, of Harth Builders, in Spring House, Pa., created this estimating spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel.
“It’s a simple spreadsheet that captures all the important information you need in an estimate,” Harth says, “and it’s easy to manipulate.”
“You can build a proposal or scope of work in parallel with it,” he points out. “Every time you write something in a proposal, it’s going to have a cost associated with it. Every time you commit to doing something, there’s a cost. In the spreadsheet, we’re just defining costs that we have in the proposal. By breaking down the estimate into smaller and smaller pieces, it’s easier to get a more accurate proposal.”
