How to Write Spec Assemblies
Without Using Specs (or
Takeoff Attributes) and
Different Ways to Build Takeoff
Pads
Lee Richardson
Presenter – Lee Richardson
▪ Co-Owner and President of Atlantic Electric, LLC, a mid-sized South
Carolina based electrical contractor that specializes in industrial electrical
projects.
▪ Graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1976 with a BS in
electrical engineering and in 1990 with a MBA.
▪ Licensed professional engineer in SC since 1981.
▪ Holds an unlimited electrical contractors license in SC, GA, NC, and LA.
▪ Sit on the South Carolina Licensing Board for Contractors
▪ Past president of the South Carolina Mechanical Contractor's Association.
▪ Written electrical estimating databases in Trimble Accubid Enterprise &
Classic and Timberline Precision. Additional experience with ConEst,
McCormick and VisionInfoSoft electrical estimating products.
Goals for this Session
▪ Demonstrate different methods for building assemblies
▪ Discover what is possible when building assemblies
▪ Review how assemblies can help improve your estimates
A Quick Review
▪ Trimble Accubid Enterprise utilizes SQL Server as its database engine
–Microsoft product
–Widely use for databases
▪ Think of a car…
–Microsoft makes the engine, SQL Server, which does the sorting, filtering
and calculations on the data
–Trimble Accubid Enterprise is the rest of the car that tells it what
operations it needs to perform and what to do with results
Information on Databases
▪ Databases work with different types of data
▪ Example of SQL Server field (or data) types:
–Text
–Integer
–Date/Time
–Yes/No
–Decimal (numeric)
–Image
▪ In order to efficiently work on the data, the program (SQL Server/Enterprise)
needs to know what type of data it is working on.
–For example: you can’t give the program a “text” value when it is
expecting a “Decimal” number – this will typically generate an error
message.
What we have covered…
▪ The database is arrange hierarchically by Folder, Subfolders, Items Groups
and Items.
▪ Folder and Subfolders are distinguished by name
▪ Item Groups are distinguished by their names and sometimes Material
Category
▪ Items are distinguished by the value of their Attribute(s)
▪ All Item Groups in the same Subfolder must contain the exact same
Attribute(s) but not necessarily Attribute Subgroups
What is a spec?
▪ A spec Assembly is an Assembly that has a Folder in it
▪ There are 3 things we can put in an Assembly:
–Folder
–Item Group
–Another Assembly
▪ If there is a Folder in the Assembly it is a spec Assembly and must have a
specification or it will not resolve
Another way to write spec Assemblies?
▪ The purpose of a specification is to choose the Item Group from a Folder
▪ We can also do also do this by using Formulas in the Assembly
–Put all the Item Groups from a Folder directly into the Assembly
–Write an Attribute Variable that chooses the Item Group we want
▪Create a numeric Attribute that lists the choices
▪Numeric values determine the order of the choices
▪The description is what the estimator sees in a dropdown box
Questions?
If you have further questions:
▪ Review the slide deck
▪ Grab my card
Thank You for Attending