locations

[lombardiandson]

Is it possible to get locations to show up in my contracts.Without the location its difficult to separate the areas of the job.

[Dennis]

Is it possible to get locations to show up in my contracts.Without the location its difficult to separate the areas of the job.

In the 4.2 update, we are just starting to support room locations, as well as the "stock" locations that you can set up sort of like categories. Over the next few updates we'll be doing more with them. So that ties in pretty well with this request.

What exactly did you have in mind for this?

We can certainly add a text-substitution option so it will mention the room/location name for each item in the Scope of Work. But the problem with that is that it would require you to always enter locations, for all projects that get contracts. Otherwise it will just have a blank for the location, and it will read funny.

Estimate Print Forms have an option to group things by location, and we might be able to do a similar grouping in the contract, with subheadings of some sort. That might be more practical, since you could use it on just some contracts.

[lombardiandson]

either one would work great .Right now the contracts are hard to understand if you have more than one location.Separating them would be perfect.

[glbuild@verizon.net]

of mine has a location for each line item. I don't find it a pain, I really need them. Locations identify the room, or area (deck vs. porch) or bid topic (startup, planning) to keep things separated. I have enough added generic locations for up to 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, roof, basement, interior walls, etc. I also use these locations for Alternates that may be called out in bid docs. I have reworked the Estimate printed form extensively for presentation purposes, and the locations help customers and crew (and me, later) figure out where on the drawings I was talking about. We have that capapbility right now, just add the locations you need.
Jim

[lombardiandson]

i just want the locations to show up when i print out a contract.

[Dennis]

I can think of two ways to accomplish that.

1. Do a text substitution-- so you could have a clause that is something like "Install dancing flamingo wallpaper in the north bedroom." The problem with that is, if there is no location listed, you'd just get "Install dancing flamingo wallpaper in the."

Maybe we could fill in something like <unlisted location> but it still would pretty much require you to always use locations. We wouldn't want to rewrite 2000 contract specs to include the locations, if it's going to make contracts sound stupid when people don't enter a location.

2. Another option would be to do something like this:

North Bedroom
Install 343 square feet of dancing flamingo wallpaper.
Install 4444 glow-in-the-dark flamingo decals on ceiling.

West Bedroom
Install 1200 square feet of perplexed gargoyle wallpaper.
Install 2222 glow-in-the-dark gargoyle decals on ceiling.

Etc.

That would mean rewriting the contract code so it did breakdowns, similar to what we do in other reports and printed forms. It would also allow breakdowns by category. I think it will be complicated to do this, since the estimate line items are probably not in location order, to start. But programmers can solve almost anything, it's just a matter of how much time it takes.

Do you have a preference for which to use? Or are you thinking of something else entirely?

[lombardiandson]

either one would work good.The way it is now ,when you print out a contract you cant tell what area the work will be done in.It gets very confusing to customers.

[glbuild@verizon.net]

I understand now, you don't use Locations in your estimate, but you want them to appear in line items in your contract, or as headings in a group of line items in your contract. I don't use the full program, just estimating.
I refer to the estimate in my contract, and attach a copy, just as I refer to the drawings, payment schedule, etc. My estimates and the for-print pdf version I attach to my contracts, show Location in the first column. Line items are sorted by Category, then by Location, so they're grouped somewhat. It's really a different approach from what you say you want, but it works for my crew and for the customer.
Jim