Sage Timberline Estimating
Takeoff
Introduction
Where are we going?
This handout is designed to help demonstrate how to use Sage's Timberline Estimating using the SQL
database. This handout covers takeoff procedures and methods.
To help with learning, a simple database is provided along with a simple drawing to use with this
handout.
The sample drawings are located at http://www.et.byu.edu/groups/cmfac/miller/projects/box/.
Use the TutorialDB database for this assignment.
Corrupt Data
Part I: Estimate Creation
Load Sage Estimating. Do this by going to Start, Sage, Estimating 14.11, Sage Estimating 14.11.
Sage Estimating works from 2 types of files, an estimate file(s) and a database file(s). The database
contains the items that you would use for an estimate. The estimate file is a selection of items from the
database that apply to a particular project. Once the items are in the estimate file, the link between the
database and the estimate is severed. This means that you can modify the items in the estimate without
affecting the database and vis versa.
Creating a New Estimate
1. Create a estimate by selecting the
New estimate button.
2. Name the estimate Items???. Where the question marks are put your initials.
3. Choose the Tutorial database.
4. Click OK to create the new estimate.
5. On the "Estimate Information:" window, enter the following:
a. Project: Takeoff Items
b. Job Size: 3500. this represents the SF of the project.
c. Estimator: (scroll down a ways) Your Name. Note: Always enter your name in this field
for the remainder of the semester.
d. Feel free to look and enter any information on the other tabs. When you are done
browsing click on OK. (If you clicked OK too soon, you can return to this same window
by selecting Info on the Home ribbon).
6. Select the File ribbon and select Options.
7. Select the Folders Tab
8. Change the Exported reports folder to F:\CM 411\reports.
When working in the computer lab, this setting must be checked each time the computers are
used or the spreadsheet layouts created may not be available.)
9. Press Close.
Takeoff Modes
Sage Estimating offers two main modes of takeoff called item takeoff and assembly takeoff. Item takeoff
allows individual items to be selected from the database to be used in the estimate. Assembly takeoff
allows for a predetermined assembly of items to be taken off. Items in assemblies typically share
common dimensions and are intuitively taken off together. An example of this would be concrete, forms
and other related items.
This handout will cover both item and assembly takeoff.
PART II: ITEM TAKEOFF
On the Home ribbon, select Item Takeoff, or click on the
The yellow folders are called Group Phases and are similar to
the CSI divisions. Double click on 03- CONCRETE. The copper
folders are called phases and are comparable organizational
levels under the divisions of the 2004 MasterFormat coding
system. Double click on 03-30 10 Continuous Footings. The
orange sheets are the items in the database. It is at the item
level that items and costs are generated. The group phase
and phase folders are for organizational purposes and do not
contain any quantities or cost except from the items contain
in them.
To become familiar with some of the navigational features of
Sage Estimating, right click the mouse button to see the short
cut menu. Click on "Collapse All". The organizational structure
is collapsed. Now right click again then select "Expand All".
Now every item in the database is visible.
Item Takeoff icon.
SINGLE ITEM TAKEOFF
It is now time to takeoff the footings using item takeoff. Follow the instruction below. The text in blue
represents variables to which data will need to be entered. To find the correct input, reference the
footing and foundation plan.
On the Item Takeoff window select the phase 03-CONCRETE and select the following phase and item:
03-21 00 Concrete Reinforcing; 10 Continuous Ftg Rebar.
To select the item, either double click on it or drag it to the lower portion of the window. Notice
that a window appears.
With your mouse left click in the white cell to the right of Inc Dowels?. This is where you enter your
dimensions and answer questions. Type a 'Y' to include vertical rebar. Go to the next cell by pressing the
down arrow key, 'Enter', or 'Tab'. From the drawing enter the total LF of continuous footings described
as 'F1'. The LF of continuous footings should = 178.667'.
From the section view A/S-6, you will find:
Enter 24 for Dowel OC Spacing"
Enter 5.25 for Dowel Length'
Enter .668 for Dowel LB/ LF
Enter Yes for Inc LW Rebar?
Enter 20 for Matrl. Length Rebar'. (Rebar is typically purchased in 20' lengths)
30 is the # bar diameter lap
4 is the Rebar Size
2 in the # Cont. Ftg. Rebar
.668 to Conversion LB/LF (This is the last variable in the list, either press Enter or click the plus
to
generate the takeoff quantity from the formula. Do not press Enter and the plus sign. If you do, then the
quantity will be calculated twice yielding double the quantity! If you accidently pressed Enter and then
pressed the plus sign, you can undo the last pass by pressing the undo pass button
right of the plus sign.)
locate to the
At the bottom left takeoff window it should read 'Pass 2'. If it says 'Pass 1' you didn't press the plus
button. If it says 'Pass 3' you need to undo the last pass. To undo the last pass, read the above
paragraph.
In the lower portion of the takeoff window, in the Location column enter F1.
Click OK to save this item to the spreadsheet.
Additional Rebar Takeoff
Reselect the Continuous Ftg Rebar item from the database to be used for the F3 Footings. Enter the
dimensions for the variables for F3 footings. (hint: Right click in the cell to the right of LF of continuous
footings and use the calculator, enter ((2*pi*15*.5) + ...). The ... means to add the other dimensions that
are needed for the F3 footings.)
After entering all the dimensions click on
.
Review the quantities to see if the quantities are reasonable.
In the lower portion of the takeoff window, in the Location column enter F3.
Press OK to add the quantity to the estimate.
MULTIPLE ITEM TAKEOFF
Select the following 3 items, by double clicking each item, and enter the dimensions as per the plan AND
wall section AND footing schedule for the F3 footings.
03-30 10 Continuous Footings
10 Footing Forms
20 Place Cont Footing Concrete
c 30 3000 PSI Concrete
NOTE: Notice that when entering the dimensions the variables previously defined are still there. This
helps you in your takeoff, but caution must always be exercised because variable dimensions will change.
Enter the appropriate location in the Location column.
Click OK to accept the quantities for the F3 footings.
Repeat the above process, starting at MULTIPLE ITEM TAKEOFF enter the dimensions for the F1
Footings.
After you have taken off the F1 and F3 footings, select Close to return to the spreadsheet.
Revising items in Item Takeoff
The designers have changed the width on the F3 footings to 30" wide. To make the change to the F3
footings, select the tab at the bottom of the Sage Estimating window to the sequence of Location/Phase.
Select all the quantities (not the units) for the F3 footings by click and
holding down on the left mouse button on the Takeoff Quantities for
the items that are at the F3 location.
After selecting all the quantities for the F3 footings right click on the
black highlighted areas and select Enter Dimensions. Notice that the
dimensions that are next to the variables are the dimensions from
the F1 Footings, because they were the last dimensions entered.
Now input the correct dimensions for the F3 footings and press the
button REPLACE QTY. The quantities on the spreadsheet should now
be updated. Please use the revised width for the F3 footings for all your future takeoffs with the BOX
drawings.
Combine Item
On the spreadsheet in the Phase/Item sequence, there are two of each item shown on the spreadsheet.
If you want to combine the similar items together press the combine item icon
. To uncombined
similar items press the button again. The combine item only works if the items are essentially
completely similar. The items won't combine if the description has been changed or if the pricing
information is different.
When the items are combine, the prices cannot be changed.
PART III: GENERATING REPORTS
SPREADSHEET LAYOUT
Make sure you are on the Phase/Item Tab that is located at the bottom of the spreadsheet window.
The spreadsheet can be viewed in many different ways to accommodate the estimators needs. Fonts
can be changed, text, and cell colors can be changed. Columns can be reorder or turned on and off.
Make sure you are on the Phase/Item Tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. On the Home ribbon in the
Spreadsheet are select the Layout tool
.
Create a new layout. Click on the Add button. Name the new layout CM411. Select Edit… Select Use for
new estimates.
Study this window for a few minutes and examine what options are available. (The width of the columns
in this screen can be adjusted so you can see more columns.)
Do the following: (Make all other columns not visible. If a width is not specified below, leave it at the
default width.)
Column
Change Column
Name
Visible Width Font Color Background Color
Group
X
blue
Phase
X
purple
Description
X
Takeoff Quantity
X
Unit
X
5
X
6
Labor Productivity
X
12
Labor Unit/Unit
X
8
Labor Cost/Unit
X
Labor Cost Unit
X
Labor Price
X
8
Labor Price Unit
X
4
Labor Amount
X
12
light yellow
Material Price
X
Material Price Unit
X
Material Amount
X
12
light yellow
Sub Amount
X
12
light yellow
Equipment Amount
X
12
light yellow
Other Price
X
Other Price Unit
X
Other Amount
X
12
light yellow
Total Amount
X
12
Waste
Wst
30
Enter 8 into the Lock columns cell. Locking columns will make it so that as you scroll to the right on
the spreadsheet, the phase, item description and takeoff quantity will be visible.
Now view your screen and notice what happened.
Notice that in the Labor Price column, there are really 2 columns there, one for the $'s and the other
column for the unit.
Exporting
There are two types of layouts in Timberline Estimating. First there is the spreadsheet layout that was
done using the table above. There is also a print Layout that controls the looks of the printouts.
Spreadsheet layouts can be used for the basis of print layouts, Print layouts cannot be used as a
template for spreadsheet layouts.
Before exporting, be sure that you are on the Phase/Item sequence on the spreadsheet
Print Layout Options
Sage Estimating has various reports that can be produced.
Go to
and select Spreadsheet.
Select Report Options...
Press the Prefill from Spreadsheet button and select the following options.
Report Options Tab
Do not Print cover page.
Combine items.
Print Estimate Totals
Page Setup Tab
Orientation: Landscape
Select 'Fit to' and enter 1 page(s) wide
EDIT HEADERS
Editing headers relates to including your name as the estimator on the spreadsheets that you print.
After you make your changes, each time you create a new estimate your name will appear on the
spreadsheets when you remember to name yourself as the estimator on the Estimate Information
window when creating an estimate.
Select the Edit Hdr/Ftr... box. Now in the Edit Report Header/Footer, click on the top left box among
the white boxes where <Company Name> appears and highlight the <Company Name> field. Hit delete
key to remove the "Company Name" and select the Insert Field
Estimator. Now Close the Header/Footer Field List. Select OK .
icon. Scroll down and double click on
Select Save Layout and save the layout name as PCM 411 which will differentiate it from your
spreadsheet layout. Save it as a Personal Layout.
Now that you're back on the Spreadsheet Report Options window. Select the Preview button to ensure
that your changes were correctly entered. If any columns are filled with ####, that means that the
column is not wide enough. Make the column on the spreadsheet wider, repeat the above steps until
the ### are replaced by numbers. It is the columns on the Totals Page that need to be adjusted (See
below).
To do this, close the print window. On the View ribbon, make sure there is a check mark in the
Totals box.
At the bottom of the screen, select the Totals tab. The very last column is the percent column
that needs to be made wider. At the column heading row, place the cursor to the right of the
column and until the double arrow cursor appears and drag the column a little wider. The
number columns of Amount, Total, Hours, Rate columns may need to be made wider. The unit
column for Rate may need to be made narrower.
Click back on the spreadsheet and the totals window will slide to the bottom of the program.
On the Home ribbon, go to the Report, Spreadsheet window and select Report Options. Select the
Prefill from Spreadsheet button, Preview the report to see if it looks better.
Your name will appear at the top left of the spreadsheet if you remembered to name yourself as the
estimator when you opened the current estimate. Now each time you open a new estimate, you can
enter your full name in the Estimator field and your name will instantly appear on the printed
spreadsheets. From the Preview window, press CLOSE not print.
Now Save the Print Layout by pressing the Save Layout button as PCM 411, which will differentiate it
from your spreadsheet layout.
EXPORTING REPORT 1
To create a PDF report, press the EXPORT button and select the File Type of Portable Document Format
(PDF). You will then be prompted for a file name and location. Enter a file name like Report1??? (use
your initials instead of ???) and the location of your Reports folder. The default location should be F:\CM
411\Reports. I would recommend leaving the PDF files at this location. Be sure to compare your report
to the solutions found on the CM 411 website under the Solutions link.
Note: Now close this estimate by pressing the X in the upper right hand corner of the spreadsheet tab
.
Please verify that each file is a readable PDF and that the data looks like you want it to.
Part IV: ASSEMBLY TAKEOFF
Create a new estimate (If you can't remember how to make a new estimate refer back to Part 1). Name
it Assembly??? (Replace the ??? with your initials). The Tutorial database should be associated with the
estimate.
Fill out the Estimate Information window to the extent that you desire then close the window.
(Remember to put your name in the Estimator field.)
Remember in Part I, continuous footing were taken off by selecting each item. Now items will be taken
off in a group called an Assembly. An assembly contains preselected items that typically are calculated
from the same dimensions.
Below is the process to takeoff the continuous footings. For the assignment, Do not takeoff the spread
footings.
PERFORMING FOOTING ASSEMBLY TAKEOFF
Select Assembly takeoff
.
From the 'Assembly Takeoff' list select 03-30 10 Continuous Footings.
Enter the length for the F1 footing.
Enter the rest of the quantities for the footings from the drawings. (Enter Yes for 'Use 3000 PSI Conc?'
Say No for 'Use 4000 PSI Conc?)
After generating the quantities for the F1 footings assign the F1 location to the items in the assembly.
Type F1 on the top row then move the cursor to another field. With the mouse, left click and hold down
the left mouse button until all the location fields with quantities are selected. Now right click and select
Fill Down. This will assign the F1 location to each item in the assembly.
Press OK to accept the assembly.
Now the F3 footings need to be taken off. Select the Continuous Footing assembly by double left
clicking and enter the dimensions. Remember to use the revised dimensions. Assign the F3 location and
press OK to accept the assembly for the F3 footings and Close the assembly takeoff window.
SPREADSHEET SEQUENCES
Notice that all of the items appear on the spreadsheet with their quantities. At the bottom of the
spreadsheet select the tab labeled Location/Phase. Notice how the spreadsheet is now sequenced.
FOUNDATION ASSEMBLY TAKEOFF
Now takeoff the foundation wall using assemblies. The foundation wall concrete PSI is 4000. Included
pumping for the foundations. Assign the location field to FND. Press OK when after taking off the
foundations. To return to the spreadsheet press Close.
Notice that the pumping item has a blue background and a larger font. This indicates that there is no
pricing on this item. For now just leave the pricing for pumping at 0.
BEST FIT
The next report that is printed needs to be in Location/Phase sequence. To do this press the tab at the
bottom of the window that is labeled Location/Phase.
Now where the gray row header and column header meet
, right click and select
Best Fit Column. This will make the columns as narrow or wide as they need to print correctly. Look at
the columns to make sure that the titles fit properly. If they don't, widen the columns on the
spreadsheet.
EXPORTING REPORT 2
Remember you are exporting the printouts to a PDF file.
Go to
and select Spreadsheet.
Select Report Options...
Press the Prefill from Spreadsheet button and select the following options.
Report Options Tab
Do not Print cover page.
Combine items.
Print Estimate Totals
Page Setup Tab
Orientation: Landscape
Select 'Fit to' and enter 1 page(s) wide
Preview the report.
If the report looks good export it, otherwise make the modifications necessary to improve the look of
the report (Report #2).
Part V: REVIEWING ASSEMBLY TAKEOFF
Sometimes after you have completed your takeoff of an assembly, you may receive an addendum from
the architect or engineer. Changes to the drawings are very common. Footing width and/or depth
changes are common. Also if a mistake is found, a correction needs to be made.
Changes
Change the spreadsheet sequences back to Phase/Item.
For the footings and foundations that you have taken off, the designer issued the following changes:
Item 1: Footing & Foundation Plan

F1 Footing width = 1'-6"

F1 Footing depth = 9"
Item 2: Footing & Foundation Plan

Fnd. Wall Thickness = 9”
Make the changes using Review Assemblies.
To review an assembly do the following:
Select the Assembly Takeoff icon
You will see a list of assemblies.
Right click in the window and select REVIEW ASSEMBLIES from the menu.
Only assemblies that have been taken off are visible. (You may need to double click on the 03- Concrete
group folder to see the assemblies you have taken off.) It is a little hard to tell which assembly is F1 and
F3. If you click on the assembly it will briefly show you the location. Select the F1 footing.
To make it easier to tell which footing is F1 or F3, by the name of the assembly add F1 to the description.
Now select Pass 1. You must select the Pass of dimensions that you want to change, otherwise the
quantities for the assembly will be WRONG. The window should look like the image below.
Now enter the revised dimensions for the F1 footing.
Press the Replace pass icon
DO NOT hit the add pass icon
Two passes are added to the assembly after pressing the Replace pass Icon. The first added pass cancels
the pass which had the error. It cancels the original pass by making the quantity -1. The second added
pass adds the corrected quantities.
Now revise the dimensions for the Foundation.
EXPORTING REPORT 3
The spreadsheet sequences should be: Phase/Item. Remember you are exporting the printouts to a PDF
file.
Export a spreadsheet report using the PCM 411 Layout sequence. Be sure that similar items are combine
(Report #3).
EXPORTING REPORT 4
A Bill of Materials needs to be exported. A bill of materials is a list of similar materials that a supplier will
use to provide you with prices. To export a bill of materials, select Reports from the Home ribbon, then
select Bill of Materials, then press the Export button (Report #4).
Part VI: ADD-ONS
Using the estimate that you have been working on, go to the Estimate Totals... by selecting the
Assembly Totals tab at the bottom of the program.
The Estimate totals page show the total costs of the cost categories and the costs for the estimate. This
is where the profit is 'added on' to the estimate. To Insert the addon, select
tool and then select
10 Profit, press the Close button. The profit is now added to the estimate. The profit percentage or
amount can be changed on this screen. If the percentage is changed, you must press the OK button to
see the dollar differences on the addons window.
TYPICALLY A BOND IS ADDED ONLY IF THE PROJECT DOCUMENTS REQUIRE IT.
To ensure that the totals are correct, you should always select the recalculate
a bid.
icon before submitting
Part VII: ONE-TIME ITEMS
A one-time item is an item that can be created quickly without being required to modify the database. A
one-time item is only included in an estimate not the database. To add a one-time item to an estimate
press the
icon on the ribbon. Create a one-time item for your estimate. An example of a one-time
item for this estimate be waterstop which would be placed between the footing and foundation to
prevent water migration into the structure.
The phase will default to the phase that the cursor is in on the spreadsheet. If you need to change the
phase just press the list icon
to the right of the field. The phase should be 03-30 10 Continuous
Footings.
Now enter a description for the one time item, Waterstop
Enter the quantity, 274
Enter the unit of the quantity, LF
If you want to enter a location, WBS code, or waste factor press the button Go To Detail.
If you are finished with the One Time item press OK.
The One time item should be now added to the spreadsheet.
Part VIII: Pricing
Remember that prices changed on the spreadsheet do not change prices in the database. If you want to
change prices in the database, read the Edit Database Handout. To change the prices for only this
estimate do the following:
Changing Prices
Assume that forming the foundation wall requires a different productivity rate for this project. The new
productivity rate is 6 sfca/mh. Go to the Foundation Forms row and the Labor Productivity column to
make the change. Notice the change in the Labor Amount column.
If the wage rate changes for the workers, the wage rate is changed in the Labor Price column.
Sometimes it is more convenient to change the unit cost of an item rather than the productivity rate.
Change the unit cost of Place Fnd Conc to 15.50/cy. To make this change go to the Labor Cost/Unit
column on the row of Place Fnd Conc. Change the rate to 15.50. Notice the change in the Labor Amount.
Also notice that it adjusted the productivity rate as well.
The price for pumping the concrete in the foundation wall should be a Sub price at $12/cy. Notice that
there is not a column in the spreadsheet to enter the price. Since it is anticipated that many sub prices
will need to be entered, we want to make it part of the CM 411 spreadsheet layout.
To edit the spreadsheet layout, select
. In the Spreadsheet Layout window, select CM 411 layout
then select Edit. Now place check mark in the Visible box to make the Sub Price and Sub Price Unit
columns visible. Press OK twice to return to the spreadsheet.
Now enter the revised price for pumping.
The waterstop item that was added to the database needs to be price in terms of productivity rather
than unit price. Change the Labor price unit from LF to mh. Change the labor price to $25.00/mh and
change the Labor Productivity to 25 LF/mh. Change the material price to $1.00/LF.
Part IX: Adjust
If the estimator feels that a price adjustment needs to be made, the estimator can do this by selecting
adjust column. Assume that the materials for the continuous footings should cost $500 more than what
is shown on the spreadsheet.
To make the adjustment, move the mouse over the Footing Forms item in the
Material Amount Column. Hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse
to the last 3000 PSI Concrete item. The material amounts for the continuous
footing item should have a black background will white characters. Release the
mouse buttons. Move the mouse over any of the selected cells and right click. The
screen should look like this.
Select Adjust Column.
Select Adjustment Type as Spread.
Enter the amount as 500.
Price linked items field should be Adjust
selected items only.
The Lumps sum items field should be Adjust
lump sums.
Press OK.
The adjust window that opens looks like this:
The material amount column will now be
adjusted with the $500 dollars being spread
over the three different items. On the
spreadsheet notice that the adjusted cells
have red tick marks in the upper right hand
corner to remind you which items have been
adjusted.
If you change your mind and want to undo
the adjustment you can by selecting the
adjusted fields and going to the adjust
window again. In the Adjust Type field select
Undo Adjustment and the adjustment will be
undone. FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT, DO NOT
UNDO THE ADJUSTMENT.
EXPORTING REPORT 5
Remember you are exporting the printouts to a PDF file.
Export a spreadsheet (Report #5) with the following options:
Report Options Tab:
Press Prefill from Spreadsheet (Be sure that the sequence is Phase/Item and the spreadsheet is using the
PCM411 Layout).
Combine items.
Print Estimate Totals (New page for totals NO).
Preview the estimate. If the Totals have a bunch of ####, the columns need to be wider on the Estimate
Totals page. Now Export Report 5.
Part X Summarized information
Timberline has the ability to summarize the costs for all the items within a spreadsheet sequence. Make
sure that the Phase/Item Spreadsheet sequence is selected at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Notice
that the Footings has 16.5 CY and that the Foundation has 35.41 CY.
On the View ribbon, the spreadsheet can be collapsed or expanded 1 level by pressing either of these
tools
. Now collapse the spreadsheet one level. All the rows collapse to the Phase level.
In the takeoff column, type in the quantities for the footings and foundations. Notice that unit prices are
showing. Scroll over to the far right and the Total Cost/Unit displays how much the footings and
foundation cost per cubic yard of concrete.
Collapse the spreadsheet again and the costs will be summarized to the MasterFormat division level.
Now add the CY for the footings and foundation together and enter the quantity in the Takeoff quantity
column. The total costs for the footings and foundation including rebar are being displayed.
Expand icon once. The spreadsheet is now back to the phase level. You could press the Expand icon
again to see the item level, but instead double left click on the Phase. This should expand the phase to
the item level. If you double left click on the phase when the items are shown, the items will collapse
and only the phase prices will be shown. By double left clicking, you can selectively expand or collapse
the phases on the spreadsheet.
Expand all the way out, until all the items are visible before generating the next report.
The collapsing and expanding can take place on any of the sort sequences of the spreadsheet.
What to Turn in
Now that you have generated all 5 printouts to PDF files, please submit ONLY Report 5 on Learning
Suite.
Mail any comments to [email protected]