Copying and comparing estimates
Which version did we price, and what changed?
Why this one matters
Every job gets priced more than once — the first pass, the value-engineered one, the one after the client moved the kitchen. Then somebody asks what changed between them, and the honest answer is usually that nobody can say line by line.
Copy, change, compare. Two minutes to see every line that moved, rather than an afternoon with two printouts and a highlighter.
What you will see
- An estimate copied so the original stays untouched
- Two versions opened side by side
- Every line that moved, with the difference against each
What was said
The narration, word for word, for anyone who would rather read it than watch it — or who is on a train.
The client asks what it would cost with a colorbond roof instead of tiles. Duplicate the estimate, and change the copy.
Choose what comes with the copy. Each line says how much of it the original holds. The items always come. The rest is up to you.
Documents starts unticked, because copying a hundred files uses storage. Tick it if the copy needs its own.
The original is untouched. If the client goes back to tiles, it's still there, priced and ready.
The copy is called Copy of, so give it a name that says what it is. Open its menu, choose Edit details, and call it Option C, Colorbond roof. Now anyone on the team can tell the options apart.
The copy has its own markups and its own contract price, so you can quote the option without touching the original. Its settings carry its own job status too, so the one the client signs is the one marked as the contract.
Compare puts two estimates side by side, so you can see exactly what changed and what it cost.
You can copy items from one to the other, too. Keeping options as separate estimates means you never lose the version the client almost signed.
Show the two estimates side by side or stacked, whichever suits your screen. Keep in step scrolls and opens them together, Swap changes which side is which, and each side has its own search, to find one item in both at once.
Doing it, rather than watching it
This page is the tour. When you are in SmarteBuild with a job open and need the detail — every option, every exception, the things the video had no time for — the help centre has the full article.
Comparing estimates — the full reference
Read about it instead: Bill of Quantities · Sales Upgrades · Tenders
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