Enter a Detail Item

There are fields on the Cost Estimates Tab that must be entered when entering contract billing information. Keep in mind that the item number, the transaction date, the change order status and subcontractor information fields on the Cost Estimates Tab are all shared by the Contract Billing Tab. In other words, if you needed to enter a lump sum contract billing item for a total contract amount of $1,000,000, then you would start on the Cost Estimates Tab by entering the date of the original contract and then proceed to the Contract Billing Tab to enter the billing phase, billing description and total contract amount.

An item entered through the Cost Estimates Tab may optionally be linked to the Contract Billing Tab. The link between these two tabs is accomplished by entering a job cost phase number and a billing phase number on the same item number. This method is typically used by general contractors because the job cost detail is very similar to the contract billing detail. This link must be used if you will be utilizing the subcontractor payment sheets to create the accounts payable invoice for each of your subcontractors. The system uses this link to automatically create the payment sheets with the same percentage complete that was used on the billing item to your customer, or, you can use it in reverse by manually creating the sub payment sheets first and the system will use those same percentages to bill the customer.

Linking a cost item to a billing item helps to show the impact of each transaction on both the budget and billing information. For example, if you wanted to see the budget regarding a specific change order that had been billed to the customer, then you would be able to see a report that listed all of the items that were linked to the same billing phase. Conversely, if you wanted to review all of the items related to the job cost phase for materials, then you would be able to print a report for the specific job cost phase. If the items have been linked to a billing phase, then you would be able to determine if the budgeted amount was included in the amount to be billed to the customer.

3.	On the Cost Estimates Tab, AccuBuild will display the next available Item number for this job. All items for each job are automatically numbered by AccuBuild and this field may not be edited.

•J/C Phase - Enter the job cost phase number. Only those phases set up with a phase type of Job Cost or Both in the Phase Master will be displayed on the drop down list. The job cost phase represents the description of the work task, such as labor, materials, Concrete, Drywall, etc. The job cost phase indicates where the estimated cost for this item should appear on the job cost reports. Please note that multiple estimate items can be assigned to the same job cost phase, and will then be summarized on the Job Cost Capsheet Report. If the job cost phase field is left blank, then the estimated cost for this item will not be reflected in any job cost reports.

•Date - The date field is used to keep the contract billing amounts and the estimated cost amounts 'date driven' for the contract status reports. New items will default with the current calendar date. Enter original budgets and billing amounts with the date of the contract. Enter change orders with the date of the individual change order (not the approval date).

•Desc - The phase description will be displayed in this field but the description may be modified as needed. This field may contain up to 35 characters.

•Job Master Lookup - This option is used to display the job cost phases on a job that already have estimated costs (budgets) or actual costs assigned to them. For this reason, do not enable this feature until the original estimated costs are set up. This option is mainly used to enter change orders and to code their costs to existing cost phases.

•Link to Contract Billings - If this option is enabled, AccuBuild will automatically assign the item with a billing phase that is the same as the job cost phase. This option is most often used by general contractors that use the same category descriptions for their budgets and customer invoices.

•Cost - This field represents the budget amount for the item being entered. This amount will be included as part of the estimated costs for any reports in the job cost system as long as a non-zero job cost phase is entered.

•Units - Enter the estimated units that are associated with the estimated cost for this item. For example, if the estimate item represents concrete material costs, then the number of yards of concrete could be entered in this field. If the item represents a labor amount, then the number of estimated labor hours could be entered in this field. If the estimated units are entered, then they will be included on the job cost reports.

•G/L Expense Account - This field is optional and is used to compare estimates on job/phase/expense account combos to actual expenses for those job/phase/accounts. Only the Job Cost Capsheet - Job/Phase Account Totals can be used to print this information.

For example, if you have budgets for concrete labor and concrete materials, you could create two detail items as follows:

Phase	Description	Estimated Cost	G/L Exp Acct
3300.00	Concrete	$1,000	50100 - Labor
3300.00	Concrete	$1,500	50200 - Materials

The Job Cost Capsheet - Job/Phase/Account Totals report will show the following information:

Phase	Description	Estimated Cost	Actual Cost
3300.00	Concrete	$2,500	$500

	50100 - Labor	$1,000	$100
	50200 - Materials	$1,500	$400

If you utilize the Project Management module, then your change order information should be entered through that module. The PM module can be set up to automatically update the accounting system with the change order details. If you don't utilize the PM module, then the following fields must be updated manually for change orders:

•Change Order - If the item represents a change to the original job estimate and/or contract amount, then select this field. AccuBuild uses this field to summarize the original budget/contract amounts from the change order amounts on the contract billing and various job cost reports

•Approved - If the change order has been approved, then click on this field. Note: Any change order items that are not marked as approved will not be included on a contract billing. However, the Contract Billing Worksheet will show all contract items including all change order items and will reflect which items have not been approved. This report is extremely helpful in preparing your contract billings and will prevent losing track of unapproved change orders. The other reports in the job cost system will also reflect unapproved change order items in their totals. Please refer to the report titled Change Order Analysis in the Reports > Job Detail Items menu to track the status of all change orders on a given project.

•As of Version 9.5.0.2 Blue, the Save button on the Detail Items screen will prevent you from saving an item as an approved change order if the item itself is NOT marked as a change order. If the item is not marked as a change order but the approved change order flag is toggled, the system will uncheck the approved box when the item is saved.

•Approval Date - The approval date is for documentation purposes only and may be left blank.

If you will be using the Subcontractor Payment Sheet option to set up and track your payments to subcontractors, then use the Sub Payment Sheet / Estimate Buyouts option to record the issuance of an original subcontract agreement on any budgeted item. If you utilize the Project Management Module, then a change order to a sub should be entered through that module and AccuBuild will update the fields listed below provided that the PM module has been set up to update the accounting module automatically. If you do not utilize the PM module, then manually update these fields as described below:

• Subcontractor - If you will be using the Subcontract Payment Sheet option, then you must set up each subcontract on the Cost Estimates Tab by linking each subcontract amount to a subcontractor name. Only those client names set up as a vendor will be displayed in the subcontractor list. Subcontracts can be broken down into more detail by creating additional items with all items linked to the same subcontractor. For example, the electrical subcontract may include one item for rough electrical in the amount of $10,000 and one item for finish electrical in the amount of $13,000. Both items will be coded to the same job cost and billing phase and both items will be linked to the same subcontractor.

•Group - As of program version 8.3.0.1, the group number is only necessary if you are utilizing the Subcontractor Payment Sheets AND you issue more than one contract agreement for a subcontractor performing work on separate phases.

If only ONE subcontract agreement is written for a subcontractor and the sub works on more than one phase, then the group number field should equal zero for all items. The system will generate one payment sheet showing all detail items related to the sub regardless of the phase number. When the payment sheet posts, the costs will be coded to each individual job cost phase as designated by the detail items.

If TWO or more subcontract agreements are written for a single subcontractor on the same job, then the group number field should be incremented for each contract agreement. The system will generate one payment sheet for each grouping, showing all detail items related to the sub and to the group, regardless of the phase number. For example, if three subcontract agreements were written to John's Plumbing for Buildings A, B, and C, then assign a different group number to each subcontract. Assign group 1 to all items relating to Building A, assign group 2 to all items on Building B, and assign group number 3 to all items on Building C. This way, the system will be able to differentiate between the three separate subcontract agreements. When the payment sheet posts, the costs will be coded to each individual job cost phase as designated by the detail items.

(** For all program versions PRIOR to 8.3.0.1 ** ) If one subcontract agreement on a given job contains multiple items (all items linked to the same vendor number and group number), then all of the items should be coded to the same job cost phase number. Whenever a subcontract payment sheet is generated, an associated accounts payable invoice amount is created and this invoice amount will be charged to only one job cost phase. In other words, the various items that make up a subcontract agreement will not spread the payment sheet invoices to more than one job cost phase. Even if you assign different job cost phases to the items in the subcontract agreement, the system will only recognize the first phase that it encounters, and will ignore the others.

•Retention % - By default, AccuBuild will set all the subcontract retention percentages to 10. This will be used in calculating the amount of retention to be withheld whenever a subcontractor payment sheet is processed on this item. If the retention amount is not a whole percentage (ie. 7.5%) or is a fixed amount, then leave the retention percentage at zero. This amount can then be defined on the subcontractor payment sheet in the Payables system.

•Billing Phase - Enter the billing phase. Billing phases can be set up in the Phase Master and only those phases set up with phase types of Billing or Both in the Phase Master will be displayed in the drop down list. The billing phase is used to determine the order in which an item will appear on the contract billing. For example, an item with billing phase 30.00 will print before an item will billing phase 30.55 or 40.00. Note: In some cases, the billing breakdown, or schedule of values, will not be the same from job to job. Custom phases for each job may be entered while entering the detail items as long as the Allow Custom Job Phase Numbers option is enabled on the System Administrator > Configuration > Accounting Tab. This feature allows any number to be entered in the billing phase field.

•Contract Billing Lookup - This option is used to display the billing phases that have already been set up on a specific job. For this reason, do not enable this feature until the original billing amounts are set up. This option is mainly used to enter change orders and to code their billing amounts to existing billing phases.

•Billing Desc - This text box will automatically display the billing description based on the description set up with the billing phase in the phase master file. The text box can accommodate up to 140 characters for a more detailed description of the item. (Hint: Use the Tab Key to move out of the text box; use the Enter Key to add a blank line between text within the text box.)

•G/L Revenue Acct - Each billing item must be linked to a general ledger account. This account represents the revenue account that will be posted with the gross amount billed on each contract billing. Each billing item may be linked to a different revenue account depending on your chart of accounts. The revenue account field will default to the construction income account as defined on the Job Cost > Properties screen.

•Units and Unit Price - If the job has been set up to use the Unit Billing invoice format, then the Units and Unit Price fields will be enabled. (Note that the Amount field will be automatically updated under this billing format.)

•Amount - If the job has been set up with any invoice format other than the Unit Billing format, then the billing amount for the item may be entered in the Amount field. Items with a billing amount of zero will still appear on the contract billing as long as the item contains a billing phase.

•Retn % - AccuBuild will automatically set up each billing item to hold 10% retention but this percentage can be changed as needed on each item. For example, the original contract items may be set up with 10% retention withheld on each invoice. Change orders may be set up with only 5% retention. If the retention for an item will be a fixed amount, leave the retention percentage as zero. The fixed amount may then be entered for the individual billing item when billing the job.

Select Save at the bottom of the screen to record the new item in the estimate detail file (estdetl.adt) or select Cancel to erase your entries. If you select Save, then the estimate item will now appear in the Cost Estimates grid at the top of the screen. Note that you will remain in edit mode for the current job until you select Save or Cancel at the top left of the screen to record or discard our entries in the job master file (joblist.adt) file.