EVERGREEN TECHNOLOGY
PAINTING CONTRACTOR ENHANCEMENT
INSTRUCTIONS for PLANSWIFT VERSION 8.x
Thank you for purchasing our Painting Contractor Enhancements for PlanSwift Take Off Software. The following instruction pages will help guide you through the process of making your PlanSwift software work specific to the painting industry.
VERY IMPORTANT: You must follow these instructions very carefully. If you do anything out of order or miss one step, it will mean Evergreen Technology items may not give the desired results.
SUPPORT CLARIFICATION: PlanSwift provides any support on the use of their program as it pertains to its normal features and use. They do NOT support the special Painting Contractor features provided by Evergreen Technology. If you have a question specific to the Painting Assemblies or the Evergreen Technology custom Export to MS Excel, then call Evergreen Technology. Support phone numbers are as follows:
PlanSwift: First Try their excellent on line tutorial videos www.planswift.com
If the question you have is not covered: (888) 752-6794
Evergreen Tech.: If the question is not covered here, call: (817) 275-0855
Note: If the question you have is specific to the Painting Assemblies and is not in this instruction guide, there will be no charge. If, however, you would like personal one on one training to walk you through the specifics of the Painting Assemblies (changing the formulas, or building different systems for high tech. coatings, faux finishing… etc.) then we will let you know we consider that “personal coaching” for which there may be a charge which will be disclosed to you prior to proceeding.
Topics covered in this instruction guide are as follows:
Importing the Painting Assemblies Tab ------2
Set Up Excel Export Functions ------2
Adding your company logo and information to the automated Quote - - - - 4
General guide to using our Painting Assemblies features ------5
Please remember: Follow the instructions very carefully. Your install will go smoothly and you will be up and running in no time at all.
TERMS:
Top Menu Bar: This is the menu bar at the very top of your screen
Drop Down Box: When you click on something, a box appears on the screen.
Click: Means click like you always click.
Opposite click: Click the opposite button you normally click.
Tab: Looks like a small file folder tab which takes you to different screen shots
PLANSWIFT SET UP INSTRUCTIONS
FIRST: PlanSwift must be installed on your computer and is up and running.
SECOND: We need to import the Painting Assemblies Tab. Follow these instructions carefully.
IMPORTING THE PAINTING ASSEMBLIES TAB:
You received an Email with a file called “Painting Assemblies.Swift Tab”
Follow these instructions carefully and you will have no problems:
1. Load any project, then at the bottom of the screen, click on the “Estimating” tab.
2. At the top of the large area, you will already see a tab called “Templates”. DO NOT click on this tab, but instead, put your mouse exactly to the Right of the small tab with the “+” (in the blank area) and OPPOSITE CLICK in a blank area.
3. The very last drop down option is “Import Tab”. Click on this option
4. In the drop down box, the top will have a long space for the name and a small file folder to the far right of this box. Click on the small file folder.
5. This is where you need to find the location of the file you received from Evergreen Technology.
a. You will find it at the same location you downloaded it or Saved it.
b. When you find this file, click on it, then click “Open”
6. Click on the “Estimating” tab at the bottom of the screen if not already open. Then, put your mouse on the tab that says “Painting Assemblies”. Drag and drop this tab to the far left in the estimating area. This will prioritize it to be the first default list of take off items.
Note: Sometimes, the computer hangs up on you or crashes. No problem. It worked, just a glitch in MS XP or MS Vista operating systems. If your computer stops, just wait a few minutes, turn off the computer and fire it back up. All will be well.
SET UP EXCEL EXPORT FEATURES (If Purchased):
Please follow these instructions very carefully as they are required to give you the information you need both in PlanSwift and the special Excel Estimating feature we have given to you.
IN PLANSWIFT:
You will need to download a new project into PlanSwift. Click on “New”, then follow prompts to set up a new job. When this job is on your screen…
1. At the bottom of the screen, click on the [Estimating] tab.
2. Just above the Templates Tab, you will see another menu bar. In this menu bar click on the little box that looks like this:
3. The first thing we need to do is set up the items that we want exported to excel. Look at the upper LEFT corner and you will see the same icon as shown above. When you click on this icon on this screen, it will allow you to enter a new item to export. When you click on this feature… It will show you a new line at the bottom with the word “NEW COLUMN” highlighted. This is where you enter the name of the item and put in the rest of the line information. When done, just click the same icon in the upper LEFT corner to add the next new item.
CRITICAL: ENTER ALL THE ITEMS SHOWN BELOW EXACTLY AS SHOWN BELOW:
Visible / Name / Decimal Places / Totaling / Show Units / WidthR / Description / 0 / 0 / 0 / 125
R / Qty / 2 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Primer Gallons / 0 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Finish Gallons / 0 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Total Coats / 0 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Total Material $ / 2 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Total Labor $ / 2 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Total Hours / 1 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Price Each / 2 / 0 / 0 / 75
R / Bid Amount / 2 / R / 0 / 75
0 / Digitizer / 0 / 0 / 0 / 75
Note: Delete the line item that says “Price Total” by clicking on it, then click the red X top left.
WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT ENTER THESE ITEMS EXACTLY AS SHOWN ABOVE, YOUR EXPORT TO EXCEL WILL NOT WORK CORRECTLY.
If you have any problems with the export, please load the PlanSwift Excel Estimating Master 8.x file that you received from us. On the LAST tab at the bottom is the [Specs] tab. Click on this tab and it will repeat these instructions (perhaps more updated and easier to follow).
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW READY TO USE THE PAINTING FEATUTRES.
HOW TO CHANGE THE AUTOMATIC QUOTE TO SHOW YOUR INFORMATION
Planswift has an excellent automated quote sheet that the Painting Assemblies has been formatted to use. Here’s how you change the template so it will show your company logo and information instead of the default generic items.
1. On your Desktop (Usually lower left corner), Click on “Start”
2. Click on “My Computer” or “Computer” if you have Vista
3. Click on your hard disk usually showing “C:” as the drive letter
4. Click on “Program Files”
5. Click on the folder “PlanSwift8”
6. Click on the folder “Data”
7. Click on the folder “Scripts”
8. Double click on the file folder that has the MS Excel logo and the name “Estimate”
9. This will open up Excel and show the Quote template.
a. On the top menu bar, click “Insert”
b. Click the option “Picture”, then click “From File”
c. Locate the picture file that is your company logo, click on it, then click “Insert”
d. Drag, drop and size the logo to where you want it.
10. Click on any cell that you want to change permanently ([Your Company Name] etc.) and change it to what you want.
11. Here’s where it gets tricky so follow the save instructions very carefully.
a. On the top menu bar, click “File”
b. Click “Save As…”
c. On the bottom of the drop down box, click the arrow on the far right and select “Template”
d. On the top box for the location, click the arrow to the far right then click as follows:
i. Click on C: (drive)
ii. Click on “Program Files”
iii. Click on “PlanSwift8”
iv. Click on “Data”
v. Click on “Scripts”
e. Change the name of the file from “Estimate1” to “Estimate”
f. Click “Save” or “OK” whichever version of windows you have.
Note: If you have not followed these instructions exactly, your changes will not be reflected.
CONGRATULATIONS… YOU NOW HAVE YOUR CUSTOMIZED QUOTE SHEET.
Now let’s talk about how to understand using these Painting Assemblies to your best benefit and how to use the customized MS Excel export feature provided by Evergreen Technology.
USING THE PAINTING ASSEMBLIES TAB AND OPTIONAL MS EXCEL ESTIMATING SHEET
When you have the plan page loaded, all you do is opposite click anywhere on the page, then click “Continue With…”. This will take you to the default Painting Assemblies assuming you have moved it to the first tab in the Estimating section in PlanSwift (See page 3).
Simply scroll down until you see the surface or item you want to measure. Proceed measuring as instructed by the instructional videos provided by PlanSwift.
You will notice there are three different lines for each item. The end of the item says either “Fast, Regular or Slow”. This all has to do with production. Example. For doors, you have flush doors (fast) or Panel doors (Regular) or French doors (Slow). By selecting the correct item, it automatically adjusts the production to give you more or less time accordingly. These production rates were extracted from three different current sources to reflect what “MOST” painting companies experience for the speed at which a painter can work. You are free to edit any of the production rates simply by clicking on the “Estimating” tab at the bottom, then clicking on the “Painting Assemblies” tab at the top, then double clicking any item. Find the line that says “Prime Production Rate” to change the production rate for priming or the “Finish Production Rate” to change the production rate for the finish coats”. Remember… the production rates INCLUDE set up, clean up and touch up, so make them lower than you think your guys can paint. Example: If you are watching them paint and they do 600 Sq. Ft. an hour, then use a production rate of about 25% less to allow for the items mentioned above which gives you a production rate of 450 or so. Look at the calculated hours and see if you agree.
NOTE: When you change a production rate on the Painting Assemblies tab, it will be changed for all future bids. If you want to change the production rate only for one bid, you do that by double clicking on the item you have measured as shown on the PlanSwift training videos.
If you don’t see a system or surface you would like to measure, then you can easily borrow one. Let’s say you wanted to measure Crown Molding. Since it is almost like wood baseboard, you can select “Base – Slow”. Remember, when selected, it has been selected only for this bid, so you can change the name of the item at the top of the screen to “Crown Molding” and you are ready to go. You can also copy “Base – Slow” and paste it into the Painting Assemblies tab. It will show up as the same name, so change the name to “Crown Molding – Regular” or whatever you want. This way, you can easily and quickly build any item you can imagine. Just use an existing item that matches they type of surface you want to add. Example: Don’t use the Doors – Regular to copy and paste as a “Concrete Floor” system. Doors are an “Each / Count” item where the floor is a Sq. Ft. area item. In that case, I would copy from the “Ceiling” which is also an area item. This will keep the math, quotes and exports all looking great and calculating accurately.
EVERGREEN TECHNOLOGY MS EXCEL ESTIMATING EXPORT
If you have been provided with the MS Excel Estimating Export, here’s how you make it work.
1. Click the Excel Export button in the MIDDLE of the screen.
a. In the drop down box, make sure the ONLY thing checked is the “Assemblies” box
2. Click on the new excel spreadsheet at the bottom of your screen. This is the export.
3. Now… go to Excel and Load the “PlanSwift Excel Estimating MASTER” worksheet provided by Evergreen Technology. You will now have two excel files showing at the bottom of the screen.
4. Click on the PlanSwift download Excel worksheet.
5. Click on the cell that is the LOWEST and to the FAR RIGHT as possible.
6. Highlight everything backwards from that cell all the way back to cell A1