XLProject

Estimating and Project Management

As I mentioned on the home page, my new plan is to distribute XLProject in a somewhat limited fashion. Specifically, folks interested in XLProject need to be aware of a few things:

XLProject will be distributed as-is, with no support, no warranty, and no returns.
XLProject is used every day by yours truly, but it is not what I consider a polished, complete, idiot-proof system suitable for beginners. It should be very useful for intermediate to advanced Excel users. It should be extremely useful to developers as a starting point for customized applications.
XLProject will not be free, but I have not decided on a price yet. I'd like to try and gauge demand the best I can before setting a price.
XLProject will be made available under a license that I have yet to decide on. Probably though, something like the BSD or Mozilla license? Not sure. The idea is to make it OK for customers to extend and improve the product for their own use, but compensate me for sales of software products based on XLProject. Obviously, outright copying would be a no-no too.

If that didn't scare you away, then great! I realize those conditions might seem a little draconian, but if I'm going to part with my baby, then I certainly don't want to get screwed in the process. I can always make it more free, but once it's out there, I can't make it less free.

So what prompted me to market XLProject? Even though this website stated for quite a while that I'd decided not to distribute XLProject, I continued to get occasional emails from folks looking for something like it. Most of the emails seemed to come from the neighborhood-computer-guy type looking to get a head start on a custom application they're doing for the neighborhood-contractor-guy type. I figured I could try marketing to a limited audience and see what happens.

Right now, I've made the decision to distribute XLProject. Now I need to get more information about the system posted here. Sometime soon (hopefully), I'll put together some sort of little online tour with plenty of screenshots for people to see. Until then, have a look at the somewhat dated information below, and by all means, email me if you're interested.

Jim Hubbard

XLProject
My job as project manager and estimator at Dyer's means that I have a need for a good system of keeping track of what I do. Way back during the days of Windows 3.11, I looked for ways to do estimating and project management on my computer. What I found was software that cost too much and didn't do what I wanted it to, so I figured I would just write my own friggin' software. I already had Microsoft Office, so I started twiddling around with Excel.

Anyway, what started out as a simple little spreadsheet has now evolved into a fairly complex Excel Application. This application, which I call XLProject, consists of an estimating template, a project management template, a parts database (which you build automatically as you estimate), several miscellaneous templates for things like change orders, and an Excel add-in which ties it all together. I use this system every day. Every estimate I do and every project I manage is done with this system.

Anyway, are a few of screenshots of the XLProject system at work.

Basically, you click a button to create a new estimate. Name the takeoff sheets what you want, do the takeoff, click a button to price everything, type in the text of the contract and fax it off. Any item in your takeoff not found in your parts database gets added to it for pricing later.

To price items in the database, you enter the labor and subcontract costs, then click a button to have it incorporated into the system. Once a month or so, click a button to create individual files for each supplier. Email each file (which is only the part name and supplier's previous price) to the corresponding supplier. They price the items, email it back to you, then you click a button to have the new prices incorporated into the database.

Once you're awarded a contract, open the estimate and click a button to convert it to a job. Then you enter daily labor, parts, and subcontractor costs as the job goes on. Basically, the system compares "what you bid to what you did". You can easily see at any time how you stand as far as your costs. This system even keeps track of retainage, generates AIA billing forms (filled out, not blank), and suggests how much to bill based on your costs. I use the same system to keep track of and bill large time and material jobs.