National Estimator Quick Start | Getting Started & Installation

What to Expect

Here’s a roadmap to what you’ll find:

National Estimator is a neat construction cost estimating program for Windows™. You can use National Estimator all by itself. But it’s the perfect way to use the eleven construction cost estimating databases produced by Craftsman Book Company. When installation of the software is complete, click on the National Estimator icon to begin running the program. Proceed to Estimating with National Estimator for instructions on using the National Estimator software.

Over 4,000 pages of the latest labor and material costs from eleven costbooks are available from Craftsman Book Company. When National Estimator is running, any of the eleven costbooks is just a few mouse clicks away. Click File, click Open Costbook, then select the costbook you need. The file name for each of the eleven costbooks is listed below. You can open all eleven at once and use labor and material costs from all eleven in a single estimate. The eleven construction estimating costbooks from Craftsman are:

Construction.cbk is the annual National Construction Estimator. Costbooks open automatically when you begin the National Estimator program. See Opening Other Costbooks for information on opening any of the other costbooks. To change your default costbook, see Select Your Default Costbook.

Concrete.cbk is the annual National Concrete & Masonry Estimator

Electrical.cbk is the annual National Electrical Estimator

Framing.cbk is the annual National Framing & Finish Carpentry Estimator

Heavy.cbk is the annual National Heavy Construction Estimator

Improvement.cbk is the annual National Home Improvement Estimator

Insurance.cbk is the annual National Renovation & Insurance Repair Estimator

Painting.cbk is the annual National Painting Cost Estimator

Plumbing.cbk is the annual National Plumbing & HVAC Estimator

Repair.cbk is the annual National Repair & Remodeling Estimator

Steel.cbk is the annual National Steel Frame Construction Estimator

	Job Cost Wizard turns National Estimator estimates into invoices you can mail to clients and exports both invoices and estimates to QuickBooks Pro (version 5 and higher). To start Job Cost Wizard, click on the Job Cost Wizard icon in the Construction Estimating program group.
	Show Me is an interactive video guide to National Estimator. Sit back and relax and let the interactive video run, or jump from topic to topic. Exit any time you want. Then go back later to brush up on anything you missed. Watch Show Me with the CD in your CD drive or visit our on-line tutorial.
	While using National Estimator, there are four ways to start Show Me: Click the question mark button at the right end of the tool bar. Then click Show Me (beside the camera). You’ll see links to Show Me on many Help topics when using the Help file. Click on Show Me in the Construction Estimating program group to run all of Show Me. Click on the “Show Me More” button below Dan’s Tip of the Day to get more information about that tip.

Forty Estimating and Bidding Forms are included when installing National Estimator. These forms are found in your My Documents, Construction Forms directory. If you have a laser or ink jet printer, you’ll be able to create top-quality customized forms in minutes. To use these forms, you’ll need any of the popular word processing or spreadsheet programs. First, start your word processing or spreadsheet program. Then click on File and Open. Navigate to your My Documents, Construction Forms directory. You’ll see over forty forms created especially for each of the following programs:

• Microsoft Word (file name extension of DOC)

• Microsoft Excel (file name extension of XLS)

• Lotus 1-2-3 (file name extension of WK3)

• Microsoft Works (file name extension of WKS)

• WordPerfect (file name extension of WP)

To open any form, double-click on the form name. Make the changes you want. Then save the modified form to your hard drive (such as C:). For a description of all forms, open the file INDEX.TXT in the My Documents, Construction Forms directory.

	National Estimator Help has everything you could ever want to know about National Estimator. These help files are available any time National Estimator is running (click on the question mark) or from the Construction Estimating program group (click on National Estimator Help). To print a 40-page user’s guide to National Estimator, click on the question mark. Then click on Print All Topics. Click on File on the Help menu bar. Click on Print Topic. Click on OK.
	When installing from a CD, Estimator Setup gets you back into the installation program if you decide to install more software components later. For example, you may choos not to install pictures, at least in the beginning. Most users find that National Estimator runs fast enough even if pictures aren't installed on their hard drive. Leaving the pictures off your hard drive saves about 135 Mb of valuable space. If there's space to burn on your hard drive, go ahead and select the default installation. National Estimator may run a little faster.
	Job Cost Wizard Help explains how to use Job Cost Wizard to convert National Estimator estimates into invoices and then export the estimate or invoice to either QuickBooks or QuickBooks Pro (version 5 and higher). This help file is available any time you're running Job Cost Wizard. Just click Help on the menu bar. Then click on Contents and the topic of your choice. From Help Contents you can print a 13-page guide to Job Cost Wizard: Click on Print All Topics. Then click on File, Print Topic and OK.