Estimates

An estimate in TrueGrade is the financial foundation of a project — the projected budget expressed as a collection of line items, each assigned to a cost code and trade.

Creating an Estimate

Navigate to Cost Intelligence → Estimates → New Estimate from within a project. Provide:

• Estimate name — e.g., “Initial Budget”, “Revised Bid — Rev 2”
• Effective date — when this estimate was prepared
• Notes — scope assumptions, exclusions, allowances

A project can have multiple estimates representing revisions over time. One estimate is designated as the Active Estimate for variance reporting. You can switch the active estimate without losing historical versions.

Line Items

Each estimate is composed of line items. A line item captures:

Line items can be added manually or imported from a CSV using the Import button.

Assemblies

For common multi-component scopes (e.g., a wall assembly with framing + insulation + sheathing), TrueGrade lets you define assemblies in the Procurement → Materials Library. Import an assembly into an estimate to expand it into its component line items automatically.

Estimate Totals

TrueGrade calculates subtotals at three levels:

• Cost code level — sum of all line items sharing a cost code
• Division level — MasterFormat division rollup (e.g., Division 03 Concrete)
• Project total — grand total across all line items

An optional Overhead & Profit percentage can be applied as a top-line markup. This is stored separately from line item costs to preserve the raw cost data.

Locking an Estimate

Once a project is under contract, lock the baseline estimate by clicking Lock. Locked estimates cannot be edited — any changes require creating a new estimate revision. This preserves the original contract value for variance reporting.