START: My involvement with cabling started in 1979. Back then, communications cabling was simple, each manufacturer had a proprietary scheme. Analogous to driving your car from San Diego to Los Angeles; if you owned an IBM computer you would use the IBM Highway - the DEC Highway for DEC computers and so on.

Today, for computer communications we are using one structured highway and letting standard interfaces do the busy work of getting on and off the LAN/WAN. These "communication standards" are directly attributable to and are a credit to IEEE, NEC, EIA/TIA and BICSI. Now a simple RJ-45 jack and cable allow near-virtual communication connection to switches, routers, NIC's and servers. Constantly evolving funneled standards and innovative manufacturing processes have yielded cabling products that are all their marketing people claim them to be.

Many contractors bidding communications cabling projects still use "seat-of-their pants" practices. Variances in technician/estimator ability and training nearly out-weigh the technical advances of communications cabling and hardware. Larger organizations utilized formalized training programs and cumbersome prepackaged estimator/design software. Conversely, smaller cabling companies only have homegrown software or best-guess practices to bid sophisticated projects. On a recent cabling installation project for a convention center, the owner received seven bids from cabling contractors that ranged from $91,000 to $235,000. Prior to this bid, the owner did the homework with the top supplier/top material vendor (Graybar, Belden, Seimon) to determine baseline material costs: $89,000. Obviously, major items like tax; labor and profit dollars were over-looked by some contractors and over-extended by others.

ISSUE: Utilize an automated computer based system to capture know values and reduce oversight. The first question that always pops up is, "Are computer software programs reliable enough to give me consistent winning bids?" No! The results are only as good as the person entering the data for analysis. If your design includes all possible components and associated tasks you will, most likely, not be the lowest bidder. However, if you include all possible components and tasks but bid the project at a lower gross profit margin, knowing you may not need every item, you will find that lower GPM will rise with every task completed under budget. So challenge the project managers and technicians to excel at their task and include a $$$ bonus in your plan if they meet the challenge.

PATH: Why did we develop these programs? We needed something to help us run a small office (50 people) where products, service and subcontractor work varied with every project. We had to bid sophisticated projects in a timely manner; track existing project progress and people to determine costs, profit and return-on-investment.

BidPro

TrakPro

ConduitPro

AttendancePro

CablePro

EASY USAGE: These programs are Microsoft-Excel based and require Excel to run, but do not require a knowledge of Excel to use. The layout structure is common for all 5 programs and provides for easy input to get sophisticated and complex calculated results. User changeable parameters on all sheets are color-coded green. Below is a typical input for the Parameter Sheet of BidPro where you entered 60% for a Labor Markup Percent:

Labor Markup %:

60.0%

In the above BidPro example, all labor costs would be marked up 60%. There are sixteen WBS Employee Classifications slots that could be personalized by name, grade, function and raw pay rate. Sub-contractors can be used along with many other inputs with associated material and labor costs that are enveloped in the cost - sell Margins Sheet.

LOWEST PRICES: These easy to use programs are priced to give you a return-on-investment in just one project.

used to bid any product and/or service from $1 to $99.9 million. Provided are markups, costs, sell prices, gross margin and return-on-investment information. Six (6) scenarios can be used to determine sell price for competitive advantage.

will track any product and/or service project actual costs versus bid costs to determine estimate-to-complete, over/under billing, basic invoice and cash position.

determines horizontal structured communications cabling project cost, sell price, profit, gross margin and ROI based on minimal faceplate and install parameters. SME expertise required in cabling.

is used to determine conduit and trough fill ratios for horizontal structured communications cabling projects.

tracks weekly work hours (up to one year) and absentee excuses for up to 50 workers.

These Microsoft® Excel-based software programs have taken eight (8) years to develop and have significantly contributed to increased profits and bottom-line awareness of numerous national and international companies.

Companies that use BidPro, TrakPro and AttendancePro
Civil Engineering	Flowers	Cement & Paving	Painting	Entertainment
Delivery	Sports	Cabinetry	Biotechnology	Automotive
Property Management	Plumbing	Cabling	Lawn & Garden	Metal Working
Artificial Grass Install	Brick & Lattice	Tire Store	Lubrication	Meeting Planners
Space Planners	Private Investigators	Computer Vendor	Consultants	Clothing Manufacturer
Film & Television	Your Company	Veterinary	Your Company	Your Company

The national and international companies above have a product (and/or service) that they need to market in a competitive environment. Each have general markups and desired profit requirements but must bid on projects that vary in scope. By standardizing their company's financial framework, they can consistently bid each project based on competitive analysis and strategic prowess. An easy interface allows actual project cost tracking compared to bid dollars and scores the estimator's proficiency.

The national and international companies below are contractors or end-users that are familiar with horizontal cabling projects for computer networks. The easy to use CablePro input allows a fast cost & sell feature that can be tracked by estimators, managers and financial overseer. End users can estimate the install price of their cable plant install before placing their project out for bid. ConduitPro determines the maximum conduit fill capacity for cables based on installations standards.

Companies that use CablePro and ConduitPro
Computer Cabling	Networking	IT Consulting	Firestop Equipment	Telecommunications
Fire & Alarm	Home Builders	Audio-Video	Equipment Suppliers	Space Planners
Training Schools	Product Vendors	Architecture Firms	Loan Officer	HVAC

We even develop custom proprietary programs, like FuneralPro, to help Funeral Directors determine service costs quickly and accurately without the need to sit in front of the grieving family typing in costs like a cash register checkout line. In that capacity, it would be inconceivable to forget things or misquote prices.

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