I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with this software? It is not as in depth as D-tools, SRS or Horizon however the cost is only $500. you can purchase a demo for $10 (30 days) @ www.bidmagicav.com

I just recieved the demo disk in the mail on Tuesday (after about 8 weeks), loaded it up yesterday, but haven't looked at it yet. I'll try to post impressions ASAP.

bob

Any impressions yet?

I have a copy of the demo and have started messing around with it a little. From first impressions, I like it! It is basically an Access Database with a prettier front end. It is simple, which for my business is good. The software allows you to enter the products that you use into the table and enter your cost, selling price, install notes, vendor, and description. You can even assign it an installation labor amount. So when you are doing a bid and you enter a product it automatically inputs the amount of labor for you as well. Once you complete the bid you can see exactly how much you will make on the job. Very simple and easy to use. It also has a table for all of your customers information. It doesn't do any invoices or accounting, purely bids. I will probably purchase the full version. Hope this helps! Ideal for fairly basic installs or small to medium sized companies. My company has a set of packages that we offer in each area, so it is real simple for me to bid everything as I just add the pre-priced package into the bid.

i am still in the trial period of Bid Magic. Jury's still out. I flat out haven't had time to populate the database with much equipment yet, and I'm not sure how the labor built in with each piece of equipment is going to work. I think I'll have to end up with two products for each product - one for new construction and one for old construction. I am going to try that this weekend and see how it works.

Plus, labor is bundled together at the bottom in a lump sum, so the client doesn't see how much labor for each room or part is. This could hurt more than anything else. Might be hard to have a big project of $60k in equipment and a lump sum of $10k to install it presented that way to a client.

Later edit:

I have an email into the creator to see if there is something I am missing. I will wait for final judgement until I get some resolution to the issues I see. FWIW - I am still considering plunking down another $490 for it. So we'll see.

I really think that if you have a slow week coming you should spend some time with the program to see if for yourself. Its only $10 to try. I dont need nor can we afford a big time program. And besides, I could still augment my quotes with this program by continuing to use Racktools for rack drawings, Visio for line drawings, Caracad for acoustical drawings as I do now. If the small issues are sorted out with Bid Magic, it will certainly make the actual process of putting the bid products into the bid faster. There is just no doubt about that. I currently use Word and Excel and it takes way too long to complete. I am still holding out hope.

I just peeked at the PDF sample of the customer proposal. Is there not the capability for having component descriptions on the proposal
?

I just watched the video for this bid magic. It looks pretty cool the only question i have is does it come with a data base already full of products??
Also, How doesthis compair to simply reilable?

According to the marketing stuff, the newest release has this function.

I have moved on, as has another CI I know. We are using Quotewerks now. Only $189 and MUCH more powerful. Its a no brainer.

www.quotewerks.com Take the guided tour - top link on the right side of the page.

QuoteWerks is Y2K compliant.

..oohh good thing