You can change the total cost of a job in the Totals window and spread that amount back to the estimate. This is useful for negotiated jobs when you want to bring the estimate as close as possible to a predefined price. Sage Estimating calculates the new cost per unit and shows the variance (difference between the old and new totals).

To change the job total or cost/unit:

1. Open the Totals window in one of the following ways:
   • On the ribbon, from the Estimate Views group on the Home tab, click Totals.
   • In classic view, click Takeoff menu > Estimate Totals, or click  on the toolbar.
2. To change the job total, click  in the toolbar of the Totals window, select Adjust Job Total, and enter the new total for the job.
   • To change the cost/unit for the job, click the arrow  to the right of  and select Adjust Job Cost per Unit. Enter the new cost per unit for the job. The amount of adjustment needed to make the estimate match the new total cost appears in red below the Total row.
   • To cancel the adjustment, right-click the Adjusted total row header and select Cancel Adjustment from the shortcut menu.
3. Click [Spread Variance].

Sage Estimating closes the Totals window, highlights the Total Amount column on the spreadsheet, and opens the Adjust Column window. The Adjustment type is set to Spread, and the Amount shows the variance between the original job total and the new job total.

4. To spread the variance proportionally across all the Total Amount column cells, click [OK].

A red triangle appears on the Total Amount and Total Cost/Unit column cells to show that they have been adjusted.

Note: Your adjustments are temporary at this point. You can reverse (undo) the adjustments until you make them permanent by finalizing them.

Tips:

• You can adjust the job cost/unit only if a job size has been specified for the estimate.
• You can type a new job total directly into the Total cell.
• To remove any remainder after spreading the variance, click [Clear Variance].
• Any changes you make to the spreadsheet also impact your addons.

Example: Adding $100 to the estimate adjusts the variance amount shown in the status bar by $100 plus the additional amount generated by the addons. Using the Spread Variance option (or the Adjust Column Spread option on the spreadsheet) ensures that the adjustment distributed throughout the Totals column is enough to cover additional amounts generated by addons.

• The new total, new cost/unit, and variance appear in red below the estimate total. The variance also appears in the status bar.
• If there is an outstanding job total adjustment, the words "adjustment pending" appear on the totals page of estimate reports.

Getting Started: Completing an estimate (SQL)