This next installment about the Planning Stage focuses on some key activities that are crucial for any home improvement project to be successful.
The previous article about the Defining Stage covered all basic details about quinju's File Manager interface. Some of the activities in the Planning Stage make use of an extra feature: Recording Financial Information about your project items.
Planning Stage - Quotes
As part of the Planning Stage you will be collecting and archiving quotes for your project, as you know, the activities are set up for each one of your items.
For example, let's say you have a bathroom renovation project that includes the following items:
- Flooring
- Cabinetry
- Plumbing Fixtures
For each of your item cards as shown above, you have the activities already identified. We will focus on the quotes.
Collecting quotes is divided into Materials and Labor. This is a reminder for you to request these numbers separately from all places you are considering.
You see often that some places will bury all costs together into one number, nothing wrong with that, but it does make more difficult for you to have a better way to compare between quotes.
The process to add files or links to your project items is similar to what we saw in the Defining Stage article, only for quotes (as you will later see on other activities for the Implementing Stage) you will have the ability to record prices separately, this allows quinju.com to provide reporting and tracking of your numbers.
Adding Quote Amounts
The first part of the process you are already familiar with: Select the type of file, Enter the information and click/tap on SAVE.
After you click save, quinju will then give you the option to enter the amount related to this particular quote.
Note that you don't need to enter the amount at this point, you can always go back and do it later when it is convenient for you. It would make sense to do it as you upload the quote, in which case you would answer "Yes".
Once the quote is safe in your project, screen will refresh and will allow you to enter the quote amount.
Let's take a quick look at this screen.
- Quote Amount: That is where you enter the amount for that item as provided on the quote document. You can choose to enter the amount tax-in or not, but it is important that you be consistent so you can properly compare quotes later.
- Do not consider this quote's amount: You should check this field if you don't want quinju.com take the amount when creating reports to compare your initial budget estimate (the one you entered when project was created) with the budget based on actual quotes.
You can turn this flag on/off anytime which will help you with what if scenarios (this is coming soon!). - General Comments: Here you have the ability to add comments that are specific to this quote. That is in addition to any information you entered regarding the document you uploaded. It gives you another layer of control and detail.
Keeping it all updated and on track!
A couple more things to know. Once you collect your information, you can always update and view the each particular quote by clicking/tapping on the $ on the document card.
quinju.com also provides a Statistics panel on every activity page that contains activities that collect financial information.
In the case of Material or Labor Quote Acitivities, it gives you the position of the quotes you have collected so far as in: Lowest, Median and Highest.
Conclusion
That's it!
By doing these simple steps for every quote you collect and properly organizing them using the quinju.com activities, you are building up your project database which will allow you to take full control of your project and make the best decisions!
Make sure to check the last article on this series where we discuss the IMPLEMENTING STAGE!
Now, head up to quinju.com and start on the path to better and happier renovations!
