Introduction

How to Use This Guide

This guide is made up of six sections, each of which can be thought of as a specific lesson. You will get the most out of this guide if you complete the tasks contained in each section and ensure that you are familiar with everything covered in each section before moving on to the next section.

However, before getting started with this guide, it is important to understand what we want to achieve in setting up Trimble Quest and what the benefits are to doing things in this way.

Trimble Quest is a first principle-based estimating system, which means that the idea behind it is to create a database, a so-called pricing library, which has been built up from the resource level and structured according to the way in which you build.

Since most construction projects are both priced and managed on a bid item/line item level, the ultimate aim is to create a database of unit rate buildups that are constructed on the level of the line items in the bid, but consist of all of the underlying resources which would go into constructing one unit of a line item, e.g. one cubic yard or cubic meter of the foundation, etc.

Once set up, this pricing library enables you to create accurate estimates very quickly and also allows your estimate to become a blueprint that can be used within Trimble Quest to optimize the procurement, planning, forecasting, and cost control processes for your projects.

For this reason, this guide is structured to first help you to create and implement a pricing library from the resource level up, and only once this has been done will we cover the operational side of things in terms of reporting, valuations, etc.