Overview of the Fast Track Job Costing software
Length: 5 minutes, 53 seconds

The Fast Track Job Costing software allows you to compare your estimated costs to the actual costs for every job. It’s designed to help you analyze, after a job is built, how accurate your estimate was for a given job. When you know how close your estimated costs were to the actual cost of a given job, you can improve the accuracy of your future estimates.

It’s a simple program that will provide valuable insights to improve your profitability. When a project is sold:

• Input your estimated costs for that job (or transfer them from Fast Track Estimating if that’s how you estimate). The level of detail is up to you.
• If you wish, include your sales price for the project. That will allow you to compare the estimated gross profit/margin to the actual gross profit/margin for each job.

During the job:

• Input actual costs as they occur.
• Add change orders (both the price and the estimated cost) as they are signed.
• Input payments as they are received.

When the job is completed, you’ll see:

• How close the estimate was to actual costs
• The error factor for the job
• The projected gross profit vs the actual gross profit

When you’ve completed a number of jobs, you can compare the error factor and margin for all jobs by:

• Job type
• Job status
• Estimator
• Or over a given date range.

The Fast Track Job Costing software is installed on your Windows-based computer. It’s software you own; it’s not in the cloud so you aren’t renting it, there are no monthly or ongoing payments. Download only (file size: 10.2 mb). More info on downloads here.

Windows or Mac?
Fast Track Job Costing software requires Windows 7 or higher. All the components required will be installed if they aren’t already on your computer; you don’t need Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access to operate the software.

To install on a Mac or Apple you’ll need Parallels, a software program that allows you to operate Windows in a separate window on your Mac computer, along with a current Windows operating system. Install Parallels first – then install Windows. Then you can install any of our software programs.

Are demos available?
We don’t offer a demo version, but you can view videos showing how the software works on our YouTube channel, and review the help files here.

How does Fast Track Job Costing interact with Fast Track Estimating?
After creating an estimate, simply open Fast Track Job Costing and import the estimate. The estimate details will be imported; you’ll see the entire estimate grouped by Section Header. As the job is built, you can input actual costs as they are incurred and compare the actual to the estimate.

Who is it designed for?
This software will work for general and specialty contractors of all types doing jobs of all sizes. If you estimate your projects and want to be able to compare the actual cost after a job is build to the estimated costs, this software will work for you. It’s extremely flexible and easy to use.

How easy is it to add a new job if we don’t use Fast Track Estimating?
Adding a new job is extremely easy. Input basic job info, then add estimated costs by section. The software ships with the 30 sections listed in our estimate sheet as outlined in Estimating Construction Profitably, but you can easily change them to whatever system you use for estimating.

What cost categories are used?
Fast Track Job Costing identifies four cost categories – material, labor, subcontractor quotes and other costs.

Will this software work in a foreign country?
Yes, the calculations are all basic math, however the Region for your computer needs to be set at “English (United States)”.

What reports are available?
A wide variety of reports are available in Fast Track Job Costing, for individual jobs and to compare multiple jobs by date, estimator, or job type.

Fast Track Job Costing Help Files can be viewed or downloaded here.