If you have license(s) of HDP3, you can purchase the Spec Cost Update add-on at any time.

If you’re running HDP4 or just getting ready to purchase HDP4, the Spec Cost Update tool is a standard feature so there’s no need to purchase the add-on.

New unit cost data is calculated based on bids you’ve received at the line-item level of detail because it ensures that the unit costs you’re using for your cost estimates are as accurate as possible for you. Unit costs should be a reflection of your community, your housing stock, and your contractors; this is an improvement upon regional cost data or even zip-code cost data because it is very specific to you.

The Spec Cost Update tool is partly automated and partly manual. You manually choose what data is filtered in or out of the calculation of new unit costs, the tool automatically calculates new spec costs for you, and you manually adjust the costs (if necessary) and decide which specs from the list you want to update.

There are three opportunities for controlling the calculation of new unit costs:

First, when you open the Spec Cost Updating add-on, you are given filter options to:

• only include specs that have at least a certain number of bids (you choose that number)
• only use bids from a certain date range
• include data from all bidders or only include data from a certain amount of lowest bidders (you choose how many).

Next, when you finish with the filter options and your new spec costs are calculated, you can click on the Details button for each spec to review every bid amount included in the calculation. You may uncheck any bid amounts you don’t want factored into the calculation of new specs; it will then re-calculate new spec costs.

Lastly, when reviewing the new unit costs, you can adjust the calculated cost as desired and check off the specs you want to update.

Start by pointing out how HDP Online Bidding benefits bidders.

If a contractor would prefer to continue submitting their bids on paper, you can mix HDP Online Bidding with manual bid entry. It’s completely up to you if you want to still offer the paper option.

There is no time limit for using your purchased Bid Requests for the HDP Online Bidding service; the only requirement is that you must have a current subscription to HDP Online Bidding.

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HDP Online Bidding is compatible with Housing Developer Pro 3.5.14 and newer (here’s how to check what version you’re running). If you're running an older version, download the latest now.

In general, a Bid Request identifies what work contractors are to bid on for a particular property.

Through HDP, you create a Bid Request for an address and submit it to the HDP Online Bidding service. During the process of submitting your Bid Request to HDP Online Bidding, you select which contractors get notified of the request to bid on the scope of work.

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If you already have license(s) of Housing Developer Pro, you can purchase HDP Online Bidding at any time. If you’re just getting ready to purchase Housing Developer Pro, you will need to purchase your HDP licenses first, and then purchase a subscription to HDP Online Bidding.