Welcome — protect the profit before you sign
This tool takes a winning fire alarm bid, subtracts every known cost, protects the 3DTSI profit target (35% by default), and tells you the maximum safe amount you can pay the subcontractor — with a clear green / yellow / red answer. Pick a starting point:
Returning to a saved bid? Use Open Project in the top bar, or Import .json for a project file someone sent you.
How it works — four steps
- Bid — enter the winning bid amount and any approved change orders on the Winning Bid tab. This is the money everything else comes out of.
- Costs — enter what the job costs 3DTSI: materials, in-house labor, and other expenses (permits, lifts, bonding…).
- Sub quote — enter the subcontractor’s quoted scope and what they are asking to be paid.
- Decision — the Dashboard shows the maximum safe payout and a green / yellow / red verdict that always protects the 3DTSI profit target.
Import a Winning Estimate
Drop in the winning estimate as Excel (.xlsx / .xls / .csv) or PDF. The program reads the line items, proposes which calculator field each one belongs to, and shows you a review table. Nothing is applied until you confirm the mapping.
Or paste estimate text
For scanned PDFs or emails: paste lines like Smoke detectors ..... $1,500.00 — one item per line.
Review & Apply
Parse an estimate above to see the proposed field mapping here.
Project Information
Identifies the bid on every report. Nothing here affects the math.
Winning Bid
Retainage, bonding & tax — only when they apply to this contract
3DTSI Required Profit
Advanced thresholds — minimum acceptable % and the yellow warning band
Margin on sell price: profit as a share of what the customer pays. 35% margin on a $100,000 bid = $35,000 profit (costs must stay under $65,000).
Markup on cost: profit as a share of your cost. 35% markup on $65,000 of cost = $22,750 profit — only a 22.75% margin.
A 35% markup is much less money than a 35% margin. 3DTSI's default rule is 35% margin on the sell price.
Material Costs
Enter 3DTSI's cost for each material category (what you pay, before company markup).
Tax, freight & markup flag
3DTSI In-House Labor
Labor cost formula (A5): hours × role rate × (1 + burden%) × (1 + 0.5 × OT%).
Labor rates by role ($/hr)
Hours by task
Lump-sum labor dollars — from estimate import, or when labor is priced in $ not hours
Use these when labor is priced in dollars instead of hours (typical for imported estimates). Each amount is added on top of the hours-based cost for the same task.
Vehicles & tools — truck and equipment charged to this job
Cabinet & Programming — Subcontractor Scope
The subcontractor's quoted costs for panel, programming, testing and closeout work.
Subcontractor pricing request
Other Expenses
Permits, engineering, rentals, overhead, reserves and every other project cost.
Scope Split — who performs each work package
Costs automatically move between 3DTSI and the subcontractor as you toggle ownership. Scope moved to the sub is valued at 3DTSI's estimated cost until you have a real sub quote (A6).
Scenario Builder — four models side by side
Same cost inputs in every scenario; only scope ownership changes. "Custom Model" uses your Scope Split toggles. The subcontractor's requested pricing is applied to every scenario for pass/fail testing.
Validation & Warnings
Where the Money Goes
The contract value flows left to right: each cost bucket takes its share, the required 3DTSI profit is set aside, and the last bar is what's left to offer the subcontractor above their base cost.
Requested vs. maximum safe payout
Audit Trail — every number and its formula
All amounts are calculated in whole cents; nothing is hidden.
| Step | Formula | Amount |
|---|
Reports & Exports
Generate a report below, then use Print / Save as PDF — the print view contains only the report.
No report generated yet. Click a report button above.
How the math works — one worked example
The same six steps run every time a number changes anywhere in this program. Here they are on a simple $100,000 bid — every dollar figure below is computed live by the same engine that scores your real bids.
Glossary — the words on these screens
Plain-English definitions of the estimating and fire-alarm terms used in this program. Click the ? next to any section title for help about that screen.