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By Randy Reames Southern California regional manager Spruce Computer Systems

to generate total footage to aid in buying the lumber. Recaps can be generated in various formats to ensure that the correct profits are being made.

In this case, a quote has an expiration date and a purge date associated with it. It can be set to expire in one week but can remain on the system longer.

Bids, however, are generally for the sale of bulk lumber and have more complicated requirements that merit their own Contractor Bidding Module. The easy facilitation of bids is very important to lumberyards where bulk lumber provides 80-9OVo of their gross sales. Bids are received from contractors in the form of detailed lumber lists, takeoffs from plans, or bids generated by other yards. Larger bids could be for a tract of homes or an apartment complex that may include many phases of construction. Smaller bids may be for a custom home or possibly an add-on to an existing structure.

The pricing and re-pricing of bids becomes crucial in getting the contract. Your system should provide the ability to check footage and costs, and finetune pricing while still maintaining the profit margin. A price spec screen can be used to enter additional discounts or increases by various methods. A price spec may be entered to take 2Vo off on all the plywood while adding $2/lvIBF to all the 2x4s. Once these price specs are entered, the bid is automatically repriced. In the case where a bid has expired, the entire bid can also be repriced using the current prices.

It is easy to substitute and add products as building plans change. A bid can be broken down into different loads, shown with various multipliers, and broken down into individual Plan/I4odel specs. Bid loads need to be entered only once. To use the load multiple times in a single bid, simply enter the appropriate multiplier. Loads can be easily combined with other loads to create several different models. Several bids can also be combined

The quicker the bid can be rebid and returned to the customer, the better chance you have of getting the project.

The process doesn't stop once the job or project is sold. It needs to be shipped and tracked. hojects and prices must be committed, pre-liens generated, long/short reports created, and add-ons tracked and processed. A Delivery/Dispatch module can help dispatchers handle scheduled deliveries from the yard to the job site. It simplifies and organizes the loading of trucks based on location and delivery date, while reducing paperwork and increasing accuracy.

You can simpli$ your purchasing functions even further by setting up Electronic Data Interchange with your vendors. Your system can tie in with your wholesalers' computer systems to submit purchase orders and retrieve invoice data, price updates and sale information. Keying errors are elimi-

Bids are generally for

the sale of bulk lumber and have more complicated requirements.

nated. Orders are received quicker and more reliably, resulting in fewer credit/debit memos and improved cash flow and safety stock levels. This clearly gives you a competitive advantage over competitors who have not implemented EDI with their suppliers.

All of these functions can contribute to the success of a yard, but it is not until the vital bidding process is completed, that a yard can even begin to think about accounts receivables, inventory purchasing, etc. Without a timely bid and a sold job, there would be no need for these software modules.

Itr/ITH each passing day, industry Y Y professionals are discovering the Internet's potential for generating business. Indeed, one need only enter key words such as "lumber" or "building products" into a search engine to reveal the scores of retail and wholesale dealers on line.

While few industry Web site owners have received orders electronically, most regard their site as being a valuable information tool, and worthy of the investment. "We've received a substantial amount of business from one account in particular that located us (at www.achoustonlumber.com)," said Stacey Byrum, A.C. Houston Lumber Co., Las Vegas, Nv. "However, we've also received numerous other leads that have benefited (us)."

She added that the site was activated in April 1997, but a counter wasn't installed until last summer. "Since then, we've received over 4,600 hits from the general public," she said. "Our site presents a good overview of what we offer in terms of products and services."