---
title: "How To Create And Read A \"Consolidated Estimate\""
description: "How To Create And Read A \"Consolidated Estimate\""
---
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# How To Create And Read A "Consolidated Estimate"
A "Consolidated Estimate" is one estimate made up of several child estimates. You estimate each part of the job separately — a bed tower, an ambulatory care building, a central utility plant — and Zebel rolls them up into a single set of totals you can report on, while each part stays its own estimate you can work in.
To create a "Consolidated Estimate" follow these steps.
Navigate to the "Estimates" page and press the blue "Add Estimate" button in the upper right corner.
Select "New Consolidated Estimate" from the menu.
Choose where the child estimates will live. Select "Existing Project" to add them to a project you already have, or "New Project" to create one at the same time. All of the child estimates are created under this one project.
Fill in the details for the first child estimate. The "Phase" and "Version" describe what this part of the job is — "Riverside - Bed Tower", "V1". Set the "Date", "Buyout Date", "Status" and "Construction Type" the same way you would for a single estimate.
Select a "Template" for the child estimate. Each child can use a different template if the parts of the job are estimated differently.
Fill in the second child estimate the same way.
NOTE, a consolidated estimate needs at least two children, so the form starts with two and neither can be removed until you have added a third.
Press "Add Another Estimate" for each additional child you need, and fill it in the same way.
Press the blue "Create Consolidated Estimate" button. Zebel creates every child estimate and the consolidated estimate that rolls them up in one go, so this takes a few seconds. Leave the page open while it works.
When it finishes you are taken straight into the new consolidated estimate.
To read a "Consolidated Estimate" follow these steps.
Open the consolidated estimate. It is listed on the "Estimates" page under its project like any other estimate, with "Consolidated" as its scope.
On the "Summary" tab, the "Cost Summary" card on the right shows the rolled up "Total Direct Costs", "Total Indirect Costs" and "Total Cost" — these are the totals of every child added together.
The "Child Estimates" card lists each child with its own "Total Cost", so you can see what each part of the job contributes. In the example the two children come to $6,269,602.64 and $5,028,145.32, which is the $11,297,747.96 shown in "Cost Summary".
Press the arrow on a child's card to open that child estimate and work in it directly.
Select the "Budget & Inputs" tab to see the "Detailed Budget" for the consolidated estimate. Alongside the usual "Total Cost" column there is now one column per child estimate, so you can read each child's share of any cost item without leaving the consolidated view.
Press the arrow beside a row to expand it and see the same child by child breakdown further down the cost structure.
Please note that the numbers on a consolidated estimate come from its children. To change a cost, open the child estimate it belongs to and edit it there — the consolidated totals update to match.
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