Waste and material costs

Two settings - waste and material pricing - decide how the app turns a measurement into a quantity you can actually order. Set them on each component once and every quote stays consistent.

Construction is the umbrella trade. Pitch is not applied at trade level - if a specific component (like rafter framing measured from a plan) needs it, turn on the per-component pitch multiplier just for that component.

Waste

Construction waste varies by material:

• Timber framing - 7-10% for offcuts, miscuts, and damaged ends. 8% is a sensible default.
• Sheet cladding / lining - 5-10% for sheet cuts around openings and corners.
• Concrete - 3-5% for overpour and formwork bulge.
• Roofing sheets - 5-8% for end laps and trims.
• Hardware (bolts, nails, fixings) - 5-15% as small items are easy to lose or over-order.
• Subcontract allowances and PC sums - zero waste.

Set waste against each component so it applies automatically every time you use that component.

Material price and pack sizing

How a product is sold determines how the app converts measurement to order quantity. Get this right and you stop over- or under-ordering on a multi-trade job.

• Pack by length - timber and trim sold by metre or in standard lengths (e.g. 2.7m, 3.0m).
• Pack by area - sheet products by m² coverage (e.g. 2.4×1.2 m = 2.88 m² per sheet).
• Pack by volume - ready-mix concrete by m³ with truck minimums.
• Pack by count - bars, bolts, fixings, windows, doors.
• Single unit - per-item pricing.

For construction jobs the supplier pack format varies more than other trades - set each component's pack accurately and the multi-discipline quote stays clean.

Per-component pitch

For roof framing or sheeting measured from a plan view, the actual length on the slope is longer than the plan length. Turn on the per-component pitch multiplier (rafter pitch only - no valley/hip) on those specific components.

For everything else - walls, slabs, cladding faces, fascia, decks - leave it off.

A worked example

A small extension involves cladding 28 m² of external wall plus 14 m of framing studs at 600 centres:

• Cladding: 28 m² × 1.07 (7% waste) = 29.96 m² → 29.96 ÷ 2.88 m²/sheet = 10.4 → 11 sheets at $68 = $748
• Studs (90×45 H2): 14 m of wall at 600 centres = ~24 studs × 2.7m height = 64.8 m of timber. Add 8% waste: 64.8 × 1.08 = 70 m → 70 ÷ 2.7m length = 26 lengths at $22.14 = $576

Set both as their own components with their own pack and waste rules, and a mixed-discipline quote breaks down cleanly.

Related

• Plan vs Actual
• Creating a component