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.

Waste

Painting waste is usually a small but real number:

• Walls and ceilings - 5-10% covers in-tin residue, roller load, and touch-ups. 8% is a sensible default.
• Primer / undercoat - similar band, 5-10%.
• Trim paint - 5% is usually enough for skirting, architraves.
• High-spec or strong-pigment paint - bump waste a little because thinner coats need a second pass more often.

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

Material price and pack sizing

How paint is sold determines how the app converts measurement to order quantity. Get this right and you stop over- or under-ordering tins.

• Pack by area (coverage) - the standard for paint. e.g. a 5L tin covers 60 m² single coat = 30 m² two-coat. The app divides area (after waste) by the two-coat figure and rounds up.
• Pack by length - rare for paint; sometimes used for prepped trim ordered per metre.
• Pack by count - boxes of tins.
• Single unit - per-tin pricing.

Always use the supplier's two-coat coverage. The one-coat figure is for marketing.

A worked example

Wall emulsion, 2-coat finish over 95 m² of internal walls:

• Plan wall area: 95 m²
• Waste at 8%: 95 × 1.08 = 102.6 m²
• Tin coverage (2 coats): 30 m² per 5L tin
• Order quantity: 102.6 ÷ 30 = 3.42 → 4 tins

Without waste built in you would have ordered 3 tins and run out before the second coat finished.

Related

• Plan vs Actual
• Creating a component