Costs · Structure
A cost code is the label that lets one dollar be found three times: in the estimate, in the budget and on the invoice that paid for it. The work is in the structure, not the list. This page shows how to design a structure for a project, how Fidrel carries a code from the estimate into the budget and onto each coded invoice, and what Fidrel leaves to you.
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The estimator numbers lines one way, the accounting team another, and the invoice arrives with a vendor’s own wording. Every month somebody maps one to the other by hand, and the mapping is wrong for the lines that matter.
A structure that stops at one level hides where money goes. One with six levels turns every invoice into an hour of choosing. Most teams find the right depth only after a project has already used the wrong one.
A bill for something nobody estimated has to go somewhere. If the structure cannot take it, it is parked in a miscellaneous line, and the forecast quietly stops meaning anything.
Two levels are enough for a small renovation: a heading and the work under it. A larger building usually wants three, where the first is the trade or system, the second the area of work and the third the item itself. Go deeper only where an invoice will actually be coded that deep, because every extra level is one more choice a person makes with every bill. Because Fidrel treats a code as text, you can type the structure you use today without translating it.
Cost estimation
Some teams keep a second axis beside the code, such as labor, material and subcontract. The estimate has one Code field and a description, so the second axis has to be written into the code, as a trailing segment, or into the description. Decide this at the start. Changing it later means a revision of an approved estimate, and the history of that estimate stays with it.
Step 1
Fidrel keeps a code as text of up to 40 characters. A code that starts with another code and a separator, such as a space, dot, hyphen or slash, sits under it, so 03 holds 03 30 00 and 1 holds 1.1. Choose how many levels you want first.
Step 2
Each estimate line has a Code, a Description, a Quantity, a Unit and either a Unit price or a Fixed amount. Headings are rows without a price. Groups can nest, and totals roll up group by group.
Step 3
Use Import estimate to read an Excel or CSV file, map the Code column and tick Build groups from levels or codes. The headings and their rows are then placed under each other from the codes, instead of arriving as one flat list.
Step 4
When the estimate is approved as the baseline, every priced line becomes a budget item and keeps its code. The same table then shows original and current budget, committed, invoiced and estimate at completion for each coded line.
Step 5
Fidrel suggests up to three line items from the invoice text, the same cost code and earlier invoices from the vendor. An invoice can be split across lines, and the whole amount has to be coded before it can be approved.
At invoice coding you can create a New line item with a Code (optional) and a Description. The cost then shows Outside the estimate until an estimate is approved that contains it. Fidrel also warns when an invoice is not fully allocated, so a half-coded bill does not slip through. Fidrel suggests a line by a similar description, the same cost code, the same purchase order or contract, and earlier invoices from the same vendor, and you are always the one who saves the coding.
Fidrel does not include a cost code list: the structure is the one you type or import. It does not connect to an accounting system, so the estimate and the invoice log leave Fidrel as Excel and CSV files and the matching to your ledger is yours. It does not check a code against any published division list, and it only reads the code you give it as text.
Your trial applies to your first own project and starts when that project is created. No card required. Afterwards, choose card or invoice to continue.
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Read moreCosts · Structure
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usA short label that identifies a type of cost, usually with levels from a trade or division down to an item. The same label is used on the estimate, the budget and the invoices so the numbers can be added up.
As many as you will really use when coding invoices, usually two or three. Deeper structures give more detail but make every bill slower to code and more likely to be coded wrongly.
Yes. Map the Code column in Import estimate and tick Build groups from levels or codes. Rows without a price are read as headings, and rows under a matching code are placed beneath them.
No. Fidrel ships no code list. You type the codes you use or import them, and Fidrel treats them as text of up to 40 characters.
An approved estimate is locked. You create a revision, make the changes there and approve it, and the history shows who approved it, when, and how the budget changed.
