Estimating terms
Every line of a construction estimate is priced one of two ways: a quantity multiplied by a unit price, or a single lump sum. The choice decides what happens when a quantity changes, what a supplier quote can replace and what the totals show. This page sets out which lines suit which pricing and how Fidrel handles each one.
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Someone prices the slab as one lump sum, and a week later the quantity grows by a third when the drawings are revised. The number does not move, because no quantity sits behind it, and the estimate quietly understates the cost.
Mobilization, permits and temporary protection get a quantity of 1 and an invented unit just to fill the columns. The line looks measured, but the quantity means nothing and the unit price cannot be compared with anything.
A subcontractor’s quote arrives as one total, while the line was set up per unit. Pasting the total into the unit price column gives an amount that is wrong until someone notices.
A quantity line is worked out as quantity times unit price and rounded once, to the cent, so changing the quantity changes the amount straight away. A lump-sum line is the fixed amount exactly as typed, with no quantity in the calculation. A group has no price of its own: its total is the sum of the lines beneath it, whichever way those lines are priced. An Unpriced line counts as zero and is listed among the unpriced items until you price it.
Cost estimation
Use a unit price where the work is measured and may change: concrete by volume, drywall by area, doors by each. A change in the drawings then flows through to the amount, and when a quantity was taken off a drawing the line is flagged if the drawing has changed since. Use a lump sum where nobody measures the work: mobilization, permits, an allowance, or a subcontractor’s quote that is one total. A quote that is a total is a lump sum by nature, and forcing it into a unit price would invent a quantity.
Step 1
Open the item and choose under Pricing: Quantity × unit price, Fixed amount or Unpriced. Use Unpriced for a line you cannot price yet, because every item needs a price before the estimate can be approved.
Step 2
For a quantity line enter the Quantity, the Unit (choose one or type your own) and the Unit price. For a lump sum enter the Fixed amount. Quantities take up to three decimals and amounts up to two.
Step 3
Add quotes on the item with a supplier, an amount and Per unit or In total. Choosing a per-unit quote sets the unit price, and choosing a total makes the item a lump sum, which Fidrel tells you before it changes the line.
A unit price can be built up from resources, each a quantity per unit times a unit cost, as Labor, Material, Equipment, Subcontract or Other. While the build-up exists the price is locked to it, and the build-up is removed when the item is priced another way, so switching a line to a lump sum drops it. Markups such as General conditions, Overhead, Contingency and Profit are added to the direct costs in the order you set, and they work on the amounts the lines produce, whether those come from unit prices or lump sums.
A line is priced one way at a time, either by quantity and unit price or as one fixed amount, never both. There is no cost database, so every unit price is one you enter, build up from your own resources or take from a supplier quote. The pricing of a line does not create or change a contract, and Fidrel does not turn an estimate into a proposal for a client.
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Read moreEstimating terms
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Talk to usWhen there is nothing sensible to count: mobilization, permits, an allowance, or a subcontractor’s quote that arrives as one price. Fidrel stores it as a fixed amount with no quantity behind it.
Yes, with the Pricing buttons on the item. Any resource build-up on the line is removed when it is priced another way, and choosing a quote that is a total can make the switch for you.
Quantity times unit price is rounded once, to the cent, with halves rounded away from zero. Quantities keep up to three decimals and amounts up to two, so nothing is rounded halfway through the calculation.
The line stays as typed. Fidrel flags a quantity whose drawing has changed since it was taken off, and a lump sum has no quantity to flag, which is why work that can change in size belongs on a unit price.
Yes. A group adds up its lines whichever way they are priced, and the markups you set are calculated on the direct costs that result.
No. Every item needs a price, by quantity and unit price or as a fixed amount, before the estimate can be approved as the baseline.
