Fixed costs
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      Adding and editing fixed costs

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      What are fixed costs?

      The fixed costs section is a central repository for all your standard preliminaries or fixed costs . These are items that you want to charge your client for, that you do not consider suitable to form part of the measured works in the bill of quantities.

      Fixed costs are given a set standard price that you charge per unit, and from that, on a project by project basis, you can determine what profit you expect to make on that item based on the the costs you have allowed for.

      Adding a fixed cost

      To add a new fixed cost you will need to have the necessary permissions. If you don't see the options in the steps below but believe you should have these permissions, please speak to your system administrator or contact our support team.

      Steps to add a fixed cost

      1. From the left menu bar click the 'Settings' icon, then click the 'Resources' icon.
      2. Click the ‘Fixed costs’ sub menu.
      3. You can check to see if the fixed is already set up by typing part of the name into the filter at the top of the screen.  If it is not already set up you can add a new item. 
      4. Click the '+ New fixed cost button in the top right of the screen.
      5. This will open a form with the following fields:
      • Name (required) - enter the name of the fixed cost. Names need to be unique.
      • Period (required) - choose the applicable charging period for the item being created.
      • Price per period - enter the 'Price per period' that will be charged to clients for this item. This is what will appear on tenders and applications.

      Fixed costs items are often just allowances for costs that are going to be incurred. Rather than detailed rate build ups with quotes and OHP margins applied, fixed costs can be reverse engineered from the price being charged and allocated a profit contribution figure that is expected to be made.

      • Profit per period (required) - If any profit is to be included in the cost for the item, add it in this section.
      • External links - this can be used to add links to external web pages e.g. manufacturer website
      • Data sheets - this can be used to upload files such as PDF datasheets or COSHH assessments for easy reference.
      6. Click the 'Save fixed cost' button.


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        Editing fixed costs

        If a fixed cost needs to be updated you can use the edit option.

        We don't recommend changing the 'Period' for fixed costs that may already be use. Instead, we recommend adding a new fixed cost for the new period.

        Steps to edit a fixed cost

        1. From the left menu bar click the 'Settings' icon, then click the 'Resources' icon.
        2. Click the ‘Fixed costs’ sub menu.
        3. Find the fixed cost that you wish to edit and click on it to view the details. 
        4. Click the 'Edit' icon in the top right of the screen. If you aren't sure which icon, hover over them to see a tooltip.
        5. Make the changes you wish to make.
        6. Click 'Save fixed cost'.

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        Archiving fixed costs

        If you have fixed costs that you no longer want users to be able to choose but that have been used on existing projects then you can archive them. This will stop them showing up as active fixed costs and will prevent users selecting them on new projects.

        Steps to archive a fixed cost

        1. From the left menu bar click the 'Settings' icon, then click the 'Resources' icon.
        2. Click the ‘Fixed costs’ sub menu.
        3. Find the fixed cost that you wish to archive and click on it to view the details. 
        4. Click the 'Archive' icon in the top right of the screen and then click the 'Confirm archive' button that appears. If you aren't sure which icon, hover over them to see a tooltip.
        5. This will leave the fixed cost record in the system but hide it from dropdown lists.

        Steps to unarchive a fixed cost

        If for some reason you need to reinstate an archived fixed cost you can do so with the following steps:

        1. From the left menu bar click the 'Settings' icon, then click the 'Resources' icon.
        2. Click the ‘Fixed costs’ sub menu.
        3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tick the 'Include archived' checkbox.
        4. Find the fixed cost that you wish to unarchive and click on it to view the details. 
        5. Click the 'Unarchive' icon in the top right of the screen and then click the 'Confirm unarchive' button that appears. If you aren't sure which icon, hover over them to see a tooltip.
        6. This will reinstate the fixed cost record in the system. 

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        Deleting fixed costs

        Deleting fixed costs cannot be undone so only proceed if you are absolutely sure that you want to remove the record permanently from your system.

        If you have fixed cost records that were created in error and they have not been linked to any other data (such as projects) then you can delete them using the following steps:

        Steps to delete a fixed costs

        1. From the left menu bar click the 'Settings' icon, then click the 'Resources' icon.
        2. Click the ‘Fixed costs’ sub menu.
        3. Find the fixed cost that you wish to delete and click on it to view the details. 
        4. Click the 'Delete' icon in the top right of the screen and then if you are sure you want to delete the record permanently, click the 'Confirm' button that appears. If you aren't sure which icon, hover over them to see a tooltip.
        5. This will permanently remove the fixed costs record from the system.

        If you receive an error when trying to delete, this means the data is linked to other data in the system. In this instance use the Archive option instead. 

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