In this article
- Swapping materials onsite
- Swapping materials via the rate build up
- Swapping materials via the material bill
- Want to know more?
Swapping materials onsite
Once a tender has been accepted and the project taken onsite, there may be times where you need to change the material to something different. This could be because of stock issues obtaining the original configuration of material or brand, or you want to commercial engineer the project now it has been won and change the spec to a different brand or even unbranded materials.
Depending on the reason, there are two ways to swap materials in Chalkstring and the correct method will need to be used depending on the reason for the swap and the desired goal.
When to swap materials via the rate build up
Once a tender has been won and the project taken onsite, as part of your post tender review process, you may want to change aspects of the scope, such as changing material brands.
Swapping materials in the rate build up will change the scope of work for your live project.
For example, if you had allowed for 1000 m2 of British Gypsum wallboard in a 2400mm configuration at tender, but now onsite decided to instead use 2700mm configurations, changing the configuration in the products in the rate build up will update the requirement and scope for the project.
The balance details will update to show the requirement to complete the project will now be 1000 m2 but for the 2700mm configuration boards.
We strongly recommend completing your post tender review and making any material changes to the scope prior to placing any material orders.
Making any material changes to the scope after orders have been placed may cause unintended contingency costs.
For example: If you have placed an order for 1000 sheets of 'British Gypsum' wallboard from a total required balance of 10,000 sheets, swapping the material to a similar 'Knauf' brand board will swap the entire required balance of 10,000 sheets to the 'Knauf' brand.
In doing this, it will update the existing order of 1000 sheets of 'British Gypsum' board to show a contingency spend as the 'British Gypsum' board no longer has any requirement in the scope of work.
If the desired outcome is actually for the original 1000 sheets to have been included as part of the original scope and come from the total allowed material balance for these boards, use the material bill swapping method detailed below.
How to swap materials via the rate build up
- Expand the main Chalkstring black menu bar and click on the ‘Projects’ menu.
- Click the 'Project hub' button for the project you are working on.
- Click the relevant work package in the blue bar at the top
- Click on the 'Rate build up' section in the blue bar near the top.
- Click on the 'eye' icon for the relevant product to expand it to see all the material details.
1. Click the 'swap' button for the material you want to swap.
2. Use the filters to search for the material you want to swap to and click on it.
3. Complete the details from within the swap window:
- Configuration: Set/change the configuration for the material item.
- Usages:
- Swap all usages in this assessment - This will swap any instance of the material in the whole assessment
- Swap in this component only - This will only swap the instance of this material within this component.
- Enter the quantity conversion factor from the old unit to the new unit (if applicable).
- You will see a before and after example to help you check the conversions are correct.
- Click 'Swap'.
The swap feature is intended to be used when swapping like for like materials or labour activities on mass and expect the items to use the same unit of measure.
If an item is being swapped using a different unit of measure, a warning will appear to confirm the 'conversion factor'. The conversion factor is how many original item units are there per single unit of the replacement.
For example: If the original material was 12mm (1220mm x 2440mm) plywood sheet defined in m2, and this was being replaced with 15mm (1220mm x 2440mm) plywood sheet that had been set up on a single unit sheet basis. You would need to add the figure 2.98 when prompted for a conversion factor, as there are 2.98m2 per single sheet (1220mm x 2440mm) of 15mm ply.
Once a tender has been won and the project taken onsite, there may be instances where you need to order a different material from what was set at tender and in your current live scope of work.
Swapping materials in the material bill allows you to order a different material from your existing total material balance.
For example, if your total material required balance for 'British Gypsum 12.5mm wallboard' at tender was 5000 sheets, but at a point in the delivery of the project you now now need to order a different brand, maybe due to stock issues, you can swap to another material and order the new material from the existing total material balance.
Swapping materials via the bill will update the material in your rate build up to show the new material in your products but when ordering the material, it will be ordered from the total material required balance.
For example: If you have placed an order for 1000 sheets of 'British Gypsum 12.5mm wallboard' from a total required balance of 10,000 sheets, but your supplier advises they don't have stock of 'British Gypsum' but do of a similar spec 'Knauf' board, swapping to the 'Knauf' board will swap the remaining balance of 9000 sheets to the 'Knauf' brand.
The original 1000 sheets of 'British Gypsum' board will show in the material bill as being ordered but with a remaining balance of 0, instead the remaining balance will now be showing against the 'Knauf' board. The Knauf board can continue to be ordered as required from the remaining material balance.
If further into the project your supplier advises the 'British Gypsum' board is now available and you want to switch back to using this brand, you can swap back to the 'British Gypsum' board and the remaining balance will swap to move to this board.
Any 'Knauf' brand boards ordered as part of this swap process will display in the material bill with a remaining balance of 0 as the remaining balance has now been swapped back to the 'British Gypsum' board.
If the desired outcome is actually for the original 10,000 sheets to all be moved over to a 'Knauf brand, possibly due to a spec change, use the rate build up swapping method detailed above.
Materials can be swapped as many times as required, such as swapping to a 3rd brand and then swapping back to the originally desired brand. The remaining total required balance will move with each of the swaps.
Details of the material swap balances can be seen by clicking on the 'i' button for a material.
Using this method of swapping materials helps to reduce unintended contingency costs as it allows different materials to be ordered from the same original required material balance rather than ordering another brand out of your contingency budget.
How to swap materials via the material bill
- Expand the main Chalkstring black menu bar and click on the ‘Projects’ menu.
- Click the 'Project hub' button for the project you are working on.
- Click the 'Materials' icon in the blue bar on the left hand side.
- Select the required 'Package' from the drop down.
- Click the 'i' button for the material you want to swap.
1. Click the 'swap' button for the material you want to swap.
2. Use the filters to search for the material you want to swap to and click on it.
3. Complete the details from within the swap window
- Configuration: Set/change the configuration for the material item.
- Enter the quantity conversion factor from the old unit to the new unit (if applicable).
- You will see a before and after example to help you check the conversions are correct.
- Click 'Swap'.
If an item is being swapped using a different unit of measure, be sure to check and enter the required 'conversion factor'. The conversion factor is how many original item units are there per single unit of the replacement.
For example: If the original material was 12mm (1220mm x 2440mm) plywood sheet defined in m2, and this was being replaced with 15mm (1220mm x 2440mm) plywood sheet that had been set up on a single unit sheet basis. You would need to add the figure 2.98 when prompted for a conversion factor, as there are 2.98m2 per single sheet (1220mm x 2440mm) of 15mm ply.
1. The remaining balance for the previous materials is 0 as it no longer has a requirement in the scope of work.
2. 'Balance transferred from swapped materials' displays the quantity and value ordered from the total required balance at the point the material was swapped.
Swapped material
The newly swapped material in the bill now displays as below
1. This shows the remaining balance left to be ordered from the total required following the material swap.
2.' From swapped materials' shows what has been ordered from the total required prior to swapping to this material.
Want to know more?
- Video: Procurement
- Video: Post tender review
- How to set up a rate build up
- Understanding the assessment overview page - Estimating
- Material bill - Deviation
- How to order materials