Adding a fee based on cost, price, profit, weight or hours

Did you know you can add a fee item, that will calculate based on the sum of cost, price, profit, weight or hours of the other items inside the same project/estimate or assembly?

This is helpful if you:

• Need to calculate shipping from weight

• Want to charge a management fee based on the hours of the job

• Want to set a minimum profit, cost, or price on a whole assembly or project

• Calculate permit costs that are based on the price of a job

• Create a project management item with costs based on the project cost, or hours

Special variables available in the fee cost formula

The special variables are calculated from other items in the project, either the sibling items (and assemblies) that are inside the same assembly as the fee item OR for the project as a whole.

For sibling level values, any non-fee items that are found in the same parent assembly (or quote, for root level fee items) will be included. If, for example, the fee item is found inside an assembly, an item found in the root of the project will not be included in the sums for that fee.

For project level values, any non-fee items that are found anywhere in the project are added together.

Here are the possible variables

• weight - sibling level - the sum of item weights as noted in the materials options of items

• hours - sibling level - the sum of item labor hours as noted in labor options of items

• price - sibling level - the sum of prices of items

• cost - sibling level - the sum of cost of items

• profit - sibling level - the sum of the profit of items

• project_weight - project level - the sum of item weights as noted in the materials options of items

• project_hours - project level - the sum of item labor hours as noted in labor options of items

• project_price - project level - the sum of prices of items

• project_cost - project level - the sum of cost of items

• project_profit - project level - the sum of the profit of items

1. Add a new blank item to your quote

   Open

   

2. Set the name

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3. Set Pricing type to Fee pricing

4. Choose whether the item will have labor or materials. Choose materials for anything that does not require your own labor including shipping in our example. Unlike other items, fee items can only have either labor or materials, not both.

5. Determine the formula for the cost of the fee. It is important to note that the quantity of a fee item is always 1 each, and the formula is to determine the cost of the fee, not the quantity or price.

6. Choose a markup. If you are charging 100% of the cost of the fee to your customer set the markup to 1 (you will make no profit on the fee). If you are marking it up choose any markup you’d like above 1. If you are absorbing the cost entirely yourself, set the markup to 0 and the client will not be charged at all, but it will cost you.

7. Now you will know the item is a fee item because it shows the fee symbol (%) and shows the cost where the quantity normally is. In this example, the shipping fee will use the weight from all the items at the same level as it, which in this case is only the bathroom remodel.