Rate analysis
Build an item rate from its materials, labour and plant — coefficients, wastage, overhead and profit — and keep it current when resource prices move.
A rate analysis is the build-up behind a BOQ rate: how many bags of cement, mason-days and mixer-hours one unit of the item consumes, at what rates, plus your overhead and profit. A BOQ line priced from an analysis can always be explained; a rate typed by hand cannot.
📷 Screenshot spot — one rate analysis open: the Material / Labour / Equipment / Subcontract / Overhead + profit / Rate strip, and the Components grid with three or four lines
Save as static/img/screenshots/precon-rate-analysis.png and replace this box with 
Create a rate analysis
- Open Estimation from the sidebar and click New rate analysis.
- Enter a Code (unique in your library, such as
RA-PCC-148) and a Description. - Pick the Unit the rate is for, and the Output quantity — the rate is per this many units. Usually 1; use 10 if your published coefficients are per 10 sqm.
- Set Overhead % and Profit %. Add a Source reference such as a DSR item or SOR clause.
- Click Create and add components. The analysis opens, empty.
Add the components
- Click Add resource, search the resource master, and click Add on each resource the item consumes. Its kind, unit and standard rate come with it.
- For anything not in the catalogue, click Add manual line and fill in Kind, description, Unit and Rate yourself.
- On every line, enter the Coefficient — the quantity per output quantity — and the Wastage %.
- Use the arrows to reorder lines and Remove to drop one.
- Click Save components. The amounts and the rate are worked out when you save; until then the grid says "on save". Discard throws away unsaved changes.
A resource line's kind follows the resource — labour stays labour. A service resource counts as overhead.
How the rate is worked out
For each line:
- effective coefficient = coefficient × (1 + wastage % ÷ 100)
- amount = effective coefficient × rate
Then for the whole analysis:
| Step | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Direct cost | Material + Labour + Equipment + Subcontract amounts |
| Overhead | Direct cost × overhead %, plus any overhead lines |
| Profit | (Direct cost + overhead) × profit % |
| Rate | (Direct cost + overhead + profit) ÷ output quantity |
Line amounts are rounded once, and the rate is rounded at the end — so the columns add up when you check them by hand.
Example — PCC per 1 cum, overhead 10%, profit 10% (illustrative figures):
| Component | Coefficient | Wastage | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cement (bag) | 4.00 | 2.5% | ₹400 | ₹1,640.00 |
| Sand (cum) | 0.45 | — | ₹2,000 | ₹900.00 |
| Aggregate (cum) | 0.90 | — | ₹1,200 | ₹1,080.00 |
| Mason (day) | 0.25 | — | ₹1,000 | ₹250.00 |
| Helper (day) | 1.50 | — | ₹700 | ₹1,050.00 |
| Mixer (hour) | 0.50 | — | ₹160 | ₹80.00 |
Material ₹3,620 + labour ₹1,300 + equipment ₹80 = direct cost ₹5,000. Overhead ₹500. Profit 10% of ₹5,500 = ₹550. Rate = ₹6,050 per cum.
Rate sources
Each line has a Rate source:
| Source | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| resource | Follows the resource's standard rate. Re-read every time you save components or recompute. |
| manual | The rate you typed. Never changed by the system. |
| price list | A rate you typed from a supplier's list. Treated like manual. |
Switch a resource line to manual when you deliberately want a different rate from the catalogue's.
When a rate goes stale
When someone changes a resource's standard rate, every analysis with a resource line for it is flagged. The Stale count on the Estimation page goes up, the analysis carries a stale tag in the rate library, and opening it shows which resource moved, from what to what, and since when.
Nothing is recalculated on its own — a BOQ or quotation may already have been priced from the old figure, and only you can judge whether the bid needs to change.
To bring the analysis up to date, open it and click Recompute from resources. It re-reads the standard rate of every resource line, leaves manual and price-list lines alone, recalculates the rate and clears the stale flag.
When you price a BOQ line from an analysis, the rate is copied onto the line at that moment. Recomputing the analysis later does not change BOQ lines or quotations already priced from it. Update those lines yourself if the new rate should apply.
Changing Overhead %, Profit % or Output quantity in the Header panel and clicking Save header also recalculates the rate.
Header settings
In the Header panel you can also change Description, Unit, Type (standard, custom or library), Source reference and the Template tick, which help you organise the library. Unticking Active retires the analysis: it disappears from the rate library and from the BOQ line picker. Add a Reason (optional) to any change; it is kept with the record.
Tips
- If your analyses already include overhead and profit, keep the BOQ's own Overhead % and Profit % at zero, or you will charge them twice.
- Search the rate library by code or description; it shows active analyses.
- Only the Company Admin, Project Manager and QS / Estimator can see rate analyses at all.
Rate Suggestion fills blank coefficients — from your own library first, AI only where there is no match. Each suggestion is a draft you accept or reject.
Related
- Resources — the standard rates your analyses follow.
- Bills of quantities — price BOQ lines from your analyses.