Material catalog and matching

The material catalog is your company's database of materials, their specifications, and vendor pricing. When you add a line item to a bid, Gradeworks can automatically match it to materials in your catalog and pull in current pricing. This eliminates manual price lookups and ensures bids use up-to-date costs.

Building your catalog

1. Navigate to Settings > Materials
2. Click Add Material
3. Enter the material name, category (aggregate, asphalt, concrete, pipe, etc.), and default unit
4. Optionally add specifications — size, grade, or any attributes that distinguish variants
5. Save — the material appears in your catalog and is available for matching

Vendor pricing

Each material can have pricing from multiple vendors. Navigate to a material's detail page and add vendor entries with their price per unit, minimum order quantity, and delivery terms. When Gradeworks matches a material to a line item, it uses the best available price — or lets you choose a specific vendor if proximity or relationship matters.

Update vendor prices when you receive new price sheets. Material pricing is versioned — Gradeworks keeps history so you can see how costs have changed over time and how that affects bid margins.

Automatic matching

When you type a line item description that matches a material in your catalog, Gradeworks suggests the match with its current pricing. Gradeworks uses smart matching — it recognizes "3/4 crushed rock" as a match for "3/4-inch Crushed Rock Base." Accept the suggestion to auto-fill the unit cost from your catalog.

Keeping the catalog current

A catalog is only useful if it's accurate. Set a quarterly reminder to review vendor pricing, especially for volatile materials like asphalt and fuel. Archive materials you no longer use (they stay in historical bids but stop appearing in match suggestions). Add new materials as you encounter them in bids — the catalog grows naturally with your workflow.