Setting up equipment categories

Equipment is a core part of construction operations — excavators, trucks, pavers, rollers, and dozens of other machines. Setting up your equipment in Gradeworks lets you assign machines to crews, track utilization across projects, and include equipment costs in bid estimates.

Equipment categories

Categories group similar equipment together. Common categories include Excavators, Haul Trucks, Loaders, Pavers, Rollers, Compactors, and Support Vehicles. Define categories in Settings > Equipment > Categories. Each category has a name and an optional hourly rate default that pre-fills when you add equipment in that category.

1. Go to Settings > Equipment > Categories
2. Click Add Category
3. Enter a name (e.g., 'Haul Trucks') and an optional default hourly rate
4. Save — the category is now available when adding individual equipment

Adding equipment

Individual pieces of equipment live within categories. Each entry has a name or identifier (e.g., "CAT 330 - Unit 14"), the category it belongs to, an hourly operating cost, and a status (Active, In Maintenance, Retired). Add equipment in Settings > Equipment.

Assigning equipment to crews

Each crew can have default equipment assignments — the machines that crew typically takes to a job. When a work block is dispatched, the assigned equipment appears on the foreman's dispatch card in the field app. You can override equipment assignments on a per-block basis from the dispatch board.

Equipment and estimating

When building bids, equipment costs flow from your equipment rates. Line items tagged with equipment cost codes use the hourly rates you've configured. Accurate equipment setup means your bids reflect real operating costs, not guesses.