Tracking materials on projects

Material cost can make or break a project's profitability. Gradeworks tracks materials from order through delivery to usage — so you know what you ordered, what arrived, what was used, and how that compares to what you estimated in the bid.

Adding materials to a project

Open a project and navigate to the Materials tab. Materials from the bid are pre-populated if the project was converted from an awarded bid. For each material, you see the estimated quantity (from the bid), ordered quantity, delivered quantity, and used quantity. Add additional materials as needs change during the project.

Recording orders and deliveries

1. Select a material on the project Materials tab
2. Click Record Order — enter the vendor, quantity, unit cost, and expected delivery date
3. When the delivery arrives, click Record Delivery — enter the actual quantity received and any notes
4. The material's status updates to show ordered vs. delivered quantities

Tracking usage

Usage is recorded by the field crew, typically through the foreman's daily report. The foreman enters how much of each material was used that day. Usage accumulates over the project and is compared against the estimated and delivered quantities. If usage is outpacing the estimate, you'll see a difference warning.

Cost tracking

Material costs are tracked per delivery — actual prices from vendor invoices, not estimated prices from the bid. The cost comparison shows estimated cost (bid quantity x bid price), actual cost (delivery quantity x actual price), and difference. This feeds directly into the job costing report and project cost tracking.

Material reports

The project Materials tab summarizes all material activity. For cross-project analysis, use the Material Usage report in the Reports section — it shows consumption patterns, cost differences, and vendor pricing trends across all projects. This is valuable for updating your material catalog pricing and improving future bid accuracy.