Labor items are items in your SI catalog that are set to type "Labor." The type is determined by the category type set for the category in the Categories setting in the Control Panel.
To create a labor item, click the Start button > Catalog > Manage Labor, then click the New button.
The following are the tabs in the Create Labor form.
General
The following are the fields in the General tab.
Field | Description |
Manufacturer | The dropdown menu lists all the manufacturers in your catalog.
Click the New link to create a new manufacturer.
This is a required field. |
Model | This displays the model number of the labor item.
This is a required field. |
Category | The dropdown menu lists all the categories in your catalog.
Click the New link to create a new category.
This is a required field. |
Subcategory | The dropdown menu lists all the subcategories in your catalog.
Click the New link to create a new subcategory. |
Phase | Here, you can set a phase for a product. Phases are used to track the general "time" when a product will be needed or used in a project.
Examples are Pre-Wire, Trim, Finish, etc. This is an extremely powerful filter for determining what products need to be ordered or installed at a particular time in the project's progress. |
Accounting Item Name | This field will display the QuickBooks item number when using our QuickBooks integration.
You can also manually enter an "accounting ID" from your own accounting software. |
Status | Here, you can mark a labor item as Discontinued or Approved.
Discontinued items can be used to keep a labor item in your catalog, but not have it displayed on forms by default.
Approved data automatically synchronizes to your SI Server for use by all users; unchecking this setting keeps your data changes local to your machine. |
Bulk Item | Here, you can designate a labor item as a "bulk item."
Bulk items will maintain their quantities when a project is converted from a Quantity-Based Project to a Unit-Based Project. |
Include in Service Plan | When this box is checked, you will be prompted to add the labor items as a project Item when creating a service plan.
Within a project, this option will be on the Service Plans tab. |
Publish to Mobile Install | When this box is checked, the labor item will be included in the list of products and labor items you can publish to Mobile Install for use with site items. |
Image | Here, you can add an image to a labor item.
You can use the Add, Paste, and Clear functions or drag and drop images directly into the field. |
Description
Field | Description |
Short Description | Here, you can enter a brief description of a labor item for use on Internal vs. Client reports.
The maximum allowed is 255 characters. |
Long Description | Here, you can enter a longer description for a labor item.
When this field is populated, all Client reports will use this description. If this field is blank, client reports will use the Short Description field.
The maximum allowed is 2000 characters. |
Tags | Here, you can add tags to help identify labor items while searching. |
For the Description fields, you have the following options.
You can insert Snippets.
You can also use the spell-check feature to fix spelling errors.
You can change the case of whatever you have selected in the Long Description field. Your options are Upper, Lower, Title, and Sentence.
Price
Here, you can use the Standard or Calculated option to set your cost and price (when creating a new labor item).
There are three ways to charge for labor on a labor item when you choose "Standard:" Fixed, Variable, and a combination of both.
Fixed
The Fixed option charges a flat rate for the labor item and has four fields.
The following are the Fixed fields.
Field | Description |
Cost | Enter how much the labor costs you. |
Price | Enter how much you sell the labor for. |
Margin | Margin =(1 - (Unit Cost / Unit Price)) x 100.
This field is calculated automatically based on the unit cost and unit price. |
Markup | Markup = (Unit Price - Unit Cost) / Unit Cost * 100%.
This field is calculated automatically based on the unit cost and unit price. |
Variable
The Variable option charges labor based on a rate times the number of hours.
The following are the Variable fields.
Field | Description |
Use cost and price from labor type | This option uses labor rates for the labor type, which will be multiplied by the hours to determine the pricing for the labor item. |
Labor Type | Here, you can assign a labor type to a labor item, generally something like Installation, Programming, Commissioning, etc.
Labor types determine what labor rate should be applied to the labor item multiplied by the hours. |
Hours | Here, you can add the number of hours you estimate (or know) that it will take to install a Labor Item.
When used in conjunction with the Labor Type field, labor may be calculated depending on how you charge for labor in SI. |
Use specific cost and price | This option allows you to enter specific rates for the labor item vs using the rates set for the labor type. This option still uses the labor hours to calculate the total. |
Cost | Enter how much the labor costs you. |
Price | Enter how much you sell the labor for. |
Margin | Margin =(1 - (Unit Cost / Unit Price)) x 100.
This field is calculated based on the unit cost and unit price. |
Markup | Markup = (Unit Price - Unit Cost) / Unit Cost * 100%.
This field is calculated based on the unit cost and unit price. |
Fixed + Variable
You can also use a combination of Fixed and Variable for your labor items by checking both boxes.
Common Fields
The following are the common fields.
Field | Description |
Taxable | Determines whether a labor item is taxable. |
Pricing Settings | Here, you can choose the behavior of other price fields when you change the unit cost field. |
Price Rules | Clicking this link will allow you to use Price Rules to set the pricing fields for the labor item. |
Estimated Installation Price | This will show you the estimated installation price for the labor item, including labor, taxes, and price adjustments if applicable. |
Order
Do Not Order - This option will filter out the products when creating purchase orders.
Preferred Vendor - Here, you can set a vendor for a labor item if you plan to include these on purchase orders.
Custom Fields
Here, you can set Custom fields for a labor item. Custom fields are common to products, labor, and packages.
Accessories
Here, you can add products and labor items to a labor item. Click here to learn about Accessories.
Additional Labor Item Fields
When a labor item is added to a project, additional fields are added to the labor item.
Check out this article for more details.