Viewing Item Details

Viewing item details

When you double-click an item in the database browser or search results, the item detail screen opens. This shows you the full pricing and labour information for the product:

• Unit labour hours — the installation time per item or per metre, shown in decimal hours.
• Trade price — the list price before any discounts.
• Discount — the percentage applied to reach the net rate, drawn from your discount table.
• Net rate — the cost after discount. This is the figure used in your estimate.

Understanding the discount structure

Discounts in Ensign are managed at two levels:

Range-level discounts

Discounts can be applied to an entire product range. These are configured in Tools > Setup > Discounts where you can see each manufacturer's ranges and sub-ranges. Discounts are applied in bands — band one is reserved as a trade price regulator, so you typically enter your negotiated discounts starting from band two. Additional bands act as stepping stones: for example, a minus 40% range discount in band two followed by an additional 20% in band three.

Product-level discounts

Discounts can also be applied to individual products. When you view an item's details on the takeoff screen, the discount shown may be specific to that product rather than inherited from the range. Click the Change Discount button to see which band the discount is stored in and whether it applies to this item only or the whole range.

Overriding the discount

You can change the discount for any item directly on the item detail screen:

1. 1

   Overtype the discount percentage with the value you need (e.g. change from -66% to -68%).

2. 2

   Press Enter. The software asks whether to save the change for this job only or to your master discount table for all future use.

3. 3

   Choose the appropriate option. The net rate updates immediately to reflect the new discount.

Items with manually changed discounts appear in a distinct colour (an orangey-peach tone) on the examine grid, so you can easily identify which items have been adjusted.

Overriding the net rate

If you know the exact net rate you want to use — perhaps from a supplier quotation — you can overtype the unit price directly on the examine grid after the item has been added to a section.

1. 1

   Click on the unit price cell for the item on the examine grid.

2. 2

   Type the net rate you want to apply and press Enter.

This overrides both the trade price and the discount for this job. The item appears in a different colour on the examine grid to indicate a manually entered price. The override applies only to the current project.

Stored prices and stored discounts

All manual price and discount overrides are tracked at the bottom of the takeoff screen:

• Stored Prices — lists every item where you have manually overridden the unit price or labour time for this job.
• Stored Discounts — lists every item where you have manually changed the discount percentage.

You can use these panels to review your overrides, revert individual items back to the database values, or re-apply overrides that you have previously removed. This gives you full control over which prices are manually set and which follow the database.