Managing Unpriced Items

What are unpriced items?

When you add items to a job on the takeoff screen, some may display a warning triangle. This indicates that Ensign cannot calculate a net price for the item — usually because no discount has been set for that product range.

Unpriced items are not a problem during takeoff. You can continue adding items and deal with missing prices later. Ensign collects all unpriced items onto a dedicated page so you can resolve them in one go.

How warning triangles appear

As you work on the takeoff screen, you may notice warning triangles appearing next to certain items. These typically occur when:

• No discount has been entered for the item's product range in the discount band table.
• The item is from a range you have not yet set up with your wholesaler's terms.
• The item has been added via free type without a unit cost.

The unpriced items page

When you move forward from the takeoff screen towards the calculation stage, Ensign displays the unpriced items page. This screen gathers every item in the job that has a warning triangle and presents them in a single list.

From this page you can:

• Enter discounts directly for each item, resolving the warning triangle.
• Enter a net rate by overtyping the price for a specific item.
• Skip items and proceed to calculation — unpriced items will be included in the job at zero cost until you return and price them.

Generating a report for your wholesaler

If you do not have the discount information to hand, you can generate a report listing all unpriced items and send it to your wholesaler. This is a quick way to obtain the figures you need.

1. 1

   On the unpriced items page, click the option to generate a report. Ensign produces a formatted list of all items that require pricing.

2. 2

   Export the report as a PDF, CSV, or Excel file using the export options at the bottom of the report viewer.

3. 3

   Send the exported file to your wholesaler. They can then provide the net prices or discount percentages for each item.

4. 4

   Once you have the figures back, return to the unpriced items page (or the takeoff screen) and enter the prices or discounts for each item.

Resolving unpriced items on the takeoff screen

You do not have to wait for the unpriced items page. You can resolve warning triangles directly on the takeoff screen using two methods:

Enter a discount

Use the Change Discount button or double-click the discount cell to enter a discount percentage. See Changing Material Discounts for full instructions.

Overtype the net rate

Click into the unit cost cell and type in the net price directly. This removes the warning triangle and marks the item with a different colour to indicate it is a manual price. The override is saved in the Stored Prices list.

Keeping prices up to date

Ensign's trade price database is updated weekly. To ensure your estimates reflect current market prices:

• Review your discounts regularly — check that the discount percentages in your setup table still match what your wholesalers are offering.
• Use the Price Update button — when prompted, apply price updates to bring the database up to the latest trade prices.
• Recalculate existing jobs if you need to resubmit a quotation after a significant time gap. See Recalculating Job Prices for the available options.

Summary