What are preliminaries?
Preliminaries (prelims) are the general project costs that sit outside your measured rates — items such as site facilities, welfare, project management, and similar allowances. They are entered on the summary table (Stage 5) and can appear on your client-facing bills as either a visible breakdown or absorbed into your rates.
How prelims appear on bills
If you have set your preliminaries to appear rather than being spread across the rates, the bills page generates a separate prelim breakdown sheet. This sheet shows each individual preliminary item and its value, giving your client full transparency on what has been allowed for.
When set to appear, the prelim breakdown displays as a separate page between the tender summary and the quantified schedule of rates. This keeps your measured rates clean whilst still accounting for the full preliminary allowance in the total contract cost.
Show vs spread
You control whether prelims are shown or spread from the summary table (Stage 5). The option applies to each preliminary item individually, so you can choose to show some items and spread others depending on how you want to present the quotation.
| Option | Effect on bills |
|---|---|
| Show | The prelim item appears as a separate line on the prelim breakdown sheet, visible to your client |
| Spread | The prelim cost is distributed across your measured rates. No separate prelim line appears on the bills — the cost is absorbed into your unit rates |
When your client's tender return document requires a separate prelim schedule, set your preliminaries to appear. When you prefer to absorb prelim costs into your rates for a simpler quotation, set them to spread.
Prelim input methods
Ensign provides three methods for entering preliminary values on the summary table. You can pick and mix between these methods within the same job — the resulting totals all feed into the prelim breakdown sheet on your bills.
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Fixed lump sum | Enter a single amount against the prelim description |
| Time-related (weekly rate) | Enter a weekly rate and the number of weeks required — the software calculates the total |
| Percentage uplift | Import a base value and specify the percentage you wish to allow |
- 1
On the summary table (Stage 5), click the Prelims option along the top of the screen.
- 2
Overtype the description fields with your preliminary item names (e.g. site welfare, project management, scaffolding).
- 3
For each item, enter the value using your preferred method — a fixed lump sum amount, a weekly rate with the number of weeks, or a base value with a percentage uplift.
- 4
For each item, choose whether to show or spread it on the bills.
- 5
Continue to Stage 6 (Bills) to see the prelim breakdown reflected on your tender documents.
Review your prelim visibility settings before exporting your tender. Switching between show and spread changes how your quotation total is presented to the client, even though the overall value remains the same.
Next steps
For details on generating the documents that include your preliminaries, see Tender Summary and Quantified Schedule of Rates. To produce a combined tender package, see Generating a Merged PDF.