Labour rates
Content owner: Quote Control product. Last reviewed: 29 August 2026.
Use Administration → Labour rates to maintain the rates offered on the Pricing step. A labour rate stores an internal commercial basis and a customer selling price for one hour, day or visit.
Labour rate fields
Section titled “Labour rate fields”| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Code | Short company reference used to identify the rate |
| Description | Clear description shown when choosing the rate |
| Working hours | The company-configured normal-hours or out-of-hours category |
| Charged per | Hour, day or visit |
| Internal cost is known | Confirms that the internal cost is genuine rather than an assumed zero |
| Internal cost | Company cost for one unit; available only when the cost is known |
| Selling price | Customer selling price for one unit |
The labels for normal-hours and out-of-hours work come from Company settings.
Add a labour rate
Section titled “Add a labour rate”- Enter a distinct Code and Description.
- Choose the Working hours category.
- Choose whether the rate is charged per Hour, Day or Visit.
- If the company knows the genuine internal cost, select Internal cost is known and enter that cost. Otherwise, leave the control clear.
- Enter the authorised customer Selling price.
- Choose Add labour rate.
For example, a company might create a generic Engineer attendance rate, charged per visit, with its approved internal cost and selling price. Do not combine several commercial arrangements into one ambiguous rate.
Amend a labour rate
Section titled “Amend a labour rate”- Find the rate under Available labour rates.
- Choose its edit action.
- Amend the code, description, working-hours category, charging unit, cost status, internal cost or selling price.
- Choose Save changes.
Record an unknown internal cost
Section titled “Record an unknown internal cost”Leave Internal cost is known clear when the company has not supplied a genuine cost. Quote Control shows Not recorded rather than treating the cost as £0.00. This prevents a misleading gross margin, and the quotation cannot be submitted until the missing controlled cost is supplied.
Effect on existing work
Section titled “Effect on existing work”Labour rates are immediate master-data changes. A new quotation line uses the rate values that are current when the estimator selects it. The saved line then keeps those values as a commercial snapshot.
Amending a labour rate does not rewrite lines already saved on quotations. Edit the quotation line itself when its authorised commercial values must change.
Read Pricing and labour for the estimator workflow.
Import a labour rate card
Section titled “Import a labour rate card”Use Import CSV when an established company already has a labour rate card. Only an Administrator can use it.
| CSV field | Accepted value |
|---|---|
| Code | Required exact matching key |
| Description | Required |
| Unit | hour, day or visit |
| Working hours | NWH or OOH |
| Internal cost known | Yes/No, True/False or 1/0 |
| Internal cost | Required and greater than zero when the cost is known |
| Selling price | Required |
Download the example, upload the UTF-8 file and map its headings. Preview changes writes nothing and shows Create, Update, Unchanged and Invalid rows. Download rejected rows where needed. Applying the review reparses the file and checks the file, mapping, parsed values and current matched record before it writes anything; a change requires a fresh preview. A successful apply adds an audit event.
Codes are the exact stable matching key. Omitted rates remain active and are not deletions. An unknown internal cost is stored as Not recorded, not as a known £0 cost.
An import does not rewrite quotation lines. Draft owners can review current rate-card differences from Pricing and explicitly choose which lines to update.