- Company defaults.
- Tender layout.
- Users (admins only).
- Billing (admins only).
- Support access (admins only). See Support access.
- Project access (admins only).
- Client companies (contractor company admins only) and Contractors (company admins only), when contractor companies are switched on. See Contractor companies.
- Projects.
- Resource groups.
- Resource categories.
- Disposal substances.
- Takeoff categories.
- Departures and clarifications.
- Shared drives.
- Assistant activity (admins only).
Who can change what
Access to working edit controls in Settings depends on both the section and your role.
For the Companies register, both admins and members can add and edit companies.
Units are supplied by Stralos from a fixed database catalogue and do not have a Settings page.
Billing
Admins can manage the number of active-user seats billed each month. The Billing panel shows how many seats are currently occupied. Occupied seats include active members and pending invitations. Use this count to make sure you have enough purchased seats for everyone who needs access.Free beta
If your company joined Stralos through the free beta, Settings → Billing shows a beta notice instead of the free trial banner. The notice shows how many days of the 14-day beta are left, for example Free beta: 12 days left, and how many users your company can have during the beta. Once the beta has ended, the notice shows the date it ended instead. To subscribe during or after the beta:- Open Settings → Billing.
- Select your Billing country.
- Enter the number of Paid user seats.
- Click Subscribe and complete secure checkout.
Free trial
When your company is eligible for a free trial, Settings → Billing shows a banner with the number of trial days available. To activate the trial, complete the checkout steps below. You will be asked to add a credit card at secure checkout. Nothing is charged on that day. Your monthly subscription starts automatically after the trial period ends unless you cancel first via Manage subscription. While a trial is active, the Billing panel shows the trial end date and the date your first monthly payment is due. No seat charges apply during the trial. The number of seats you select at checkout determines your monthly price once the trial ends.Ending the trial early
If you need to add more than three users before the trial ends, you can convert to a paid subscription at any time during the trial.- Open Settings → Billing.
- Click Start paid subscription now.
- Review the confirmation, which shows the number of seats and the amount you will be charged.
- Click End trial and start paying.
Starting a new subscription
Before proceeding to checkout, you need to select your billing country and optionally enter a discount code. Stralos quotes the price for your selected country, including any applicable tax such as GST.- Open Settings → Billing.
- Select your Billing country from the dropdown. The price shown updates to reflect country-specific pricing and tax.
- Enter the number of Paid user seats.
- If you have a discount code, enter it in Discount code (optional). If your company has a signup discount, Stralos pre-fills this field. You can edit or clear the code before continuing.
- Click Continue to secure checkout.
Changing an existing subscription
To update your seat count on an active subscription:- Open Settings → Billing.
- Enter the number of Paid user seats.
- Click Update seats.
Payment methods
The Payment methods section of the Billing panel lists your company’s saved cards. The default card is used for future subscription payments. Saving a card does not charge it. To add a card:- Click Add card.
- Enter your card details in the secure card form.
- Tick the consent checkbox to confirm you agree to save the card for future subscription payments.
- Click Save card. Complete any verification requested by your bank.
Invoices
The Invoices section of the Billing panel shows your subscription invoices in a table with the following columns: Invoice (number), Date (including billing period where applicable), Total, Paid, Remaining (shown only when at least one invoice has an outstanding balance), Status, and PDF. Money columns are right-aligned. Status appears as a coloured badge — for example, Paid, Open, or Void. Click Load more invoices to page through older invoices.Manage subscription
Click Manage subscription to open Stripe’s secure customer portal. Use the portal for subscription management tasks not covered in the Billing panel. Changing the billed seat count does not add, remove, activate, or deactivate user accounts. Manage user access separately and keep the number of active accounts within your purchased seat count.Subscription status
When a subscription exists, a status badge appears next to the Billing heading. The possible statuses are:
No badge is shown if no subscription has been set up yet.
Seat enforcement
Stralos enforces your purchased seat count when inviting users and when users accept invitations. Each invitation reserves a seat immediately — pending invitations count against your total the same as active members. Revoking an invitation releases its seat. If you try to invite a new member when all seats are in use, the invitation is refused. Increase your seat count in Settings → Billing before sending more invitations. If your subscription is not in good standing — for example, due to a failed payment or cancellation — new invitations and membership acceptances are blocked until the issue is resolved. Use Manage subscription to update your payment method.Overdue billing and access restrictions
When a payment fails or a subscription lapses, Stralos enters a grace period. During the grace period, users can view existing content but cannot make changes or accept invitations. A warning banner appears at the top of every page:Billing issue: your company has read-only access. Access will be blocked on [date].The banner includes the exact date and time when access will be blocked. Admins see a Manage billing link in the banner. Members see “Please ask your admin to update billing.” When the grace period ends, access is blocked for all users. The page shows:
Access blocked The payment grace period has ended. Update billing to restore access.Members see “The payment grace period has ended. Please ask your admin to update billing.” instead. Admins see a Manage billing link pointing to Settings → Billing. Once an admin updates billing and payment is confirmed, clicking Check again on the blocked screen restores access immediately without requiring a sign-out. When a free beta has ended, the banner and the blocked screen say so instead. Admins see “Your 14-day free beta has ended. Please add a card to keep working in Stralos. Everything you’ve set up is safe.” with an Add a card link to Settings → Billing. Members are asked to get their admin to add a card. Once per sign-in, Stralos also takes an admin straight to Settings → Billing. When access is blocked, the screen title is Your free beta has ended. If your company is on the free beta and access is blocked, Settings → Billing shows “Your free beta has ended. Please add a credit card profile to keep using Stralos.” instead of the payment grace period notice. Click Subscribe to complete checkout and restore access. See Free beta. If Stralos cannot reach the billing service to check your subscription status, the app shows a Billing is unavailable screen with a Check again button. Admins can still open the billing recovery page. The Manage subscription action remains available during read-only and blocked access so an admin can restore billing.
Trial user limit
Free trials are limited to three users, including pending invitations. The seat input in Settings → Billing is capped at that limit while your company is on a trial. You cannot increase the seat count beyond the trial limit until after checkout activates your subscription.Contractor companies
A contractor company works inside its clients’ companies in Stralos. Upgrade from Billing with Upgrade to contractor, or change back to a standard company there. A company created by a contractor company follows that company’s billing until it sets up its own. See Contractor companies.Company defaults
Company defaults holds your company’s name, contact details, country and time zone, company-wide pricing fields, quote and job numbering, your company branding, tender approval, and your terms and conditions. The page has a single Discard and Save changes pair at the bottom. Editing fields in any combination of sections and clicking Save changes once saves every edited section. If a section cannot be saved, only that section stays unsaved and its fields remain editable so you can correct and retry. Only admins can save changes. Members can view the fields but cannot edit them.Company country
The Company country field sets the country your company operates in. Stralos uses this value to favour local address results when searching in Google Maps. Changing this setting does not affect your billing country. Only admins can save changes. Members can view the field but cannot edit it. To set the company country:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- Select a country from the Company country dropdown.
- Click Save changes.
Company time zone
The Time zone field sets the IANA time zone for your company. Every project uses this time zone to determine what “today” means for dates, working-day calculations, and rate schedules unless the project’s own settings specify a different zone. Only admins can change the time zone. Members can view the current value but cannot edit it. To set the company time zone:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In the Time zone field, type to search or scroll to find your time zone. The current UTC offset is shown beside each zone name (for example,
Pacific/Auckland (UTC+13:00)). - Click Save changes.
Pacific/Auckland. If a stored zone is not available in your browser’s local list (for example, a historical alias), it is still shown and selectable so the field never appears empty.
Company name
The Company card shows your company’s display name, used by the company switcher, your own price list, and your own entry in the Locations register. Admins can update the name. Members see it read-only. To change the name:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- Edit the value in the Company name field.
- Click Save changes.
Company contact details
The Company contact details card holds your company’s Phone, Email, and GST number. They print with your company’s details on Tender download PDF and Excel files. All three are optional. Each office in Rates & resources → Locations can have its own phone, email, and GST number. A tender uses the project office’s value for each field when it is filled in, otherwise the value saved here. See Location fields. To set them:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- Enter any of Phone, Email, and GST number. Enter the GST number as 8 or 9 digits, for example
123-456-789. - Click Save changes.
Pricing basis and default percentage
Under Settings → Company defaults, choose Margin (on the sell price) or Markup (on the cost) in Pricing basis. Enter the Default margin % or Default markup %, check the worked example, then click Save changes. The worked example is labelled Example in NZD and shows a $100,000 cost job. A 20% markup produces $120,000 sell. A 20% margin on the same cost produces $125,000 sell. The default percentage starts at 15. Use 0–95 for margin and 0–1000 for the company markup default. Each estimate keeps the pricing basis saved when it was created. It also keeps a snapshot of the company’s default, rate-group, and category percentages. Changing company settings does not reprice existing estimates. Set tender-specific percentages in Tender Submission → Markup or Margin. On either pricing basis, the most specific available percentage wins: component override, item category, rate group, tender default, then frozen company default. A tender override replaces the company value at the same category or group. A tender default does not override a more specific category or group. An explicit 0% means sell at cost; a blank group or category inherits.Working-day defaults
The Pricing defaults card has three working-day fields:
New estimates inherit Default hours per working day. Each estimate then stores its own working-day length. To change it, open the estimate and edit Hours per working day there. Project Settings shows the primary estimate’s current value as read-only.
Default days per week and Default days per month apply to every project that has no value of its own. A project can override either one under Working week and month in Project Settings. A weekly or monthly rate can also carry its own number of days, and an estimator can override the conversion on an individual build-up line.
To set the working-day defaults:
- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- Edit Default hours per working day, Default days per week, or Default days per month.
- Click Save changes.
Quote and job numbers
Stralos numbers your quotes and your jobs separately. Company defaults has a Quote numbers card and a Job numbers card, each with a prefix, a next number and a Preview of the next number.- Quote numbers: every new project gets one when it is created, and so does each other tender estimate, saved version and revised tender. Set Quote number prefix (default
Q-, up to 20 characters) and Next quote number. The quote prefix is required. - Job numbers: a project gets one when an estimate on it is marked Won. Set Job number prefix (up to 20 characters) and Next job number. Leave the prefix blank to use
JOB-.
3 with prefix Q- gives Q-0003. Numbers beyond 9999 simply grow longer. Each counter moves on by itself as numbers are assigned, and two people creating projects at the same time get different numbers.
To change either sequence:
- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In the Quote numbers or Job numbers card, change the prefix or the next number. Check the Preview.
- Click Save changes.
Company branding
The Company branding card sets a brand colour and a company logo for the spreadsheets you export. The colour fills the section headings and the logo sits at the top left of the sheet. With nothing set, exports use the Stralos navy and no logo. Only admins can change the branding; members see the card read-only. A contractor who is an admin in a client company edits that client company’s branding, not their own company’s. The card saves with the rest of Company defaults. Nothing is saved or uploaded until you click Save changes, and Discard drops any pending colour or logo change. The How your exports will look preview shows the heading colour and logo as you edit. To set the brand colour:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In Brand colour, choose a colour or type a six-digit hex code (for example,
#1a2b3c). - Click Save changes.
- a PNG or JPEG image;
- smaller than 10 MB;
- between 16 and 10,000 pixels on each side, and 50 megapixels at most; and
- no more than 250 times as long as it is wide.
- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- Under Company logo, click Upload logo, or Replace logo if a logo is already set.
- Choose the image file.
- Click Save changes.
Tender approval
The Tender approval card has one switch, Tenders need approval. When it is on, each tender in progress has a Send for approval button, so someone else can check the tender before it goes out. Approval is a record only: it never stops a tender being submitted. See Tender approval for how estimators and approvers use it. To turn it on or off:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In Tender approval, switch Tenders need approval on or off.
- Click Save changes.
Terms and conditions
The Terms and conditions card holds the terms your company can add to the end of a tender download. Type them in, or upload a PDF. Only admins can change the terms; members see them read-only. A contractor who is an admin in a client company edits that client company’s terms, not their own company’s. The card saves with the rest of Company defaults. Nothing is saved or uploaded until you click Save changes, and Discard drops any pending change. Under How would you like to add them?, choose Type them in or Upload a PDF. Only one is used on tenders. Stralos keeps the other stored, so you can switch back without losing it. To type your terms:- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In Terms and conditions, choose Type them in.
- Type or paste your terms. Use the toolbar for headings, lists, bold, italic, and underline. The limit is 50,000 characters.
- Click Save changes.
- Open Settings → Company defaults.
- In Terms and conditions, choose Upload a PDF.
- Click Upload a PDF, or Replace PDF if one is already stored, and choose the file. The card shows the file name and size, and says it will be uploaded when you save.
- Click Save changes.
Tender layout
Settings → Tender layout sets what your company’s tender holds and in what order: the page setup, fonts and logos, the blocks, and the footer. Any member can view and preview it; only admins can save it. See Tender layout.Resource groups
Settings → Resource groups shows the six resource groups in a single table. Each row carries the group’s display name, its margin or markup percentage, and an optional display colour. One Save changes button saves edits across all three fields. Only admins can make changes; members can view the table.Resource group names
Each resource group has a display name your company can customise. The underlying classification, ordering, pricing, imports, exports, events, and calculator behaviour do not change. Renaming a group changes only what is shown on screen. The product defaults are:
Edit a name in its row and click Save changes. A row with a custom name also shows a Default name button, which removes the override and returns to the product default.
Custom names appear in the Settings resource-category tree and in estimate build-up group headings.
Resource group colours
Each resource group has an optional display colour used in estimate and activity build-ups. When no custom colour is set, the group uses a colour from the shared theme palette that follows your light or dark mode preference. To set a custom colour:- Open Settings → Resource groups.
- In the Colour column, choose a preset colour. For another colour, choose Custom colour… and use the picker or enter a six-digit hex value (for example,
#1a73e8). - Click Save changes.
Resource group margins and markups
The percentage column is labelled Margin % or Markup % depending on your company’s pricing basis set under Company defaults. A Margin used or Markup used column shows the effective percentage that applies to each group. New estimates snapshot each group’s percentage at creation time. A category or component override takes precedence; a tender can also replace the same resource group rung. Leave the field blank to use your company default. Enter0 to sell work in that group at cost. Stralos accepts:
- Margin basis: 0–95, up to three decimal places.
- Markup basis: −100–999.999, up to three decimal places.
- Open Settings → Resource groups.
- Edit the name, the percentage, or both across one or more rows.
- Click Save changes.
Partial save feedback
When you click Save changes, Stralos attempts every edited name, colour, and percentage independently. One failure does not prevent the rest from saving. If all changes land, a success notification confirms what was saved. Examples include 2 names and 1 colour saved. and 1 name, 1 colour, and 1 margin saved. If some changes fail, an error notification names the parts that could not be saved — for example, “1 name and 1 margin saved. 1 change could not be saved.” Each affected row also shows the server’s error message in the relevant cell. The failed value stays in the field so you can correct and retry without retyping.Resource categories
Resource categories (under Settings → Resource categories) is a two-level tree: fixed parent heading, then category. Rates attach to categories — not directly to parent headings. The six parent classifications are fixed and cannot be added, removed, or reordered. Their displayed names follow Resource group names:- Labour
- Plant & Vehicles
- Bulk Materials
- Materials
- Subcontractors
- Disposal
Adding a category
- Open Settings → Resource categories and click Add category.
- Enter a Category name.
- Select a Resource group from the six fixed headings.
- If the parent is Plant & Vehicles, an optional Cartage vehicle flag appears. Tick it if rates in this category carry Payload (t) and Bin volume (m³) fields.
- Under Allowed units, tick at least one unit that rates in this category can use. Tick Select all units to choose every unit, or tick a group’s heading to choose every unit in that group. You must select at least one unit to save.
- A Margin % or Markup % field appears, labelled for your company’s pricing basis. Leave it blank to inherit the percentage from the parent resource group (or your company default if the group has none). Enter a value to set a percentage specific to this category.
- Click Save category. If the button is unavailable, a message beside it names the first unmet requirement — for example, “Enter a category name first.” or “Choose at least one allowed unit.”
Editing a category
Click the category name, or click Edit on the row. Both open the same editor panel. You can rename the category, move it to a different parent heading, update its cartage vehicle flag where applicable, change the allowed units, including with Select all units or a group’s heading, or set a category-level margin or markup percentage. When you move a category to a different parent heading, the inherited percentage shown in the placeholder updates immediately to reflect the new parent group’s value (or the company default if that group has no value set). Moving a category does not change any percentage you have explicitly set on it. When you move a category to a different parent heading, any flag that is no longer valid for the new parent is cleared automatically.Deleting a category
Click Delete on the category row and confirm the deletion. If rates still use this category, the deletion is blocked. Move those rates to another category first, then delete. After deletion, the category leaves the active tree and is no longer offered when creating or editing rates. Stralos keeps the category for history, so estimates that already use it are unaffected — they continue to display the category name as saved. The category’s name can be reused by a new active category.Disposal substances
Disposal substances (under Settings → Disposal substances) is the company-wide catalogue of material physics used to convert excavated solid volume into loose volume and tonnes. Calculators that price spoil disposal draw on this list to determine how much volume and mass leaves the site. Each substance has these fields:
The table shows the same values, with the Reinstatement column just before Compaction from loose (%). On a narrow screen it shows only the material name and in-situ density.
Admins can add, edit, retire, and restore substances. Members can view the list but cannot make changes.
Adding a substance
- Open Settings → Disposal substances.
- Click Add substance. The Add disposal substance side sheet opens.
- Enter the Excavated material, Loose density (t/m³), and Bulking (%). In-situ density (t/m³) updates as you type.
- If the substance can be used to backfill a reinstatement layer, tick Can be used for reinstatement backfill, then enter Compaction from loose (%).
- Click Add substance.
Editing a substance
- Click Edit on the substance row. The Edit disposal substance side sheet opens with the current values.
- Update any fields.
- Click Save changes.
Retiring a substance
- Click Retire on the substance row.
- Click Retire substance to confirm.
Restoring a retired substance
Tick Show retired to list retired substances, then click Restore on the row. If an active substance now uses the same name, Stralos cannot restore it until you rename or retire the active one.Shared drives
Admins can connect Google shared drives and SharePoint document libraries so that files stored in them sync into project Documents pages. Go to Settings → Shared drives to connect a provider, add drives, and map them to projects. See Shared drives for the full steps and what each drive status means.Good practice
- Review defaults before relying on tender pricing.
- Keep company names and client records clean.
- Use reference lists for controlled values instead of hard-coding labels into project data.
- Document changes to pricing assumptions when they affect active tenders.