Day-rate line or cost rate?
Stralos has two kinds of rate that can be priced per day. They behave differently:
If you’re pricing what the work costs you, add a Resource. If you’re charging an agreed day rate, add a Day/Card rate.
Add a day-rate line
From the build-up’s add row
- Open the work item’s build-up.
- In an activity’s add row (or Activity 1 when the item has no activity yet), change the type to Day/Card rate. The Choose a day/card rate sheet opens straight away.
- Find the line and select it. The sheet closes and the add row shows the line’s code and description. Select it again to change your choice.
- Add the line, then set its quantity on the line (see Quantity). A Fixed line is always quantity 1.
From the component editor
- Open the component editor for a new build-up line.
- Set Build-up line type to Day/Card rate.
- Pick the line from the list that appears. Until you pick one, the editor shows Choose a day/card rate to continue.
- Enter the quantity and resource count, then save.
Use the picker
The Choose a day/card rate sheet shows one section for each schedule in the project’s set:- Client schedules come first, headed “{client} — {schedule} · Rev n, from {date}”. Your company’s schedules follow, headed “{schedule} · Rev n, from {date}”.
- Each row shows the line’s code, description, unit, and rate. A Fixed line has a Fixed badge.
- Type in Search by code or description… to narrow the list.
Add a schedule from the picker
Below the project’s lines, the sheet lists Other day/card rate schedules: your company’s and the client’s schedules that aren’t in the project yet. Select Add to this project beside a schedule to add it without leaving the build-up. Adding a schedule adds all of its lines, fixed to the revision in force today, the same as Add schedule in Project settings → Day/Card rates. The sheet then reloads so you can pick from the new schedule. A schedule whose revision hasn’t come into force yet shows its start date instead of Add to this project.When the project has no day-rate schedules
If the project’s set is empty and the sheet has a schedule you can add, it says This project has no day/card rates yet. Please add a schedule from the list below, then pick a day/card rate from it. Otherwise, the picker says This project has no day/card rate schedules and offers Open Project settings → Day/Card rates. The component editor’s picker always shows this message, because it has no list of other schedules.The line in the build-up
Day-rate lines sit in their own Day/Card rates group, after Subcontractors. The line’s source reads “Day/Card rate · {schedule} Rev n”.Quantity
How the quantity works depends on the line:
Resource count can be changed on any day-rate line, for example 2 excavators.
You can’t link a day-rate line’s quantity to takeoff or a calculator.
A day-rate line is never promoted to the activity library.
Rate
The line’s name and unit come from the schedule and can’t be changed in the build-up. The rate can be changed:- Type the new rate into the line’s Rate cell.
- The line shows Edited (schedule $X), where $X is the schedule’s rate.
- Select Revert to go back to the schedule’s rate.
Margin and markup
A day-rate line sells at exactly what it costs:- Cost = sell = quantity × resource count × rate. Its margin is 0.
- The margin ladder (overrides, categories, rate groups, tender and company defaults) doesn’t apply. The margin cell shows ”—” and can’t be set.
- On Tender Submission → Estimate items → View, the line is locked and reads Day/Card rate — no markup.
- An item’s Markup % applies only to the item’s other lines. The day-rate cost is added on top, unmarked.
- Day-rate cost takes no share of Shared Costs. A work item made only of day-rate lines takes no share at all.
- The labour multiplier never applies.
Notes on a line
A day-rate line can show these notes:
To move an out-of-step estimate to the new revision, use Update in Project settings → Day/Card rates.