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6. Line Items & Costing

Line items are where you estimate repair costs. Inoscope supports a hierarchical structure with automatic cost calculations, rate book integration, and batch editing.

Tender assessment — Line Items tab


Understanding Line Items

A line item represents a single cost element in your assessment — a material, labor charge, equipment rental, or other expense needed to repair the detected damage.

Line Item Types

TypeDescriptionExample
MaterialPhysical materials and suppliesPlasterboard, paint, timber
LabourLabor and work hoursPlasterer 4 hours, painter 2 hours
EquipmentTools and equipmentScaffold hire, dehumidifier
SubcontractWork performed by subcontractorsElectrician, plumber
OverheadAdministrative and overhead costsProject management, permits
Site ServiceOn-site servicesWaste removal, site cleaning
GroupA parent container for organizing related items"Kitchen Repairs" grouping

Hierarchy

Line items can be organized in a parent-child hierarchy:

  • Group items act as headers/sections that contain child items.
  • Leaf items (Material, Labour, etc.) are the actual cost items.
  • Costs roll up from children to parents automatically.

Example:

Kitchen Repairs (Group)            $2,450.00
  ├── Remove damaged cabinetry (Labour)    $400.00
  ├── New cabinet units (Material)         $1,200.00
  ├── Cabinet installation (Labour)        $600.00
  └── Hardware and fittings (Material)     $250.00

Adding Line Items

Manually

  1. Go to the Line Items tab in your assessment.
  2. Click Add Line Item.
  3. Fill in the fields:
FieldDescription
NameShort description of the item
DescriptionDetailed explanation
TypeMaterial, Labour, Equipment, etc.
Unit PriceCost per unit
QuantityNumber of units
UnitUnit of measurement (see table below)
MarginMarkup percentage (e.g., 0.10 = 10%)
DiscountDiscount percentage (e.g., 0.05 = 5%)
Material NameProduct name or brand (optional)
BrandManufacturer or supplier (optional)
Source URLLink to product listing (optional)
  1. Click Save.

Via AI

The AI chat agent can create line items automatically based on detected damage or your instructions. For example, you can ask: "Create line items for repairing the water damage in the bathroom."

Units of Measurement

UnitDescription
eachIndividual items
mMeters (length)
Square meters (area)
Cubic meters (volume)
kgKilograms (weight)
LLiters (volume)
hrHours (time)

Cost Calculation

Each leaf line item's cost is calculated as:

Cost = Unit Price × Quantity × (1 + Margin) × (1 - Discount)

Group items don't have their own cost — they aggregate the total of all their children.

The assessment total is the sum of all leaf item costs (children are not double-counted with their parent groups).


Editing Line Items

  1. Click on a line item to select it.
  2. Open the Edit dialog.
  3. Modify any field (name, price, quantity, margin, etc.).
  4. Click Save.

Edit History

Every edit is tracked with:

  • Who made the change
  • When it was made

This audit trail appears in the line item's details.


Deleting Line Items

  1. Select the line item.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. Confirm in the dialog.

Deleting a group item also removes all its children.


Batch Editing

For making changes to multiple line items at once:

  1. Select multiple line items using checkboxes.
  2. Apply bulk changes (e.g., update margin across all selected items).
  3. Costs are automatically recalculated.

When adding or editing line items, you can search for standard products and rates:

  1. Click the Search button in the line item dialog.
  2. Enter a search term (e.g., "plasterboard").
  3. Filter by country and category.
  4. Select a product to auto-fill the name, unit price, brand, and specifications.
  1. Search for standard labor and equipment rates.
  2. Rates are filtered by country.
  3. Select a rate to apply it to your line item.

Rate Book

Your rate book stores products and rates for common materials, labor, and equipment. To manage it:

  1. Go to SettingsRate Calibration tab.
  2. Add products manually (Add Product) or upload rate sheets (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, CSV) and let AI extract them (Extract Rates).
  3. Custom rates appear when searching for products while adding line items.

Settings — Rate Calibration

Custom rates are saved to your account and available across all assessments.


Cost Summary

The line items tab shows:

  • Total cost across all line items
  • Breakdown by section/group — costs for each group header
  • Item counts — total number of line items

You can also ask the AI agent to calculate detailed cost summaries and breakdowns for you.


Line Item Details

Each line item also tracks:

FieldDescription
Confidence ScoreAI's confidence in the cost estimate (0–100%)
ExplanationWhy this item was added
Cost ExplanationBreakdown of how the cost was calculated
TagsSearchable categories
Time Start/EndEstimated task duration
StatusDraft, In Progress, Completed, or Error
Warning MessageAny flags or concerns

Next Steps