A cost item is any part of the job that has a cost assigned to it. It could be a material, piece of equipment, hourly wage, or any other cost that combined together form the estimate, alternates, and change orders. The following types of cost items are used:

• Basic Cost Items – Basic cost items are single cost items that account for materials, equipment, labor costs, subcontractors, and ten other types that you can define yourself. For more information, see Basic Cost Items.

• List Assemblies – List assemblies are collections of basic cost items that are combined together to form a single cost item. For example, a list assembly could be used to create a cost item for a concrete forming crew, or just to combine the material costs of concrete into a single cost item. For more information, see List Assemblies.

• Quick Assemblies – Quick assemblies are a faster method of creating list assemblies. Once you enter the various costs, a list assembly is created with members that correspond to each type of cost you entered. For more information, see Quick Assemblies.

• Bid Cost Items - Bid cost items provide a price per quantity or measurement for use in unit bid applications. They can be a single basic cost item or a list assembly. For more information, see Bid Items.

• Visual Assemblies – Visual assemblies are also collections of cost items that are combined together to form a single cost item. However, visual assemblies have built-in calculations that help you quantify costs and graphical representations. For more information, see Visual Assemblies Overview.

• Financial Cost Items – Financial cost items are calculated by adding the cost of other cost items and multiplying the total by a factor. This type of cost item can be used to add markup percentages to groups of cost items or to calculate costs that are based on the total cost of the job, such as permit fees. For more information, see Financial Cost Items.

• Enterprise Level Assemblies - Enterprise level assemblies are similar to a visual assemblies, except that you define the structure and calculations of the enterprise level assembly on the Enterprise Level Assembly Setup. For more information, see Work with Enterprise Level Assemblies.

A catalog is used to store cost items for use throughout the Estimating module. Use Catalog Folders to organize the cost items in a catalog.

Cost items can be created in the catalog, estimate, alternates, and change orders. However, Viewpoint recommends that you create your cost items in a catalog so that they are available for reuse.