Grouped Prices
Build reusable priced bundles for the assemblies that turn up on every job, and drop them into an estimate as a single rate.
Who this is for: Builders, estimators, and subcontractors who price the same assemblies over and over — door packages, wet area fit-outs, frame and truss rates — and want to stop re-entering the same line items on every job.
What Grouped Prices is for
A Grouped Price is a pre-built bundle of cost items rolled up into a single rate. You build it once — materials, labour, waste allowance, the lot — and then pull it into any estimate as one line.
If you've got a standard 820mm internal door that you hang the same way on every job, you shouldn't have to re-enter the panel, hinges, handle set, and labour every time you price a house. Build it as a Grouped Price once, and every internal door on every job is one pick from a list.
Things worth knowing upfront
A Grouped Price won't show up in your estimates until its status is Published. Anything left as In Progress sits out of the way until you're ready.
The Unit of Measure options (lm, m2, m3, each, set, sheet) come from Setup > Units of Measure. If the unit you want isn't there, add it in Setup first.
When you pull items in from a Price List, only the base cost comes across. Any markup you've set at the Price List level doesn't follow through — Grouped Prices carry their own markup when they hit an estimate.
How to get there
From the black header at the top of the screen, click Projects.
In the left menu list, click Grouped Prices.
What you'll see
You land on the Grouped Prices list. Across the top are four tabs:
All Grouped Prices — everything you've built, regardless of status
In Progress — rates you're still working on; not yet usable in estimates
Published — live rates, ready to drop into any estimate
Archived — rates you've retired
The table shows the following columns:
Column | What it shows |
Name | The name you gave the Grouped Price |
Description | Your notes about what the rate includes |
Cost | The total rate in AUD, ex GST |
UOM | The unit the rate is expressed in (each, m², lm, etc.) |
Status | In Progress, Published, or Archived |
Last Updated | When the rate was last changed |
Date Created | When the rate was first built |
A New Grouped Price button sits at the top right. Click any row to open the rate for editing.
Step-by-step: building a new Grouped Price
We'll walk through building an 820mm hinged internal door package — the kind of rate a residential builder uses on nearly every job.
On the Grouped Prices list, click New Grouped Price in the top right. A window opens with two sections: Details and Items.
In the Details section, fill in the header for the rate:
Field | What to enter | Notes |
Name | Door Hinged Internal 820mm | Be specific. You'll be picking from a list later, so "Door" on its own doesn't help. |
Unit of Measure | each | Pick the unit the total rate is expressed in. For a door, that's each. For tiling, m2. For drainage, lm. |
Status | In Progress | Defaults to In Progress. Leave it here while you're still setting the rate up. |
Description | Optional notes — e.g. "Standard internal door package. Excludes architraves." | For your reference only. Doesn't show up in the estimate. |
In the Items section, click Add Item to start adding lines. For our door package, we'll add four:
Cost Code | Name | QTY | UOM | Cost Type | Cost (Ex GST) | Waste % | Total (Ex GST) |
DR-01 | 820mm hollow core door panel | 1 | each | Material | $95.00 | 0% | $95.00 |
DR-02 | Door hinges | 1 | pair | Material | $18.00 | 0% | $18.00 |
DR-03 | Lever handle set, privacy | 1 | set | Material | $85.00 | 0% | $85.00 |
LAB-01 | Hang and fit internal door | 5 | hr | Labour | $100.00 | 0% | $500.00 |
Here's how each column works:
Column | What it's for |
Cost Code | Your internal code for this cost type, if you use them |
Name | Description of this specific line item |
Quantity | How many units of this item go into one unit of the Grouped Price |
UOM | The unit for this line, which can differ from the overall rate's UOM |
Cost Type | The category — Material, Labour, Subcontractor, Plant, etc. |
Cost (Ex GST) | Base cost per unit, excluding GST |
Waste % | Waste allowance for material off-cuts or overrun |
Total Qty | Calculated automatically — quantity plus waste |
Total (Ex GST) | Calculated automatically — Total Qty × Cost |
As you add lines, the TOTAL (EX GST) at the bottom of the Items table updates. For our door package, the total comes to $698.00 per door.
Click Save at the bottom of the window. The window stays open so you can keep working. Click Cancel if you want to discard unsaved changes — the platform will warn you before it throws them away.
Heads up: Items from the Price List use base costs only. Any markup or update you apply at the Price List level doesn't flow through to the Grouped Price automatically.
Worked example: the 820mm door rate on a real job
Here's how that $698.00 rate plays out on a Kingston Road renovation with five internal doors.
Line | Qty × Cost | Line total (ex GST) |
820mm door panel | 1 × $95.00 | $95.00 |
Door hinges | 1 × $18.00 | $18.00 |
Lever handle set | 1 × $85.00 | $85.00 |
Hang and fit labour | 5 × $100.00 | $500.00 |
Rate per door | Rate per door | $698.00 |
That $698.00 becomes the single rate that loads into your estimate every time you use this Grouped Price. On Kingston Road, the builder enters a quantity of 5 in the estimate line, and the total scales automatically:
5 doors × $698.00 = $3,490.00 ex GST for the full internal door package on that job.
Next job that needs internal doors, the rate is ready to go. No re-entering the panel, hinges, handle, or labour lines.
Step-by-step: using a Grouped Price in an estimate
Once a Grouped Price is Published, it's available across every project.
Open the estimate you're working on.
In the costing grid, find the row you want to use. Each row has a small icon next to the Cost (Ex GST) — click that icon to open the rate options. This is the same icon you'd use to link to a Price List rate.
In the dropdown that appears, select Grouped Price.
Choose Door Hinged Internal 820mm from the list. The row fills automatically with the Grouped Price content and the rate of $698.00.
Once a Grouped Price is applied, the icon next to the Cost (Ex GST) changes to a solid black tag showing GP. This confirms the line is drawing from a Grouped Price rather than a manual rate or Price List.
Enter the quantity — for Kingston Road, that's 5.
The estimate line shows a total of $3,490.00 ex GST. Apply your markup on top as you would any other line.
Tip: Adjusting the quantity in the estimate doesn't touch the Grouped Price itself. The rate stays as you built it — only the line total scales.
Understanding Status
Status | What it means | Can you use it in an estimate? |
In Progress | You're still setting it up. Default when a rate is first created. | No |
Published | Live rate, available across all projects and estimates. | Yes |
Archived | Retired. Still visible under the Archived tab for reference, but hidden from estimating. | No |
Step-by-step: publishing a Grouped Price
Open the Grouped Price from the In Progress tab.
Change the Status field from In Progress to Published.
Click Save.
The rate moves to the Published tab and becomes available in every estimate across every project.
Step-by-step: editing or archiving
To edit a rate, click the row on any tab to open it, make your changes, and click Save. Edits apply everywhere the Grouped Price is used from that point on — existing estimate lines already in use keep the figures they had when they were added.
To archive a rate that's no longer needed, change its Status to Archived and save. It drops out of the estimating flow but stays in the system under the Archived tab. Nothing is deleted.
Careful with big price changes: If a published rate is on active jobs you haven't finished pricing, editing it will change what loads for new uses of that rate. If the change is material, consider archiving the old rate and publishing a new one with a clearer name (e.g. Door Hinged Internal 820mm v2).
Tips
Build your most common assemblies first. Doors, frame and truss, wet area fit-outs, decks — whatever shows up on nearly every job. The time savings compound fast.
Be specific in the name. "Bathroom Wet Area Waterproofing — Full Floor and 1800mm Walls" beats "Waterproofing" every time you're picking from a list on a Friday afternoon.
Keep In Progress clean. Half-built rates clutter the list. Finish them, publish them, or delete them.
Review your Published rates twice a year. Costs move. A rate built 12 months ago may not reflect what you're paying today. Set a reminder.
Troubleshooting
Symptom | Cause | Fix |
My Grouped Price doesn't show up when I try to use it in an estimate | Status is still In Progress | Open the rate, change Status to Published, and save |
The Unit of Measure I want isn't in the dropdown | It hasn't been set up yet | Go to Setup > Units of Measure and add it, then come back |
The total in the rate doesn't match what I'd expect | Waste % is adding to the Total Qty on one or more lines | Check the Waste % column — it multiplies Total Qty before the cost is calculated |
I can see the rate in my list but the cost column shows $0 | The Items section is empty or all lines are saved at zero cost | Open the rate and check that each line has a Quantity and Cost (Ex GST) filled in |
Related articles
Price Lists — source your base costs so Grouped Prices pull from a single up-to-date list
Setup — Lists — manage Units of Measure and Cost Types used inside Grouped Prices
Estimates — where your Published Grouped Prices get pulled into a real job
Still stuck?
Reach out through the chat bubble in the bottom right of Core Estimator and we'll give you a hand.