Tracking Materials and Job Costs

Why Track Materials on Jobs?

Logging materials against a job serves two purposes:

1. Billing accuracy — materials flow directly onto the invoice as line items so nothing is forgotten.
2. Profitability tracking — when you enter your cost price alongside the sell price, CrewBrix calculates gross margin per job, helping you understand which jobs and services are most profitable.

Adding Materials from the Field

Technicians can add materials while the job is in progress:

1. Open the job → tap the Materials tab.
2. Tap Add Material.
3. Search the product catalog by name or scan a barcode (if barcode scanning is enabled).
4. Enter the quantity used.
5. Review the unit price (pre-filled from catalog; can be adjusted for this job).
6. Tap Add.

The material is attached to the job and queued for invoicing.

Adding Materials from the Office

Dispatchers and managers can add materials to any job at any time from the job detail screen using the same Materials tab.

Entering Cost Price (for Profitability)

To track job profitability, enter both the sell price (what you charge the customer) and the cost price (what you paid for the part):

1. When adding a material, tap Show Cost Price.
2. Enter your cost (e.g. the price you paid your supplier).
3. CrewBrix calculates the gross margin automatically.

Cost prices are never shown to customers — they only appear in your internal reports and the job's cost summary.

Viewing Job Profitability

On a completed job, tap the Financials tab to see:

• Revenue — total invoiced amount.
• Labor cost — calculated from Time Clock hours × technician hourly rate (set in team member profile).
• Material cost — sum of all material cost prices.
• Gross profit — Revenue − Labor − Materials.
• Gross margin % — shown as a percentage.

Setting Up the Product Catalog

The product catalog is the master list of parts and materials you regularly use. Pre-loading it means technicians can add materials with one tap instead of typing from scratch.

1. Go to Settings → Catalog → Products.
2. Tap Add Product.
3. Fill in: name, SKU (optional), unit, sell price, cost price, category.
4. Tap Save.

You can also import products in bulk via CSV in Settings → Catalog → Import.

Handling Materials Not in the Catalog

If a technician uses a part that's not in the catalog, they can add it as a free-form line item on the job:

1. Materials tab → Add Material → Enter Manually.
2. Type the description, quantity, and price.
3. Optionally tap Add to Catalog to save it for future use.