Additional equipment and job-specific costs can be added when creating a quote through the cost buildup feature that can be found on the solver's sidebar.
Your organization's account administrators can configure default costs for the cost buildup as outlined in How do I set up defaults for cost buildup?
Install cost options
You will see the default cost populated in the install cost input field. The default value for the aggregate install cost can be revised for every job. This can be done by clicking into the install cost field and entering a new number (on a $/W or $ basis).
For example, to override the default install cost of $3.20/W with a value of $3.90/W, simply click inside the install cost input field, enter a value of "3.90", and then click or tab out of the field to save the value.
Without updating your organization's job cost buildup defaults, the default install cost for a job is set to $3.20/W. Here's how it looks like on the platform:
If the solar equipment used in designing the system has different defaults or there are project costs included such as labor and margin, then these will additionally be reflected in the install cost.
Cost buildup
To view the cost buildup modal for a job, you can click on the cost buildup option on the right side of the quote solver section. Here's how it looks like:
Here, you can review all pricing components, update individual and job-specific costs/margins, and add additional line items.
To input job-specific cost items using the cost buildup modal, enter costs for each line item.
Example
Enter the following cost items:
- Inverter cost = $0.18/W
- Module cost = $0.69/W
- Base cost = $1.90/W
- Labor = $750
- Margin = 0%
All costs updated here will be automatically saved as a single install cost value, overriding the previously defaulted install cost. As you can see below, it is also updated automatically on the Quote Solver section.
Setting additional cost buildup line items
Clicking the Add Line Item button with the cost buildup modal, a dropdown list appears showing additional cost items that can be selected for a job. You can select an existing cost item, as setup by your organization's account administrator, or you can create a custom adder for your job.
Example
If you select a custom adder option from the dropdown list, enter the custom adder description and select the cost of the adder on either a $/W or $ basis followed by the value. In this example, a cost of $1,000 was input for the "My Adder Cost" custom adder.
The total column for the custom adder will display the cost of the line item in $ and is also added to the grand total cost.
Calculating the grand total cost
The bottom right-hand corner of the cost buildup window will show the grand total cost based on the values entered into the cost buildup. The totals for each line item on the right-hand column of the modal will be summed up to equal the grand total in the bottom right corner of the modal, with project-level margin applied to all values.
In other words: Grand Total = (Solar Equipment + Additional Line Items + Base Cost + Labor) x (100% + Project Level Margin). Refer to the Cost Buildup FAQ article for further details.
Solar Equipment Cost
Example
Adding the costs of the line items in our example above, we will see how the grant total cost is calculated.
Grand Total = (((6360W x $0.69/W x (100% + 0%)) + (6360W x $0.18/W x (100% + 0%))) + $1,000 + (6360W x $1.90/W) + $750) x (100% + 0%) = $19,367.20
Clicking Update Items will save these values and return you to the quote page where you will see the updated install cost accordingly.
Reset costs for cost buildup line items
Clicking the Reset Costs button sets all costs back to the original default values as defined by your organization's account administrator.
Note that after clicking Reset Costs you are directed back to the quote page. So in order to see the reset costs in the cost buildup modal you will need to click Add Costs again.
Related articles
Want to know more about cost buildup and it's default values? Check out the following related articles: