Labor Type represents a category of labor you provide, like "Installation" or "Programming." Once created, this labor type is used as the basis for all labor estimates in Cloud.
In this article, we will discuss the following:
What is a labor type?
How do you create a labor type?
How do you edit a labor type?
How do you change your global labor type rates in a quote?
What is a labor type?
A labor type is made up of the following information.
Name - This is how you refer to this type of labor and is how it is displayed in proposals. For example, "Installation" or "Programming."
Phase - The installation phase this Labor is completed in.
Hourly Cost and Price - This hourly "rate" will be used against a duration of time to calculate your estimates when this labor type is used in the catalog or a quote.
Taxable - Is this labor taxable?
Billable - Is this labor billable?
You can create as many labor types as you would like. You will first be asked to choose a labor type as part of adding labor to a product. A labor type itself is not labor but a global definition of a type of labor combined with a time estimate (hours, minutes, and seconds) and an optional project phase to include labor on an item.
Add labor type in the catalog
Labor types can be created and edited from "Settings > Catalog > Labor Types" in the left navigation menu.
Once on the page, click "New labor type" in the top-right corner.
The following is a screenshot of the modal to add a labor type.
In the modal, do the following:
Add a name. This will appear in reports, proposals, and Dashboard.
Select a phase. This is optional and serves as a default selection when this labor type is used to assign labor to products, services, and allowances. It can always be overridden.
Add a description can be added to the labor type to help differentiate between labor types in the list.
Set the hourly cost and price, and the margin and markup will be displayed automatically.
If you are using the Fulfillment Locations feature, enable it for this labor type and specify the costs and prices per location.
After creating your labor type, you are ready to create as many labor types as you feel necessary to track the various categories of labor you sell.
Create labor type in a quote
D-Tools Cloud has been designed to get you quoting and selling quickly. Like many other settings, such as phase, locations, or taxes, you can set up labor types directly via the quoting experience. The new labor type is automatically stored in your list of labor types for use in other quotes.
To add a labor type in a quote, click "Create a new labor type" in the Labor Summary section.
Edit labor type
To edit a labor type, you follow the same approach as you do when creating a labor type.
Click on any existing labor type in the catalog to view and edit all information related to the labor type.
Note that when you hover your cursor over an existing labor type, a "More" option, displayed as three horizontal dots, appears, which gives you quick access to "Edit," "Duplicate," "Set as default," and "Delete" actions.
Setting a labor type as default automatically adds the labor type to all quotes.
Change labor type rates in the quote
Changes you make to a labor type cost or price in a quote will apply only to that quote. They will not impact any current quotes using the labor type and the rate in the catalog.
To change the rate of a labor type in a quote, click the labor type in the Labor Summary section and make the changes.
Remove labor types
Removing a labor type from the Labor Summary section in a quote will remove it from any attached products and set its billed hours to zero, but it will still be visible.
To entirely remove a labor type in a quote, click the Settings icon in the bottom left corner. In the window that opens, scroll down to labor types. This displays the current labor types used in the quote, and you have the option to delete these labor types.
If you want to remove a labor type globally, do so from the catalog.