Construction Types
Construction Types (also called Types of Works) are your company's catalog of construction "models" —for example, "House Model A", "Tower Type B" or "Foundation Type 1"—. Each type stores the land and construction square meters it takes up and, optionally, a bill of supplies (materials, quantities, unit of measure and standard cost) needed to build one unit of that type, much like a construction recipe.
What is it and what is it for?
Every Construction Type has a header (name, land and construction square meters) and a Supplies detail tab, where you add the items or services needed to build one unit of that type, with their quantity, unit of measure and standard cost. AdmCloud automatically calculates the recipe's total cost by multiplying each supply's quantity by its cost.
This catalog is used from two different places in AdmCloud:
- Items: an Item can have a Construction Type assigned in its "Construction Type" field, useful when you sell an already-built unit as an item (for example, a house or an apartment of a specific model).
- Projects: from a Project's "Works" tab you can add one or more Construction Types with the quantity of units of each type being built on that project (for example, "10 units of House Model A").
How to use it
- Open the Construction Types list and click New.
- Enter the Name of the construction type (required, can't repeat).
- If you want, enter the land and construction square meters a unit of this type takes up.
- In the Supplies table, look up each item or service with the autocomplete lookup, enter the Quantity needed, its Unit of Measure (required for items) and the standard Cost of each one.
- Click Save.
You can use the Duplicate button from an existing Construction Type's detail screen to create a variant (a version with different finishes, for example) without re-entering the whole supplies list from scratch.
Main capabilities
- Search Construction Types by name from the autocomplete lookup, used for example when picking one on an Item's "Construction Type" field or on a Project's "Works" tab.
- Duplicate an existing Construction Type to create variants without re-entering everything.
- The detail screen shows the recipe's total cost (quantity times cost for each supply), calculated automatically.
- The links on the supplies table take you directly to the related Item's or Unit of Measure's detail.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the Construction Type. Required, and can't repeat. |
| M2 of Land | Land square meters a unit of this type takes up. Optional, informational. |
| M2 of Construction | Construction square meters a unit of this type has. Optional, informational. |
| Supplies (Item/Service, Quantity, Unit, Cost) | The materials or services needed to build one unit of this type, with their quantity and standard cost. Optional; it can stay empty if you only use the catalog as a square-meter reference or to link it to Items and Projects. |
Validations when saving
- Name is required and can't repeat between Construction Types.
- The name can't exceed 200 characters.
- Every supply line with an item or service selected must reference an active item or service (when creating) or an existing one (when editing).
- Unit of measure is required on Item-type supply lines (not for Services) and, when provided, must exist and be active in the system.
Deleting
A Construction Type can't be deleted if any Item has it assigned in its "Construction Type" field, or if any Project has it added on its Works tab. In those cases, AdmCloud shows you exactly which items or projects are using it, so you can decide whether to unlink them before deleting it.
Availability, plans and conditions
- This feature requires the Construction module active in your company (available as an add-on module of the Enterprise edition). Without this module, the screen shows a "not available on this edition" message, and you also won't see the "Construction Type" field on Items or the "Works" tab on Projects.
- Access is controlled with the "Types of Works" permission of the user group, with separate levels for browsing, adding, editing and deleting.
Tips and common mistakes
If your company sells already-built units (houses, apartments, retail units), create your Construction Types first and then assign them to the matching Item; that lets you filter and analyze your sales by construction model.
If saving tells you a supply line is missing its unit of measure, check that the line actually has an item selected (not just typed text) and pick a valid unit; services don't require a unit.
If you can't delete a Construction Type because it's in use, check the "Construction Type" field on your Items and the "Works" tab on your Projects to unlink it before trying again.