Schedule of rates template (free, Excel)

A schedule of rates is the list of prices you and a supplier have agreed: each item, the unit it's priced in, and the rate. It's what an invoice gets checked against. This one is blank, ready for one row per item you buy from that supplier.

Download (.xlsx)or as CSV

Free, with no account and no email. The columns are set out; the rows are yours to fill in.

costcode-schedule-of-rates-blank.xlsxColumns set out

The template's header row, with the rows below it empty for you to fill in.
Row	Item description	Unit	Rate ex GST	GST free (Y/N)
2	blank	blank	blank	blank
3	blank	blank	blank	blank
4	blank	blank	blank	blank
5	blank	blank	blank	blank
6	blank	blank	blank	blank

One row per item you buy from this supplier. GST free and product code come last.Product code comes last.

The columns, and why each matters

Item description: What the item is, in the supplier's own words. CostCode matches an invoice line to a row by the supplier's product code where both have one, and otherwise by the wording, so copy the description off one of their invoices where you can.
Unit: The unit the rate is for: EA, m, m2, m3, t, hour, day, week, load. It matters as much as the price. A rate per metre and a rate per 6 m length are six times apart, and CostCode checks the unit on each invoice line against this one as well as the price.
Rate ex GST: The agreed price for one unit, excluding GST. It's blank in the template because the number is for you and your supplier to agree. CostCode compares rates excluding GST and checks the GST on its own, and when you load the file it asks you to confirm the rates exclude GST.
GST free (Y/N): Blank or N means GST applies, as it does on most construction supplies. Put Y only where the supplier agrees the item carries no GST: if an invoice then charges GST on it, CostCode raises it.
Product code: Optional: the supplier's own code for the item, so ask them to fill it in. An invoice line carrying the same code is matched to this row by the code, whatever the wording, and two different codes are never priced as the same item.

Add one row per item, in the supplier's words. Keep the first row as it is: it's how CostCode's importer knows which column is which, so there's nothing to match up by hand when you load it.

Schedule of rates, bill of quantities or price list?

A schedule of rates fixes the price per unit and leaves the quantities open: it says what each metre, tonne or hour costs, whatever you end up buying. A bill of quantities fixes both, measured from the drawings for a whole project. A schedule of values splits a lump-sum contract into parts for progress claims, and a price list is the supplier's standard prices, open to any customer. This template is a schedule of rates: one row per item, one agreed rate per unit.

Agreeing it and loading it

Agreeing it with a supplier

Send the filled-in items to the supplier and ask them to put in their rates and product codes, or to confirm yours. Settle three things at the same time: how long the rates hold, how much notice the supplier gives before a change, and what they charge on top (delivery, fuel levies, minimum loads and the rest). Keep their acceptance, a signed copy or an email saying the rates are right, with the file.

The start date isn't in the file: you enter it once, when you load the schedule into CostCode. The charges aren't rows either: each is recorded as a charge agreement on the supplier, and charge lines are checked against those.

Loading it into CostCode

On Rate agreements, choose the file and pick the supplier. The columns are named so the importer maps them on its own, and you look over every row before anything is saved. A row without a rate is left out and listed with the reason. From then on each of that supplier's invoice lines is checked against the rate in force on the invoice date, in the unit agreed, and a line with no row to check against shows as unverified with the reason, never as passed.

Charges: agree them at the same time

Delivery or freight
Fuel levy
Small-order fee
Pallet deposits

These aren't rows in the file. Agree them with the rates and record each as a charge agreement on the supplier in CostCode, where charge lines are checked against them. Why charges are kept apart

Questions

What columns does the template have?

Item description, unit, rate ex GST, GST free (Y/N) and product code. The first three are what a rate check needs; the other two make matching and the GST check sharper.

Excel or CSV?

Either loads into CostCode the same way. Excel is easier to fill in and send to a supplier; CSV suits a system that exports one.

Is there a version for my trade?

Yes: templates for concrete, civil and earthworks, electrical, plumbing, builders' supplies, landscaping, plant hire, structural steel, formwork, waterproofing, roofing, painting, fit-out, flooring, scaffolding, HVAC, fire protection, glazing and demolition, each with common items and units filled in.

Should the rates include GST?

No: the column is rates excluding GST. CostCode compares rates excluding GST and checks the GST on its own, and asks you to confirm the rates exclude GST when you load the file.

Got a supplier invoice handy? Check it now.

About ten seconds. No account. We don't keep the file.

Check my invoice

Or start free: 20 invoices a month, no card