What is the ConstructionOnline Items Database?

ConstructionOnline's Items Database is the industry's leading solution for storing, tracking, and managing construction costs with accuracy and efficiency. The ConstructionOnline Items Database holds all Company Costbooks. The term "costbook" generally refers to comprehensive catalogs or databases that contain detailed lists of information about the costs associated with various construction components such as materials, labor, equipment, subcontractor costs, etc. 

In ConstructionOnline, Costbooks can have two components: Items and Assemblies. Individual Costbook Items can include details such as Classification, Unit Cost, Purchase Unit, Unit of Measure, Coverage Rate, Waste %, and more, and can be arranged into Folders for optimal organization. Costbooks can also contain Assemblies which are groups of commonly-used or related Costbook Items organized as a package or "assembly" for quick & easy insertion at the Subcategory level of an OnCost Estimate. So, for example, all of the commonly-used Costbook Items for framing, such as lumbar, nails, and labor hours, could go into a "Framing" Assembly. 

By centralizing construction cost information in a single database, companies utilizing ConstructionOnline's Items Database can streamline estimate creation, improve estimate accuracy, and easily apply estimate updates. And, with multi-level organization, ConstructionOnline's fully customizable Costbooks are flexible enough to support every company's cost structure. 

Costbooks can also be used for takeoffs through ConstructionOnline's Redline™ Takeoff & Estimating Integration. Learn more about this integration here.

Click here for more frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding ConstructionOnline's Items Database & Costbooks.