# Common Material Spreadsheet



## ericamort (Jun 27, 2013)

Hi All

I have just started working for a roofing contractor in the office. The office is very disorganized and I am trying to implement some sort of protocol for product cost. 

I am looking to make a spreadsheet for common roofing materials used with supplier cost so don't have to repeatedly call the supplier. Will anyone be willing to share with me the spreadsheet that they use or their system of looking up product list.

Btw, I have asked each supplier for a catalog with pricing and they told me that they dont have one because it would be way too big.

Thank you so very much for any help.


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## jamestrd (Oct 26, 2008)

Material costs change all the time..You should always call to check,
But to answer your question, I think you already did..Excel does that.
Very simply just the way you said it.
If they uin a newer version of Office, there may even be a template for you created by someone else.
But not calling for a price is asking for a hurtin for certain.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

For roofing I would think it would be fairly easy to create a base spreadsheet for suppliers to fill out. I don't know how often the price changes take effect but you could just ask them to fill them out monthly, quarterly, whatever.

Look up a few weeks/months worth of job invoices and list all the regular materials by type and size and send it off to the supplier with a request for pricing.


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## ericamort (Jun 27, 2013)

Thank you both for your responses. I agree that I would call on a weekly basis to check prices but I was just curious how others organized a database or spreadsheet of materials.


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## SpecBid (Feb 24, 2012)

Looking for something like this ? Download to Excel in one click.


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## Pearce Services (Nov 21, 2005)

I think "Ed the Roofer" posted a roofing spreadsheet that calculated materials and labor, just add materials cost. You could try a search for him,

Not sure what ever happened to him, he was one of my favorite reads here.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

This is a method I used for decks a while back, you can probably implement something similar for roofs. 

First, the formula to convert square feet of deck into number of deck boards (column D on the worksheet). It's basically all the math to do the conversion, then factored out, then put into variables Excel can use.

=ROUNDUP((C3*158.4)/(((VLOOKUP(B3,DunnLumber!$A$4:$D$9,2,FALSE))-0.25)*(VLOOKUP(B3,DunnLumber!$A$4:$D$9,3,FALSE))*1 2),0)


Then the simple VLOOKUP to get the price per unit, column E.

=VLOOKUP(B3,DunnLumber!$A$4:$D$9,4,FALSE)


Then the total price, column F.

=(E3*D3)


So basically all I have to do is enter the square footage of the deck, and what kind of decking, the program figures out the rest. Here is my worksheet:

http://www.contractortalk.com/member...k-template.jpg

And the materials list:

http://www.contractortalk.com/member...-template2.jpg

But if all you're doing is roofs, you should be able to come up with estimates in the field. No reason to have to drive back to the office to figure out your bid. I would keep a chart of all the pitch conversion factors for finding square footage, I think a 5:12 is 1.09. Then keep a current price sheet of your materials. Talk to your suppliers and ask how long they can honor their prices, roofing material costs can start going up in the summer which will create a problem.


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## SpecBid (Feb 24, 2012)

The only way to get latest pricing is to get it from a supplier, or supplier(s). And simplify your workload in the process. My post illustrates that by utilizing the cloud, technology and excel, you not only save tons of time, but get real time pricing as well. From suppliers that you can invite to bid.


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