All items are classified as either "Primary Spec" short for Primary Spec Item, or a "Component Spec", short for Component Spec Item.
An item such as a chair or a sofa are primary specs. The things that are attached to the primary spec such as fabric or cord trim are component specs.
The connection of the primary spec and the corresponding component spec(s) are important for various reasons:
Automated Quantity Updates
When you change the quantity of a primary spec, the component spec quantities are automatically updated.
For example, suppose in your project there is an upholstered chair. This would be primary spec. And the project calls for 2 of these chairs.
When you enter the component spec, the fabric, DesignSmart will prompt you to enter how many yards of fabric are required for each chair.
For this example we will say 2.5 yards is required. Therefore, DesignSmart will do the following calculation:
2 chairs x 2.5 yards/chair to arrive at 5 total yards of fabric for pricing and ordering purposes.
The cord trim will be added as a second component to the chair and you we'll say that each requires 12 feet of cord trim. DesignSmart will do the following calculation:
2 chairs x 12 feet/chair to arrive at 24 total feet of cord trim for pricing and ordering purposes.
Now let's imagine that you need to change the number of chairs from 2 to 4. Once you change the quantity in DesignSmart from 2 to 4, the program will automatically update the components:
4 chairs x 2.5 yards/chair = 8 total yards of fabric for pricing and ordering so DesignSmart will update these quantities for the fabric automatically
4 chairs x 12 feet/chair = 48 total feet of cord trim for pricing and ordering so DesignSmart will update these quantities for the cord trim automatically
Hiding Component Pricing
Some residential firms like their clients to only see the price of a sofa where the sofa includes the cost of the components.
For example if a sofa's sell price is $1,000 and the sell price for the component fabric is $250, these firms like the proposal to show the price for the sofa as $1,250. This would mean there would only be one line on the proposal for the sofa. Not one for the sofa and second for the fabric.
With DesignSmart you have the option to include the pricing of the components with the price of the primary spec item. For more information about this option, click here.
This features works with invoices the same as it does with proposals.