Materials, waste and pricing

1Set the waste rate on each laying style

Waste in SquareTally belongs to the laying style. Every room that uses a style takes that style's waste rate, so you set it once and every quote applies it.

1. Open Settings and scroll to Laying styles. The lede reads "The waste rate applied to every room using the style."
2. Find the style. A new account starts with six: Straight, Herringbone, Chevron, Diagonal, Brick bond and Basketweave, each at 0.
3. Type the rate in the waste % box. The demonstration job uses 10 for Straight and 20 for Herringbone.
4. Click outside the box. The value saves when the field loses focus. There is no Save button.

The swatch beside each name shows how the pattern is drawn on the plan. SquareTally decides the drawing from the style's name. Each row also has a Delete link.

Not sure which rate to use? Waste factors by laying pattern explains typical ranges, and the flooring waste factor calculator works one out for a room. Laying styles are available on Solo and up.

2Upload a vendor price list

Prices come from the vendor's own sheet. Upload it once and every job can search it.

1. In Settings, scroll to My price lists. An empty account reads "No price lists yet — add the first sheet below."
2. Click Drop a price list PDF here, or choose a file and pick the vendor's PDF.
3. Check the three fields of the form that opens. SquareTally reads them from page 1 of the sheet: Vendor, Which sheet and Effective.
4. Press Save.

When the sheet cannot be read, the form says "Reading the sheet is not configured — fill the details in yourself." and the Vendor box holds the file name. Clear it and type the vendor's name. For the demonstration job that gives Cascade Hardwood Supply, Dealer price list, effective 09/01/2026.

The saved row reads "Cascade Hardwood Supply — Dealer price list" with the effective date and the file name underneath. Use Open to view the PDF, Edit to fix a field, Supersede when the vendor sends a new sheet, and Delete to remove it.

3Add a wood from the catalog

Open the job and go to section 3 Materials & rooms. Until a wood is added, each room's Material menu reads "Add a material above first".

1. Press Add from catalog. The window "Add a wood from a catalog" opens.
2. Pick the price list. Here it is "Cascade Hardwood Supply — Dealer price list (2026-09-01)".
3. Describe the wood, for example white oak 7" select engineered, and press Search. The button reads Reading… for up to a minute.
4. Pick the matching line. The demonstration sheet returns three white oak lines at $6.85, $5.95 and $7.40, each with its item number.
5. Expand Check it against page 1 of the price list. It shows the quoted line and the page of the vendor's sheet it was read from.
6. Press Add this wood at $6.85 / sqft.

Each candidate carries the page of the sheet it came from, and Open the full sheet opens the whole PDF. The new product card keeps the name, "Item no. CHS-WO-725-SEL", 6.85 in $ / sqft and a source p.1 link. When the sheet's description leaves out the vendor, SquareTally puts the vendor's name in front of the product name. Read Pricing a job from dealer price lists for the reasoning.

4Assign a material and a style to each room

Scroll to Rooms on this job. Each room has a Material menu and a Style menu. A room without a material has a red outline.

1. In each room's Material menu, pick the wood. The menu starts on "Choose a material…". The red outline disappears once the room has its wood.
2. In each room's Style menu, pick the laying style. The demonstration job uses Herringbone for the Living room and Straight for the Kitchen, Nook, Hall and Primary bedroom.

Pick the named style from Settings. Every room starts on a default "Straight", and the Style menu lists "Straight" twice: first that default, then the Straight style from Settings. Pick the second one. The named style carries the waste rate you set, here 10%. A room left on the default keeps its own waste and gets an order line of its own.

When every room has a wood with a price, the estimate preview badge changes from NEEDS ATTENTION to READY. At the top of the job, Keep this job moving reads 4/5 and ticks Rooms assigned & priced ("5 of 5 rooms assigned and priced"). The card says "Rooms and pricing are ready. Choose a PDF quote or QuickBooks draft." and offers Review and create quote.

5Other items and supplies

Below the rooms, Other items and supplies holds everything on the material quote besides the wood: "Adhesive, underlayment, trim, delivery".

1. Type the description in the box marked "Add an item, for example Parquet adhesive".
2. Replace the quantity. The box starts at 1.
3. Type the unit, such as gal, each or box.
4. Type the unit price.
5. Press Add item.

Each item's total is its quantity times its price. The demonstration job adds two:

• Parquet adhesive, 6 gal at 48: $288.00.
• Underlayment roll, 4 each at 62: $248.00.

The table ends with OTHER ITEMS TOTAL $536.00. These items go on the material quote as their own lines, with their total, under the wood.

6Review the material order

Step 4, Estimate preview, ends with the Material order: "Plan measurements stay unchanged. Adjust measured area, waste, order quantity, or price for this quote." The columns are Material & rooms, Measured, Waste, Order sqft, Markup, Quote $/sqft and Total.

The order has one line per wood and laying style. Rooms with the same wood and the same style are added together. The demonstration job gives two lines:

• Herringbone · Living room: 360 sq ft at 20% waste, 432 to order.
• Straight · Kitchen, Nook, Hall, Primary bedroom: 656 sq ft at 10% waste, 722 to order.

Order square feet are rounded up to a whole foot: 656 × 1.1 is 721.6, so 722. At the sheet's $6.85 the lines total $2,959.20 and $4,945.70.

Type your markup in each line's Markup box. It starts at 0% and applies to the wood's price. At 35%, Quote $/sqft becomes 9.25 and the lines become $3,996.00 and $6,678.50. Waste comes first, then markup.

The other items follow at $536.00. Subtotal with other items moves from $8,440.90 to $11,210.50. The status line reads "Quote adjustments saved": your adjustments are kept with the quote. Once you change a value, a Reset adjustments link appears.

7What comes next

The job now has its wood, a style and a price on every room, its supplies and a material order with waste and markup applied. The checklist button Review and create quote leads to the last step.

Create the quote turns the priced job into a PDF quote or QuickBooks drafts. The adjustments you made to the material order are saved with the quote.

The fifth checklist item, Labor costs on file, is still open. Read the job out of the installer's text shows how to bring the installer's labor prices onto the job before you create the quote.