Understanding Composed Items

Concept Guide – Learn how Composed Items help you build, preserve and reuse your estimating knowledge while giving you complete commercial flexibility.

More Than a Bundle

At first glance, a Composed Item might look like a collection of Services, Materials or other Inventory Items.

It isn't.

A Composed Item is where you build your estimate.

It allows you to bring together everything that is normally required to complete a particular scope of work, preserving both the calculations and the thinking behind the estimate so it can be reused again and again.

Unlike many estimating systems, JGID deliberately separates estimating the work from selling the work.

Why Composed Items Exist

Before software like JGID, many estimators worked using:

paper and a calculator
spreadsheets
handwritten notes
temporary calculations

Once the quote was sent, those calculations were often lost.

Months later, when the customer accepted the quote or requested a variation, nobody could remember:

how the price was calculated
which labour rates were used
what assumptions had been made
why one price was chosen over another

The estimate had disappeared.

Only the final selling price remained.

Composed Items were designed to solve exactly that problem.

They preserve your estimating logic, not just the final number.

Build Your Estimate Once

Think of a Composed Item as a reusable work package.

For example, replacing a window seal might normally require:

Rope Access labour
Sealant
Cleaning materials
Consumables
PPE
Equipment
Travel

Instead of rebuilding this estimate every time, you can save it as a Composed Item and reuse it whenever similar work is required.

Every estimate starts with a proven foundation instead of a blank page.

Composed Items Don't Have Categories

Unlike Services, Materials or other Inventory Items, a Composed Item doesn't normally belong to a Category or Subcategory.

That's because it isn't intended to represent a single type of work.

Instead, it brings together many different pieces of work into one reusable estimate.

Each individual item inside the Composed Item already knows what it is.

The Services, Materials, Equipment and other Inventory Items retain their own Categories and Subcategories, allowing JGID to apply reporting, automation and Master Matrix rules exactly where they belong.

The Composed Item simply brings everything together.

Build Almost Anything

Composed Items are incredibly flexible.

A simple Composed Item might contain only a few Inventory Items.

A larger one might contain:

Services
Materials
Equipment
Travel
Consumables
Subcontractors
Other Composed Items

Because Composed Items can contain other Composed Items, you can build estimates that reflect the natural structure of a project.

For example:

Build a House

├── Foundations
│   ├── Excavator
│   ├── Concrete
│   └── Reinforcement

├── Landscaping
│   ├── Labour
│   ├── Turf
│   └── Fertiliser

└── Retaining Wall
    ├── Labour
    └── Materials

Some businesses keep their Composed Items simple.

Others build entire projects from reusable work packages.

There is no right or wrong approach. The structure should reflect the way your business thinks about its work.

Estimating and Selling Are Different Things

This is one of the biggest differences between JGID and many other estimating systems.

The total estimated cost of a Composed Item is always calculated from the individual items it contains.

That cost cannot be overridden.

It represents what the work is expected to cost your business.

The recommended selling price is also calculated automatically from the selling prices of the individual items.

However, the final selling price is entirely your decision.

Perhaps the customer negotiated a discount.

Perhaps the project carries additional risk.

Perhaps you want to sharpen your price to win an important client.

Perhaps you simply know the market better than the software ever could.

JGID provides the calculations.

You make the commercial decision.

Commercial Freedom

Most estimating systems assume that if the calculations change, the selling price must also change.

Real businesses don't always work that way.

Sometimes the work increases but you've already agreed a fixed price.

Sometimes you deliberately reduce your margin to secure a project.

Sometimes you increase your margin because the project carries greater risk.

JGID gives you the freedom to make those decisions.

It helps you calculate the work, but it never takes away your commercial judgement.

Freedom Comes With Responsibility

Because the final selling price can be overridden, it's important to review it whenever you change the contents of a Composed Item.

If you add additional labour, materials or equipment, the estimated cost and recommended selling price will update automatically.

However, your manually entered selling price remains exactly as you set it.

This is intentional.

JGID will never change an agreed selling price without your knowledge.

Always review your final selling price to ensure it still reflects the margin you intend to make.

Best Practice

Many experienced JGID users save reusable Composed Items with a selling price of $0.

This encourages the estimator to consciously review and decide the final selling price each time the Composed Item is used.

The Composed Item represents the estimating model, not the final commercial agreement.

Repeating Work Made Simple

A Composed Item can also represent a repeatable unit of work.

For example:

One day of a two-person Rope Access team, including standard consumables.

Internally, the Composed Item might contain:

16 labour hours
Daily consumables
Equipment allowances

If the work takes three days instead of one, simply change the quantity of the Composed Item from 1 to 3.

JGID automatically multiplies all of the underlying labour, materials and other items together.

Rather than adjusting every individual line, you simply update the quantity of the work package.

Summary

Composed Items are much more than grouped Inventory Items.

They allow you to:

preserve your estimating calculations
build reusable work packages
estimate consistently
reuse proven project structures
separate estimating from commercial pricing
negotiate without losing your estimating logic
maintain complete control over the final selling price

Most importantly, they preserve the thinking behind an estimate—not just the number.