Materials

Materials represent the physical components used in construction — concrete, steel, drywall, insulation, finishes, and hundreds of other building elements.
In Darwin, materials are foundational building blocks that feed into modules and ultimately form part of your estimation’s cost structure.

This page explains how materials work, how to create them, and how they integrate into the broader estimating workflow.

1. What Materials Represent

Each material in the Catalog contains:

Name and SKU
Unit of measurement (m³, m², kg, units, etc.)
Catalog reference price and currency
Supplier and category
Applicable tax rate and handling cost

Materials do not store quantities or prices for specific projects.
They are reusable definitions used by modules.

2. Why Materials Matter

Materials provide:

Consistency

Using predefined materials ensures that similar assemblies always reference the same definitions.

Traceability

You can see exactly which materials were used in each module and estimation.

Transparency

Material quantities flow from modules into the estimation breakdown automatically.

Flexibility

If a material’s price changes, update the price list and explicitly recalculate the editable estimate that should use the new price. Other estimates and approved baselines do not silently change.

3. How Materials Are Used in Modules

Modules use materials to define construction logic.

For example, a Concrete Slab 15cm module might include:

0.15 m³ of concrete per m²
12 kg of rebar per m²
0.01 m³ of formwork material
1 sheet of vapor barrier per 10 m²

When this module is added to an estimation:

the IFC or manual quantity multiplies the material quantities
the price list applies the cost
the summary shows the material breakdown

This creates a transparent and audit-ready cost structure.

4. Creating a Material

To create a new material:

Go to Catalog → Materials
Click New Material
Enter:
- name and SKU
- unit from the standard selector — see Units of Measure
- category and supplier
- reference unit price and currency
- tax rate and handling cost; check the defaults
Save the record
Update its price in the Price List

Open the saved material and check its unit, supplier, currency, and price. Editing this record changes the shared catalog. For project pricing, inspect its Price List and the estimate’s already-used basis.

5. Editing Materials

You can modify a material’s:

name
unit
category
documentation

These changes affect all future uses of the material.

The catalog allows a reference price to be maintained. Project prices are reviewed in the project’s Price List; editing a material does not automatically replace an estimate’s stored prices. Recalculate an editable revision when you intend to refresh its basis.

To load several materials, download the bulk-upload template, validate rows, and fix errors before importing. A list that fails validation creates no materials. After validation, upload processes rows individually and can report individual failures: inspect results before retrying. This imports materials, not estimates into modules.

6. Material Categories

Darwin supports a hierarchical category structure that helps organize large catalogs.

For example:

Concrete
- Structural Concrete
- Lightweight Concrete
Masonry
- Blocks
- Bricks
Finishes
- Paint
- Plaster

Categories improve searching and filtering, especially for large module libraries.

7. Best Practices

Use clear and specific names

Avoid generic labels like “Block.” Prefer “Concrete Block 20cm.”

Keep units consistent

If a material is usually sold in m², don’t switch to units arbitrarily.

Document assumptions

If a material has variants (e.g., fire-rated drywall), note it clearly.

Distinguish reference and project prices

Maintain catalog reference prices and review the project’s Price List before recalculating.

Reuse materials across modules

This improves consistency and simplifies updates.

8. Next Steps

Continue exploring the Catalog:

➡️ Labor
➡️ Categories
➡️ Modules