Calculating rates for a Bill of Quantities is a tedious process! Fortunately, with the Internet and increased access people in South Africa have to it, it presented the opportunity to develop an online-based estimating product, allowing easy access and convenience for building industry professionals to do their rate-build ups online.

Costabill is an innovative, all online solutions platform, to assist contractors and building professionals when it comes to calculating rates for Bills of Quantities.

Costabill is exclusively online, allowing 24/7 access with a safe and secure login system. Fast, efficient access to Costabill will provide live pricing, which includes all 9 South African provinces and Namibia, to calculate the Bills of Quantities.

Costabill operates online, which means you have 24/7.
Please view the demonstration video or consult the User Guide.

1. Simply REGISTER yourself at the website, and login to have access to the Demo features of Costabill. Alternatively purchase Costabill via credit card to have instant access, or contact Costabill upon a Bank Transfer so you can be granted access.

2. Choose your Region at the top left “Select Region” (this will open the prices for all the South African Provinces & Namibia)

3. You can now work through the Bills on the left hand side (the Costabill database).

4. Keep double-clicking the items till you find the item with the suitable master bill description to add. Double click it

5. The item will be added to your project on the right hand side of the screen.

6. (Level 2) To view the formula breakdown, select the items tick box, and click on the option in the feature bar, “Show Formula”

7. (Coming at a later stage) To edit an item you’ve added, select the items tick box, and click on the option, “Edit Formula”. When done making changes, click the option “Update results…”

8. You can edit your Quantities directly as well in Costabill. In the main screen once you have added an item, double click the default figure under “Qty” and ensure it is relevant to the Unit of measurement indicated for that item “UOM”. When you change the amount, the Total displayed will change at the end of the item row.

9. There is no save function at present, so when done costing, choose your items, choose “Print Preview” and now you can Export To MS Excel to Print or further edit your rates.

You can now trial the Demo to accustom yourself with Costabill’s user-interface and features.
*Note: Specialist trades not included in current version.