Your Materials List ties each material to a cost code, so Terial can calculate committed and actual costs as POs and deliveries come in.
You can add materials by either:
Uploading a CSV, or
Adding them manually ("From Scratch")
You can continue adding materials any time after the initial upload.
📢 Important Rules
Cost codes → can appear only once in your budget.
Materials → are free-text and can be duplicated.
If you upload the same material name more than once, Terial will import each row separately.
Option A — Add Materials Manually (From Scratch)
Best for teams building the list onsite, as they issue POs, or first-time Production Job Costing users to quickly get started and acclimated to our system.
How to add
Go to Materials tab
Click From Scratch
Choose a cost code
(Note: In this example, we'll utilize an alternative cost code structure (cost codes based on project phase). However, a given project should utilize a consistent set of cost codes.)
Enter:
Material name (required)
Unit / unit cost / quantity (optional)
Save
Repeat for each material.
Option B — Upload a Materials List (CSV)
Best for teams with takeoffs, vendor lists, or estimating spreadsheets.
Required fields
Each row must include:
Material Name
Cost Code (must match exactly to a cost code in your budget)
Optional fields
Unit
Budgeted Unit Cost
Budgeted Quantity
Terial will fill missing numeric values with 0.
⚠️ Important Note: As with uploading a csv budget, you'll need to use our template (found on the Materials upload screen). At this time, you'll need to input your materials list into our template, filling out only the provided fields, in order for the data to upload.
How to upload
Go to your project → Materials tab
Click Upload CSV
Download the template (recommended) which is found hyperlinked right under the "Upload CSV" option.
Enter one material per row
Upload the CSV
Review → Save
Terial will show you any rows it skips & rational (e.g., missing cost codes). If this happens, you can still add these rows manually in the resulting Materials list page.
Sample Materials List (before being formatted into the CSV):
Note that your original version may include additional columns of data that cannot be included in the csv upload template, such as "Notes / Internal ref", "Tag", etc.
You'll need to copy and paste data from your existing Materials list (if you have one) into our template format (in the image labeled "Sample Materials List Formatted Appropriately for CSV Upload")
Sample Materials List (formatted appropriately for CSV upload):
Notes:
Data entered into the template should ONLY include columns from the csv template, no additional data
The last column of the template is the UNIT cost, unlike the budget template, whose last column is the TOTAL budgeted cost
The exact same cost code wording must be used in the materials list and the budget so the system can recognize and match them
Note on duplicates
If the same material name appears more than once in your CSV, Terial will import each line separately, even if they are identical.
Adding More Later
After your first upload, you can:
Add new materials manually, or Click Upload CSV (bottom-right) to append additional materials
Existing materials will not be overwritten, but duplicates will be added if included
Ready for the next steps?
Feedback or questions on the product? Email us at [email protected]