---
title: "Adding a Labor Item to the Item Catalog"
slug: "adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog"
tags: ["Language - English", "Area - Administration", "Area - Estimating", "Industry - Landscaping", "Type - Task (How-To)", "Role - System Admin", "Role - Branch Admin", "Skill Level - 1 (Beginner)"]
updated: 2025-10-30T19:52:26Z
published: 2025-10-30T19:52:26Z
canonical: "guide.youraspire.com/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://guide.youraspire.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Adding a Labor Item to the Item Catalog

## **Purpose**

A *Labor* item is a specific item that is used when performing a service and needs to be added to your customer’s estimates. Typically, they have a cost associated with them.

You could track labor items when it comes to:

- *Job Roles* - Create items for roles like *Foreman, Operator,* or *Laborer* to easily apply standard billing rates.
- *Trade Labor* - Set up items for skilled trades like *Electricians, Plumbers,* or *Carpenters* with trade-specific pricing.
- *Certified Labor* - Build catalog items for certified roles like *Safety Supervisors* with premium rates.
- *Crew Configurations* - Define catalog items for common crew makeups like *3-Person Landscape Crew* to simplify estimates.

By creating dedicated labor items in your catalog, you are making sure job estimates accurately capture all labor requirements and costs. Having these items defined provides consistent pricing, efficient estimating and better labor cost tracking!

🧠Some *Labor* item examples include: *Labor-Construction, Labor-Snow or Labor-Maintenance.*

## **Requirements**

✅In order to add Labor *Items* to the *Item Catalog*, you must have *System Admin* or *Branch Admin* permission.

✅If you have *Branch Admin* permission you’d also need *Enhanced Branch Admin Security* added to your user role.

## **Creating a Labor Item in the Item Catalog**

Before labor items can be used on estimates, they must first be created in the item catalog. The item catalog is located in the *Estimating* tab of *Administration,* and is a record of current or past items that have been created for estimating services.

⚠️ In this article, we will go over important fields to use, and skip over the ones not needed for labor item set up.

To add an item to the catalog:

- Click your *Profile Icon* in the blue side menu. Then, select *Administration.*

*![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-oijt4ka0.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)*

- Navigate to the *Estimating* tab and then select the *Item Catalog* tab.
- To create a new item for the item catalog, click the blue *New* icon and a dropdown menu will appear. Select the *New Labor* item type.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-ysm0u14t.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- The *New Labor Item* screen will appear.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-8osyht28.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

You can begin to add your *Labor Item* details to get closer to adding it to the *Item Catalog!*

- Type in the labor’s *Item Name*.
  - This will be the name that is displayed on your customer’s proposal.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-muj1vhy3.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- The *Alternate Name*can be the same as the item name, left blank, or updated.
  - You can edit the alternate name to be a specific name of a product, plant genus, species or other scientific names as needed.
  - *Alternate Name* appears in the *Item Catalog Search Lis*t, when searching in the *Purchasing Assistant*, is available for use on *Purchase Receipt* layouts or on estimate sheet layouts.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-wl3wtsy0.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- Select the *Category* of *Labor*.
  - Most users of Aspire use the *Labor* category type, but you can create detailed categories if you require them.
    - Item categories can be set up in *Lists* in *Administration*.
      - You can navigate there by selecting your *Profile Icon* ▶️ *Application* ▶️ *Lists* ▶️ *Catalog Item Categor*y ▶️ Then, you’d select the *New* button to create a new category!

📑Learn more about the differences between [Item Name vs. Item Alternate Name vs. Item Code by clicking here](https://care.youraspire.com/en/articles/6224802-item-name-vs-item-alternate-name-vs-item-code).

📑 In this next section, we discuss *Purchase Units* vs. *Allocation Units*. For a more detailed explanation of how to set these up, [read this article!](https://care.youraspire.com/en/articles/4764046-purchase-units-vs-allocation-units)

- Enter how much the labor unit cost should be in the *Purchase Unit Cost* field.
- Select the purchase unit measurement. Normally, labor is calculated in hours.
  - Some use a *Purchase Unit* of *Day* instead of *Hour* due to paying a flat rate.

🧠It’s recommended that the labor item’s purchase unit cost should be the average wage rate of all hourly rates in your *Division* (or daily flat rates) that the item would be connected to.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-49e4p838.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- Select the allocation unit’s measurement in how the labor item will be allocated to jobs.
  - If unit measure is different from the *Purchase Unit* you will need to fill out the conversion factor in the *Allocation* field.

⚠️Make sure the item catalog’s purchase unit is entered and converted correctly with the correct *Allocation Unit*. This is important when processing your vendor’s invoices. If the *Allocation Unit* is entered incorrectly in the purchase receipt, this could cause inaccuracies in your revenue.

**See the chart below for examples:**

| Item Name | Purchase Unit | Conversion | Allocation Unit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Labor-Flat Rate | Day | 8 | Hours |
| Labor-Hourly | Hr | 1 | Hours |

📌 Note: The *Allocation Item Cost* will update once the item has been saved.

- Assign the branch(es) for where the item will be available. This function is available only if the *Enhanced Branch Admin Security* permission is checked in *Administration* ➡️ *Configuration* ➡️ *Application.*
- Select *All Branches* so your item is available to all branches or if you have a specific branch the labor should be available for, then you can select the specific branch.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-cugv5xa6.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- The *Takeoff Item*drop down is used to allow Aspire to automatically calculate item quantities on estimates.
  - If desired, select the *Takeoff Item*from where the calculation on the estimate should happen.
    - This is mainly used for building kits or when building maintenance contracts and can be added to properties on an individual properties’ detail page.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-p0db2xqm.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- The *Description*field provides a more complete description of the item
  - This note becomes available when the item is placed onto a service in the estimate.
    - Add a description here if you need item notes to appear on services in your opportunity estimate.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-npuevh32.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

🧠You can also choose to include the item description in a proposal layout to give extra information to your customer.

- The *Available to bid* checkbox is automatically checked on to make sure the item can be used when estimating a service that contains the item.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-8hzel2ae.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

- Checking the *Inventory item* checkbox will make the item available to be received in inventory.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-oz6obhor.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

The *Price List* is found at the bottom of the item details screen.

- You can select *New*to create an Allocation item cost different from the original cost by entering the new price list purchase unit cost.
  - This new cost will be applied to the price list catalog you’ve selected.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/5942a8d7-f3b1-4919-bdfa-d477d8498fe3/Images/Documentation/adding-a-labor-item-to-the-item-catalog-image-4u58u2kq.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-13T10%3A06%3A34Z&se=2026-11-13T11%3A06%3A34Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=ANKnedhW5RZxydkkAMaWde%2FLKBJbYD0K10qHU7owWQk%3D)

🧠Reminder: Price List Catalogs are used for setting up pricing overrides at the branch level for specific items in the catalog. *Catalog Price Lists* are added to your organization’s *Branches* on the *Branches* screen.

- When all of your edits to your *Labor* Item have been made, select Save to add it to the item catalog.

⚠️ If you want to edit the item name later, after it has been bid, we recommend not changing the name on the original item. Instead, make the item unavailable to bid and create a new item. Update kits and templates with that item, then deactivate the old item.