Rave's Estimate Categories & Sub-categories

Rave Financial provides powerful tools to help you organise, track, and report on your project costs, so you always know where your money is going. At the heart of this system are Categories and Sub-Categories, which structure your financial documents for maximum clarity and control.

What are Categories?

Categories are the high-level groupings of your project costs.
They help organise your budget into clear sections and improve the accuracy of reporting and client communication.

Examples of Categories:

• Preliminary & General

• Foundations

• Drainage

• Framing

• Roofing

• Fixtures

• Labour

• Site Costs

Benefits of using Categories:

• Logical, structured budgets

• Easy-to-read reports

• Clear cost breakdowns for clients

What are Sub-Categories?

Sub-Categories sit beneath Categories and provide a more detailed breakdown of costs.
They are optional, but highly recommended if you want to track spending more precisely.

Examples under "Preliminary & General":

• Builders Risk Insurance

• Health & Safety

• Skip Bins

• Site Toilet

• Builders Guarantee Costs

• Temporary Power

Benefits of using Sub-Categories:

• Record detailed supplier quotes

• Manage PC Sums and Provisional Sums

• Spot overspending or savings within specific work scopes

Categories + Sub-Categories = Powerful Cost Control

Think of them like a filing system:

• Category = Folder

• Sub-Category = Documents inside the folder

This two-tier structure helps you stay organised while keeping your budget clean and easy to report on, without overcomplicating things.

Categories and subcategories (if used) can be added to all Quotes, Purchase Orders, Bills, Invoices, and Credit Notes. These then flow through to all financial reports, as well as estimates and variations.

To learn how to add/archive/delete and manage your sub categories in Rave please click here for our help article.