If you’re using STACK to create takeoffs but still juggling pricing in spreadsheets, it’s time to unlock the real power of STACK’s Items and Assemblies. Whether you’re new to the platform or looking to sharpen your estimating workflows, this guide breaks down how to go beyond measurement data and generate more accurate, flexible estimates faster.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- What Items and Assemblies are—and why they matter
- How to apply and manage Items for fast, consistent costing
- How Assemblies can streamline complex estimates
- Pro tips for editing, grouping, waste calculation, and proposals
What Are Items and Assemblies in STACK Takeoff & Estimate?
Takeoffs are where every STACK project begins—but they only give you raw measurements (like area, length, volume, or count). That’s where Items come in. Items are reusable components you can apply to takeoffs to automatically generate material quantities, labor hours, equipment needs, and costs.
Assemblies take that a step further. Think of them as bundles of Items that work together. Instead of applying five Items one by one to a wall takeoff—drywall, screws, mud, labor, etc.—you can apply a single Assembly that includes everything, complete with custom formulas and options.
Why Use Items?
You might already be used to manually entering material and labor costs into your estimates—and if you’ve been doing it for decades, we get it. But even simple Items can eliminate that repetitive work and keep your costs consistent.
Here’s an example:
- A bollard always costs you $300 in materials and $150 in labor.
- Instead of manually keying in those numbers each time, create a Bollard Item in STACK.
- Now every time you use the bollard takeoff, your costs are applied automatically.
You can still override costs when needed—but having Items built in speeds up your workflow and improves accuracy.
“STACK helps from start to finish of building an estimate. This has cut a lot of work from using spreadsheets, input, and price. As a one-stop shop, we can create Items and Assemblies to help us capture all the project costs. The creation of Assemblies is practically endless.”
Unlock Efficiency with Assemblies
For more complex scopes—like interior walls or parking lots—you’ll likely need multiple Items to break out labor, materials, equipment, and production rates. This is where Assemblies shine.
Assemblies:
- Apply multiple Items at once
- Support variable options (e.g. choose between 5/8” vs. 1/2” drywall)
- Include complex formulas for labor productivity, waste, or spacing
- Let you build logic into your estimates instead of managing it in Excel
If you’re transitioning from spreadsheets, you’ll find STACK formulas behave similarly to Excel—making the learning curve faster.
“STACK’s ability to create custom Items & Assemblies tailored to how we do business was another deciding factor for us. The customization options make it easier for us to streamline takeoffs and ensure accuracy, saving both time and effort.”
Pro Tips: Editing, Grouping, and Managing Items in Estimates
The latest STACK Estimate Worksheet is a game-changer for managing Items and Assemblies. Here are a few expert tips for navigating it:
Edit on the Fly
- Found an error in your Item setup? No need to jump back to the Takeoff tab.
- Just right-click any Item in the Estimate view to open and edit Assembly inputs instantly.
Group + Roll Up Smartly
- Group by Takeoff or Assembly to analyze your data differently.
- Use Roll Up by Assembly to combine quantities across multiple takeoffs using the same Item.
- Ungroup and roll up everything to see total quantities by Item—great for procurement.
Round + Adjust Quantities
- Use the “Round Purchase Quantity” option to avoid oddball numbers like 0.09 boxes of screws.
- Round manually or across entire columns for fast clean-up.
- Want to adjust waste? Add it manually in the estimate view or apply waste in bulk across groups or columns.
“Preformatted Assemblies in STACK allow us to generate a nearly unlimited amount of additional information and derived quantities driven from user-created custom formulas, saving a magnitude of time spent on takeoffs and enabling us to spend that time solving major constructability issues.”
Manage Item Costs with Flexibility
Should you build default costs into Items? It depends.
✅ Use built-in costs if your pricing is relatively stable.
❌ Leave them blank if your material or labor costs vary by region, market, or project.
In either case, STACK lets you override costs per estimate or Item as needed—without affecting your original templates. Additionally, our powerful integration with 1build allows you to quickly apply average regional costs to your estimates without having to source specific pricing.
Handling Options and Change Orders
Need to provide multiple flooring options or price a change order? STACK’s Define Scope feature makes this easy:
- Include or exclude Takeoffs or Assemblies from your estimate with just a few clicks.
- Want separate outputs? Just duplicate your estimate and adjust the scope for each version.
Proposal Outputs That Match Your Needs
Once your estimate is complete, use STACK’s Proposal Export tool to generate clean, client-ready documents. You can:
- Group by Takeoff or Cost Type
- Include line-item breakdowns when customers require transparency
- Customize layout to highlight material vs. labor vs. equipment
Make STACK Work for You
Using Items and Assemblies in STACK isn’t just about saving time—it’s about building smarter, more reliable estimates with less manual work. With the new Estimate Worksheet, you have total control over how your quantities and costs are calculated, grouped, and shared.
Pro tip: Save your favorite Estimate views to keep things streamlined across projects—and reduce your reliance on reports or external tools.
Bonus: Your Questions, Answered
If you have more questions about setting up your Items and Assemblies or want help migrating from spreadsheets, reach out to our support team or schedule a demo.
Let STACK do the heavy lifting so you can focus on winning work.
