Production Rates are an extremely effective tool to speed up estimating, as well as take all the experience out of your head and put it into a system that anyone can use.
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The basic concept is that you build a formula for an item in your item catalog. Then when building an estimate, instead of doing the math in your head to see how much mulch you need, you simply plug in the square footage of the area to be mulched, and the Production Rate generates the total quantity of mulch you'll need for that amount of square footage.

For instance, let's say we build a Production Rate like this:

The text in bold is the formula. The text in italics is the units.

So now when I go to build an estimate and I add mulch to my estimate, I can click the little calculator beside the quantity field. This will launch a popup where I can simply enter my square footage.

​For example:

Let's say I enter 850 sq ft in the popup. The system will do the math and automatically populate the quantity field for that mulch at 8.5 cubic yards.

See how that works!? 😁

Here's a video describing this:

Key Terms

You can set production rates in two places, each with its own best use.

Best for materials that always have the same production rate no matter the job.

Steps:

What happens next: Every time you use that item in an estimate, a calculator appears. Enter your measurement (e.g., 782 square feet) and it returns the quantity (e.g., 7.82 yards). You can still adjust that number manually — you're not locked into it.

Caution: Only use the Item Catalog when the material's rate stays consistent across all jobs. Mulch is a good fit because you put it down at the same depth every time.

Best for materials whose production rate changes depending on the application.

Some materials behave differently from job to job:

For these, leave the Item Catalog rate blank and set the rate inside each template instead. That keeps the catalog item clean while each template carries its own correct rate for that specific use.

Steps:

What happens next: When you drag the template into a work area to build an estimate, you just enter the job size (for example, a 450 square foot patio) and the math is done for you based on that template's formula.

Production rates are a powerful tool for fast, consistent estimating. Use the Item Catalog for materials with a single, steady rate, and the Template level for materials whose rate depends on the application. Build rates from your own tracked job data, and revisit them regularly so they reflect how your crews work today.

We encourage using production rates as much as possible because they really help increase efficiency, allowing you to save time when you create an estimate. They also increase your accuracy in estimating.
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An additional side benefit is that it helps shorten the learning curve for new salespeople when they first create estimates. An experienced person can build all the production rates for your organization and then a new salesperson can simply measure things, enter square footage into a production rate, and get accurate quantities that they would not have had the experience to come up with on their own.

A crew's experience, equipment, etc can all make a massive impact on a production rate. We recommend using your own production rates instead of someone else's. Everyone's production rate is unique to their company. They are not necessarily universal because of all those variables.
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If you've never built any production rates for your team, you can find your own production rates by using a simple spreadsheet. We've created a sample sheet for production rates on labor to install a patio that you can play with to get an idea, or even use the spreadsheet to come up with your own production rates for any item.
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Use this tool to help you determine your production rates

We'd encourage you to revisit these production rates each season to see if you've been becoming more efficient and update your production rates in SynkedUP accordingly!