The Catalog is your master library of materials. Think of it as a reference database, a central place to store information about the materials your team works with, whether or not you currently have them in stock.
Catalog ≠ Stock. A material can exist in your catalog (for reference, pricing, or history) without having any physical units on hand.
➡️ What you can track per material
Material name and description
Item number
Category
Cost to client and cost to the business
Supplier Price: The live list price from Ferguson based on your contract
File attachments: Spec sheets, photos, installation guide, up to 5 files per material, viewable, addable, and deletable from the material detail view
➡️ Material types in the Catalog
Materials: Your general catalog of items. Use this to maintain a record of any material your team may need, purchase, or reference.
Consumables: Items that don't require individual stock tracking, things like adhesive tape, glue, or any supply that gets used up without needing to be checked out individually. Consumables now have their own dedicated folder type, keeping them organized separately from your tracked inventory (create one under Catalog → Folders → select Consumable as the type).
Tools: Larger, durable equipment that doesn't get consumed, ladders, power tools, lawn equipment, etc. These are tracked separately since they don't deplete like regular materials.
Kits: A bundle of materials that acts as a single unit. Kits are great for flat-rate pricing, group a set of materials together and assign a single price to the bundle.
To create a kit: go to Materials, select the items you want to group, and click Create Kit. You can set a custom price or keep the individual material prices.
Folders: Folders let you organize materials into groups for internal use. They don't affect stock or pricing, they're purely for keeping your catalog tidy.
➡️ Browsing your catalog
The catalog now supports a Grid View in addition to the standard list, making it easier to visually browse materials, especially useful when you're looking for something by appearance rather than name. Toggle between list and grid view using the layout switch in the top right of the Catalog.
➡️ Best practices
✅ Decide "catalog-only" vs. "fully tracked" before a bulk upload.
A material can be added to your catalog for reference without being set up with stock quantities/locations right away. If you're not sure which you need for a batch of new items, our support/data team can add them as catalog-only entries first, and you can layer in stock tracking later once you're ready.
✅ Sort out Material vs. Tool classification before submitting a bulk list.
This is one of the most common points of back-and-forth during a bulk catalog upload — some items on a supplier invoice or spreadsheet may look like consumable materials but are actually tools (or vice versa). Reviewing this upfront saves a round of clarifying questions later.
✅ Double-check item numbers against the actual product, especially when working from a supplier-provided list. Mismatches between the listed material name and its item number are one of the most common reasons a bulk upload needs a follow-up before it can be completed.
✅ Use Consumable folders to keep bulk-loaded low-value items separate from your main tracked materials, especially after a large supplier-list import, it keeps reporting and browsing cleaner.
➡️Common issues & fixes
"I'm submitting a big list of materials for a bulk upload, what should I have ready to avoid delays?"
Based on real cases, our data team typically needs to confirm three things before completing a bulk upload:
Whether each item should be classified as a Material, Consumable, or Tool (rather than assuming from the source list).
Whether the item name and item number/part number actually match, mismatches are common when pulling from a supplier's own product list.
Whether you want the items added to your catalog only for now, or also set up with inventory quantities and locations from the start.
Having these three answers ready before you send your list significantly speeds up the upload.
"My bulk-uploaded items only show up in the catalog, I don't see quantities or locations for them."
That's expected if you asked for a catalog-only upload (or didn't specify). Being in the catalog doesn't automatically mean stock tracking was set up, that's a separate step. Let support know if you'd like these items set up for stock tracking as well.
"I want to organize my low-cost, frequently-used items separately from the rest of my catalog."
Use a Consumable-type folder (Catalog → Folders → select Consumable) to keep these visually and organizationally separate from tracked Materials and Tools.
Still need help? Contact Support!