REFERENCE / 03
Compare complete aggregate quotes.
A lower unit price does not establish a lower project cost. Compare the supplied quantities and all charges for the same products, destination and purchase occasion.
Two minimums, two different consequences
A minimum supplied quantity means receiving at least that amount. A minimum material charge is a monetary floor; it adds no material.
At 40 currency units/yd³, 0.5 yd³ costs 20 before any floor. A 35-unit minimum charge means paying 35 for 0.5 yd³. A 1 yd³ quantity minimum instead means ordering 1 yd³ and paying 40.
Ask how increments start
The automatic model supports multiples from zero. A 1.3-unit requirement with a 1.7 minimum and 0.5 increments becomes 2.0. A supplier’s sequence of 1.7, 2.2, 2.7 is a different rule. Use a supplier-confirmed manual quantity with its source and reason.
Tiered pricing, per-load monetary floors and unusual rules need an explicit confirmed material total. Record exactly what it includes. Delivery, fees and tax must not be counted again if already included.
Whole-offer delivery
Enter delivery once for the complete offer. Select pickup with no charge, delivery included, a flat quoted total or a fee multiplied by the supplier’s confirmed chargeable load count. Tallyspan never derives loads from truck capacities or mixes materials into an assumed shared load.
Tax and fulfillment must be resolved
Enter no additional tax, tax included in every entered charge, a fixed quoted tax, or one rate on explicitly selected components. Mixed included/excluded amounts need a consistent pre-tax basis and supplier-confirmed fixed tax. The tool does not determine tax law or local rates.
Different currencies cannot be converted. Pickup and delivered quotes can be viewed side by side, but are not ranked as equivalent fulfillment. Confirm product correspondence for every material; a matching density does not prove suitability.
A complete worked comparison
All figures below are illustrative. A 9 × 4 m area at 0.10 m finished depth gives 3.6 m³. K = 1.20 gives 4.32 m³ loose; 5% allowance gives 4.536 m³. Both example products use 1,600 kg/m³ loose density: 7.2576 metric tonnes.
| Entered rule / result | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Price | USD 45/metric tonne | USD 80/m³ |
| Minimum supplied | 8 metric tonnes | 3 m³ |
| Increment | 0.5 metric tonne | 0.25 m³ |
| Final order | 8 metric tonnes | 4.75 m³ |
| Modeled supplied volume | 5.00 m³ | 4.75 m³ |
| Excess above requirement | 0.464 m³ | 0.214 m³ |
| Materials; no charge floor | USD 360.00 | USD 380.00 |
| Whole-offer delivery | USD 100.00 | USD 60.00 |
| Other charges | Explicitly none | Explicitly none |
| 8% tax on material + delivery | USD 36.80 | USD 35.20 |
| Modeled total | USD 496.80 | USD 475.20 |
B is USD 21.60 lower under these assumptions, despite its larger materials subtotal. Remove either delivery amount or product confirmation and the comparison becomes incomplete.
Facts to obtain from each supplier
- Product/grade correspondence and loose density or conversion factor where needed.
- Exact sales unit, package content, supplied-quantity minimum and increments.
- Monetary minimums and what any confirmed manual total includes.
- Whole-order delivery, chargeable loads if relevant, and other fees.
- Consistent tax treatment, currency, validity date and destination/occasion.
After a project change
A new quantity or product can invalidate a fixed delivery fee, manual line total, load count, other fee or fixed tax. Tallyspan keeps those old values visible as stale until reconfirmed. An expired quote cannot receive a current lower-cost label.