In Acelab, you can search for building products and materials, compare them, save and share your selections, and contact representatives. In this article, we will focus on how to find products. To learn more about saving, comparing, and sharing products, check out these articles.
There are three main ways of starting a search:
From the top search bar, which may return results for products, brands, or resources
From the Visual Search button, which will return only products
From the Manufacturer page, which will allow you to see and select products from a brand
Using the Top Search Bar
1. To Find Products
Begin typing about the product you are looking for and add as much detail as possible
The search will return every result in our database (that's thousands of results!) ranked in order of relevance. So, jumping to page 1,000 will give you irrelevant results
Products which meet all your criteria come first. But if nothing matches all of your criteria, you’ll get a list of products which meet some of your criteria, ranked by guessing at which criteria are most important
The filters that have been applied to your search based on what you typed are shown at the top
Click on a filter to access other options in the drop-down menu
To remove a filter, click on the 'x'
💡 Did not get the results you want? Try one of these options:
Start over and try a different set of criteria
Search by Manufacturer and browse through their brand page (see below)
Use the Visual Search option
2. To Find Manufacturers
Begin typing about the Manufacturer brand you are looking for
Select the Manufacturers button in the dropdown, it will update suggestions based on the search criteria.
Pick the Select Manufacturer option in the drop-down
3. To Find Resources
Acelab gives you access to a number of resources about building products and materials, including Product Guides, Construction Details, Webinars, Case Studies, Insights, and Building Science Courses.
To search for resources using the top search bar:
Begin typing the topic or type of resource you are looking for
Select Resource button
The drop-down will show applicable resource links
Click to open the resource you need
Note: You can access all Resources using the the left-side menu. This will bring you to the
Using the Visual Search
Ideal for product-focused searches since it won't return results for Manufacturers or Resources
Click on Product Search, then on the Visual Search option in the left-side menu
On the search bar, enter a category like 'Windows' or use MasterFormat numbers
You can also simply scroll down to the category you need
You'll be asked a series of questions. This Product Quiz, developed by experts and guided by CSI Masterformat, helps refine your search, narrowing down to the most suitable products for your project's needs
When asked, select the project you are working on. This helps keep your product searches organized
Note: You may create a New Project, or select General Research if preferred.
Keep answering questions by selecting the relevant option(s) and clicking Next Question
You may choose to skip some of the questions if you prefer
You'll be offered to get Pro Recommendations from our experts
If you click Get Pro Recommendations, a request will be immediately sent and you will get a response based on your product quiz answers.
If you don't need recommendations at this point (you can always connect to experts later), click Skip & Show Results
Using the Manufacturer Page
Click on Product Search, then Manufacturer in the left-side menu
An alphabetical list of manufacturers will be provided
Use the filters to the left to narrow down to a particular product category, if needed
Click on the Manufacturer to select it
Click on the Products tab to browse all the products from the brand
