What is a Scope Item?
A scope item is a general line item that represents something included in a project, regardless of whether you've chosen a specific product for it. For example, at the start of a project you might know it will include a floor lamp, a dresser — but you haven't yet decided which floor lamp or which dresser. That's perfectly fine. You're simply defining the shape of the project upfront, and that tbd floor lamp and dresser are parts of the scope.
As the project progresses and your client begins approving selections, those general scope items get replaced by confirmed products.
Where Does Pricing Live?
There are two levels of pricing in Materio, estimated and confirmed. You can add an estimated cost directly on the scope line item before a product is chosen. This gives the client a ballpark figure before any products are finalized.
Once a specific product option is approved, that estimated price gets overridden by the confirmed price from the actual product that was chosen for that line item.
Note that when you add options from your design library or use the clipper to source a product from a website, the pricing is attached to that specific product option — not to the general scope item. So adding an option for a dishwasher at $650 ties that price to that option, not to the "Dishwasher" line in your scope (until that option is approved!)
✅Tip: You can collect a deposit from a client based purely on estimated scope pricing — no product selections need to be approved first. This is actually a common and smart approach: it gets money held in liability before you start specifying and ordering, so your firm isn't financially overextended covering purchases before invoicing. More on that here!
Questions about this process? Chat to us or email us at support@materio.co!