Manage Recipes

[Note - recipes are part of Estimating, available on the MyConstruct Pro and Studio plans]

Manage Recipes (the My Recipes page) is where you create, edit and delete your recipes, and where you can export and import them in bulk with a CSV file. Recipes are part of Estimating, which is available on the MyConstruct Pro and Studio plans.

Recipes are a group of Inventory items combined under one name and code, with set quantities built in. An easy analogy is a cooking recipe: we know all the ingredients we need, so we package them up once and reuse them. Add a recipe to an estimate and all of its items come with it, already priced. Recipes can be used to quickly populate estimates with your standard items, or within the GTO tool for rapid estimating of an entire floor plan. New to recipes? Start with What is a Recipe and how do they work?

Throughout this article we use one example: a Merbau timber deck.

On this page

• The My Recipes page
• Create a recipe
• Add items and quantities
• Recipe notes and line notes
• Using recipes in an estimate (Explode)
• Export your recipes to CSV
• Edit your CSV
• Import your CSV
• Worked example: the Merbau decks
• Troubleshooting and FAQ

The My Recipes page

The My Recipes page ("Grouped inventory items for rapid estimating") has three panels:

• Recipes (top left): your recipe list, showing each recipe's code, name, price and unit.
• Recipe Info (top right): the details of the recipe you've selected.
• Recipe Items (bottom): the items in that recipe, with price, quantity and line total.

Tip: The recipe list is filtered by the three drop-downs at the top: Type of Work, Work Stage and Cost Centre. You only see recipes in the cost centre that's selected. If you can't find a recipe, check the Cost Centre filter first.

To delete a recipe, click the Trash button on the right of its row.

Create a recipe

1. Go to My Recipes.
2. Click Create Recipe at the top of the Recipe Info panel. The Create Recipe window opens.
3. Fill in the fields (see the table below).
4. Click Create.

Field	What to enter
Type of Work	The type of work the recipe belongs to, for example MyConstruct Residential.
Cost Centre	The cost centre the recipe sits in, for example MYC-01-360 - Landscaping and Improvements.
Cost Code	The recipe's own code, for example DECK-MER-01. Use a code that's unique within the cost centre.
Name	A clear name, for example Timber Deck - Merbau 5.4m x 3.6m.
Takeoff Tool	Choose Yes to make the recipe available in the takeoff tool.
Measurement	The unit the recipe is priced in, for example ea (each) for a whole deck, or m2 for a per-square-metre recipe.
Notes	Optional. You can add or format notes later in the Recipe Info panel.
Default Hide Notes	Tick to hide this recipe's notes on print by default when it's added to estimates.
Default Formula	Optional. A formula that pre-fills the quantity when the recipe is added to an estimate, for example =(area*height).
Formula Table	Optional. Leave as None unless you use formula tables.

Your new recipe appears in the list for the cost centre you chose. Can't see it? The list only shows one cost centre at a time, so set the Cost Centre filter to the cost centre you picked.

Once a recipe is created, select it in the Recipes list to load its details into the Recipe Info panel and its items into the Recipe Items panel. You can edit any information in Recipe Info at any time.

Add items and quantities

1. Click the recipe in the Recipes list to select it.
2. In the Recipe Items panel, click Add Item To Recipe. A window opens showing your Inventory items.
3. Use the Cost Centre drop-down and the search box at the top of the window to find an item. Searching by item code is quickest.
4. Click the + button on the right of the item's row. The item is added to your recipe.
5. Repeat for each item, then close the window.
6. Set the Quantity for each line. Type the number, or use the − and + buttons.

The quantity is the amount of that item needed for one unit of the recipe. For our deck recipe (unit ea), that's the amount for one whole deck. For a per-m2 recipe, it's the amount for one square metre. For example, if your recipe is a "Concrete Slab" per m2 and you need 0.100 m3 of 25MPA concrete and 1.000 m2 of steel per square metre, add both items and set their quantities to 0.100 and 1.000. In the estimate you then enter the m2 of slab and the recipe works out the rest.

The Price comes from your inventory, the Line Total is worked out for you, and the Recipe Total at the bottom adds up every line.

• To remove a line, click the red trash button on the right of its row.
• If your inventory prices have changed, click Reprice Recipe to update this recipe, or Reprice All Recipes to update every recipe.

Line formulas (optional)

The </> button next to an item opens its formula panel. Here you can enter a formula for the line's quantity, for example =(area*height), and set rules that add or swap items when the recipe is exploded in an estimate. Leave it empty if you just want a fixed quantity. For formula syntax, see Estimate Variables and Formulas (Advanced).

Recipe notes and line notes

Recipe notes

Recipe notes describe the whole recipe, for example what's included. When you add the recipe to an estimate, its notes come with it.

1. Select the recipe.
2. In the Recipe Info panel, scroll down to Notes. The panel is small, so you may need to scroll inside it.
3. Click in the Notes box and type. Use the toolbar for bold, italic, underline, lists, links, tables and more.
4. Click anywhere outside the box. Your notes save automatically; there's no Save button.

To stop the notes printing by default, tick Hide notes on print by default when this recipe is added to estimates (Default Hide Notes).

Line notes

Line notes belong to a single item in the recipe, for example "Allow 10% wastage" on a coating line.

1. Click the pencil icon next to the item name. A Notes editor opens under the line.
2. Type your note and format it with the toolbar.
3. Click outside the editor to save.
4. Tick Hide on Print if you don't want this note on printed documents.

Tip: You can use prompt syntax in notes, like [colour], to ask for a value when saving.

Using recipes in an estimate (Explode)

Once your recipes are ready, you'll find them in the Recipe tab of the Estimate Builder, next to the Inventory tab.

When you add a recipe to your Estimate Builder, the line shows in red so recipes are easy to spot, and there's an extra Explode Recipe button.

On a recipe line, every option except QTY is disabled, because the price and supplier come from the items inside it. Set the quantity, then click Explode to separate the items out of the recipe and into your estimate. A popup shows all the recipe's items.

There are two options on the Explode popup:

• Keep in current cost centre? Yes keeps all the items in your current cost centre. No sends each item to its own assigned cost centre, so concrete goes to its cost centre, separate from labour, steel and so on.
• Combine like items? If the cost centre already has some of the same inventory items, Yes increases the quantity of the existing lines instead of adding new ones, which keeps your estimate clean. No adds them as extra lines, which is sometimes what you need.

Click Explode. The red recipe line disappears and its items are added to your estimate with the right quantities. Recipes also work very well with the GTO tool.

Export your recipes to CSV

Exporting gives you a CSV file you can open in Excel. It's handy for checking your recipes in a spreadsheet, making bulk changes, or copying recipes to new codes.

1. On My Recipes, click the small ▾ arrow next to Create Recipe.
2. Choose Export CSV. (The same menu has Import CSV and Print Selected Recipe.)

3. The CSV Recipes Exporter page opens. Choose a Type of Work, or leave it on All.
4. Once you've picked a Type of Work, you can also choose a Cost Centre, or leave it on All.
5. Click Export. Your browser downloads a file named something like recipes-MyConstruct-Residential-2026-10-31.csv.

How the file is laid out

The file has one row per recipe item. The recipe's details (code, name, unit, notes and so on) are repeated on each of its rows, so a recipe with six items takes up six rows.

What each column means

Columns marked * are required when you import.

Column	What it means
Type of Work	Only needed when the same cost centre code is used in more than one Type of Work.
Recipe Cost Centre *	Cost centre code the recipe belongs to, for example MYC-01-360.
Recipe Code *	The recipe's code. A code that doesn't exist yet creates a new recipe.
Recipe Name *	Name of the recipe.
Recipe Unit *	Unit of measure, for example m2 or ea.
Takeoff	Yes or No: whether the recipe is available in the takeoff tool.
Recipe Formula	The recipe's default formula, for example =(area*height). Blank if none.
Recipe Notes	The recipe notes, stored as HTML.
Hide Recipe Notes	Yes or No: hide the recipe notes on print by default.
Item Cost Centre	Cost centre code of the item. Only needed when the same item code is used in more than one cost centre.
Item Code *	Code of the inventory item (or recipe) used on this row.
Item Name	Read only.
Quantity *	Quantity of the item per one unit of the recipe.
Item Unit	Read only.
Item Price	Read only.
Line Total	Read only.
Line Formula	The line's formula from the </> panel. Blank if none.
Keep Quantity	Yes or No: keep the typed quantity instead of using a formula.
Line Notes	The line notes, stored as HTML.
Hide Line Notes	Yes or No: the line note's Hide on Print setting.

Read-only columns: Item Name, Item Unit, Item Price and Line Total are there so you can read the file. Changing them does nothing. Names, units and prices always come from your inventory, and totals are worked out again when you import. To change a price, update the item in your inventory, then reprice.

Edit your CSV

Open the exported file in Excel or any spreadsheet app. Here's what you can do:

• Change a quantity: find the row for the recipe and item, and change the number in Quantity.
• Add an item to a recipe: copy one of the recipe's rows, paste it as a new row, then change the Item Code (and Item Cost Centre if needed) and the Quantity.
• Remove an item from a recipe: delete that item's row. When you import, the recipe is rebuilt from the file, so the item is removed.
• Make a new recipe from an existing one: copy all the rows of the recipe and paste them below. On every pasted row, change the Recipe Code to a new code and update the Recipe Name, then change the quantities, items and notes to suit.

Keep the recipe details (code, name, unit, notes and so on) the same on every row of a recipe.

Notes are saved as HTML, so they look like <p>Standard raised Merbau deck. <strong>Includes</strong> stainless screws.</p> in the file. <p> marks a paragraph and <strong> makes text bold. Keep the tags if you want the formatting to stay; plain text is fine too, it just won't be formatted.

A couple of spreadsheet tips:

• Formulas start with =, which Excel may try to calculate (you'll see #NAME?). Type an apostrophe first, like '=(area*height), so it stays as text.
• Save the file as CSV, not as a workbook. On a Mac, choose CSV (MS-DOS), the same as for inventory imports.

Import your CSV

Step 1: choose your file

1. On My Recipes, click the ▾ arrow next to Create Recipe and choose Import CSV. (You can also click Import Tool on the export page.)
2. The CSV Recipes Importer page opens. It lists the import fields; required ones are marked with a red asterisk (*).
3. Next to Select CSV file, click Choose File and pick your CSV. The maximum file size is 10 MB.
4. Click Step 2 >.

Recipes and items are matched by cost centre code + code. A recipe code that doesn't exist yet in that cost centre creates a new recipe.

Step 2: review your recipes

Nothing is saved yet. MyConstruct checks your file against your recipes and inventory and shows you what will change. Step 2: Review Your Recipes lists each recipe in the file with its Cost Centre, Code, Name, number of Items and a Change badge:

• New: this recipe will be created.
• Replace: this recipe already exists and will be replaced by the version in your file.

The counts on the right show how many recipes are new, changed and unchanged, for example "1 new, 1 changed, 0 unchanged". Click Show Changes Only to hide recipes that won't change, which is handy for a big file.

Final step: import or start over

Under Final Step: Importing Options:

• Empty: Start over clears your CSV data so you can start again with a different file.
• Import: 2 recipes (the number matches your file) creates the new recipes and replaces the changed ones.

A Confirmation box asks "Are you sure you want to import these recipes? New recipes are added and changed recipes are replaced in your MyConstruct system." Click Yes to go ahead, or No to go back.

A green banner shows what happened, for example: Done: Your data has been imported! 1 new and 1 updated recipes, repriced from your current inventory prices.

Important: An existing recipe is fully replaced by the file. Its details and items become exactly what's in your CSV, and any item that isn't in the file is removed from that recipe. Always start from a fresh export so you don't lose changes made since your last one. Prices come from your inventory. Every imported recipe is repriced from your current inventory prices. The Item Price and Line Total in the file are ignored.

Worked example: the Merbau decks

Here's the whole process from start to finish. You can download the example file used here (merbau-decks-example.csv) and import it to try it yourself. It uses demo item codes, so swap in your own.

1. Build the first recipe

We created Timber Deck - Merbau 5.4m x 3.6m, code DECK-MER-01, in cost centre MYC-01-360 - Landscaping and Improvements, measured in ea (one whole deck), with Takeoff Tool set to Yes, and added six items:

Item code	Item	Qty	Unit	Price	Line total
MYC-01-080-0065	Structural pine MGP10 - 140 x 35mm	22	lm	$7.50	$165.00
MYC-01-080-0060	Structural pine MGP10 - 90 x 35mm	48	lm	$2.60	$124.80
MYC-01-090-0010	Protective coating supplied and installed	20	m2	$6.00	$120.00
MYC-01-080-0135	Screws: 100mm batten screws (box of 100)	4	ea	$17.39	$69.56
MYC-01-050-0105	Average cost of joist hangers per box of 30	1	ea	$60.00	$60.00
MYC-01-050-0080	Carpenters labour to complete post and bearer subfloor	20	m2	$33.00	$660.00
	Recipe total				$1,199.36

We added recipe notes ("Standard raised Merbau deck on H4 pine subfloor. Joists at 450mm centres. Includes stainless screws and one coat of oil.") and a line note on the coating line: "Allow 10% wastage".

2. Export

We clicked ▾ > Export CSV, chose Type of Work MyConstruct Residential, and clicked Export. DECK-MER-01 came out as six rows, one per item.

3. Edit

1. Updated the existing deck: on the screws row for DECK-MER-01, we changed Quantity from 4 to 5.
2. Made a smaller deck: we copied all six DECK-MER-01 rows and pasted them below. On every new row we changed the Recipe Code to DECK-MER-02, the Recipe Name to Timber Deck - Merbau 4.8m x 3.0m, the notes to start "Smaller raised Merbau deck…", and the quantities to 16, 34, 15, 3, 1 and 15.

We didn't bother updating Line Total, because it's read only and worked out on import. Then we saved the file as CSV.

4. Import

We clicked ▾ > Import CSV, chose the file and clicked Step 2 >. The review showed DECK-MER-02 (6 items) as New, DECK-MER-01 (6 items) as Replace, and "1 new, 1 changed, 0 unchanged". We clicked Import: 2 recipes, then Yes.

5. Check the result

Back on My Recipes (Cost Centre filter set to MYC-01-360), both decks are in the list. DECK-MER-01 now has 5 boxes of screws, and its total has gone from $1,199.36 to $1,216.75:

DECK-MER-02 is a brand-new recipe with the smaller quantities, totalling $905.57:

The notes came through with their formatting, including the bold "Includes":

Troubleshooting and FAQ

My recipe has disappeared from the list.
It's almost always the Cost Centre filter. The list only shows recipes in the selected cost centre, and the filter can go back to a different cost centre when the page reloads. Set it to the recipe's cost centre and it'll be there.

The import says a required column is missing, or rows are skipped.
Check your file has these columns with a value on every row: Recipe Cost Centre, Recipe Code, Recipe Name, Recipe Unit, Item Code and Quantity. Keep the column headings exactly as exported. The easiest way to get it right is to start from an export.

The import created a new recipe instead of updating mine.
Recipes are matched by cost centre + code. If the Recipe Cost Centre or Recipe Code doesn't exactly match the existing recipe, it's treated as new. Check for typos and extra spaces. If you use the same cost centre code in more than one Type of Work, fill in Type of Work too.

An item wasn't found.
Check the Item Code matches an item in your inventory. If the same item code is used in more than one cost centre, fill in Item Cost Centre as well.

Can I import a recipe with no items?
Yes. Fill in the recipe columns and leave the item columns blank. You can add items later.

I changed a price in the CSV but it didn't change.
That's expected. Prices come from your inventory. Update the inventory item, then click Reprice Recipe (or Reprice All Recipes).

Items I didn't touch have disappeared from a recipe.
When a recipe is replaced, it's rebuilt from your file, so any of its rows missing from the file are removed. Put the rows back in your CSV and import again, or re-add the items in My Recipes.

My notes look like code in the CSV.
That's normal. Notes are stored as HTML, so you'll see tags like <p>. They show as formatted text in MyConstruct.

Need a hand? Contact us at support@myconstruct.com. We can help you get started with importing and setup.

For more videos check out the MyConstruct YouTube channel