How a design module is built
Know the parts of a design module, which of them you change and which are built to order.
Updated 23 September 2026
- Why
- A price you can defend has to come from rules and rates you can read.
- How
- Read the pieces here; change your rates and stock in Rates and stock.
The pieces
| Piece | What it does |
|---|---|
| Parameters | Number, select, yes or no, text and sketch inputs, in groups, with a unit, a range and a default. Choosing an option can fill in others: a chuck fills in the jaw blank. |
| Take-off | Counts what the part needs: cuts, lengths, areas, panels, fixings. It becomes the cutting list. |
| Price lines | Each line multiplies a quantity the take-off counted by one of your rates, so every figure shows its working. |
| Checks | Decision tables that return a block or a warning in plain words. |
| Stock match | Which of your stock items the part can be cut or made from. See Stock matching. |
Checks: block and warning
A block is work that cannot be made as configured: it shows under Resolve before exporting and stops every export until it is fixed. A warning shows under Worth checking and changes nothing.
What you change, and what you do not
- Yours: the rates behind each price line, the materials and multipliers, your stock list and, where shipped, the example labels on the limits.
- Built by Kabaido: the parameters, the take-off, the price lines and the checks. A change to those, or a new design module, is built to order.
The formula builder with a test bench, where you write parameters, formulas and rules yourself, is how Service Centre builds a service model. Design modules do not use it.
A balustrade priced by the design engine at its defaults: 6 priced lines, each with its working, £519.54 before VAT on the preset's example rates.
From the live engine
A balustrade priced line by line, each line with its working, on the preset's example rates.
Related
- Rates, stock and the machine bridgeSet your own rates, count the stock behind a design module and let an order raise the machine work.
- Worked examples, revisions and resetsChange a live design module's rates safely and explain any saved price later.
- CostingKnow where the cost behind each margin comes from, and who can see it.