> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tread.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Materials

> The Material record — its fields, how Material Rates price it, and bulk import.

Materials give every stakeholder their own materials list. Orders, Tickets, invoice line items, and accounting exports all reference the same Material.

## What it is

A Material is the record for what is set on the [Order](/concepts/orders-projects). Each Material has a Name, a Material Type, and an External ID. Pricing lives on separate Material Rate table.

## How Tread models it

* **Material** — Name, Material Type, and Material ID. Owned by your account.
* **Material Type** — the category the Material belongs to. Defaults to "Other."
* **Material ID** — your unique ID for the Material. This ID can only be used 1 per material. Use the same ID as your accounting system so exports match.
* **Material Rate** — prices a Material: a unit of measure (Ton, Yard, Load) plus buy and sell prices. Set per [Customer](/concepts/connected-ecosystem), per Project, per [Site](/concepts/sites-geofences), or globally. See [Rates, Add-Ons & Fuel](/concepts/rates-add-ons).
* **Bulk import** — Materials can be created one at a time or imported from CSV.

| Field         | Required | Notes                                                                                                 |
| ------------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Name          | Yes      | Unique within your account; the label users see on Orders and [Tickets](/concepts/tickets-timesheets) |
| Material Type | No       | Defaults to "Other"                                                                                   |
| Material ID   | No       | Unique within your account; match your accounting system so exports line up                           |

## Related

* [Rates, Add-Ons & Fuel](/concepts/rates-add-ons) — how Material Rates are set
* [Prevailing Wage](/specialized/prevailing-wage) — the Prevailing Wage workflow
* [Onboarding: Materials](/onboarding/master-data/materials) — step-by-step setup