What this calculator compares
Normally use quantity 1 with the provider-extended whole-job price. Do not enter square metres or support counts as sail quantity. Per-item rates are only for identical independently priced sail systems with the same dimensions, fabric, anchors and support scope. If labour includes supply, mark materials included. Extras cover provider-billed charges only: direct third-party approval fees are outside this calculated total and must be recorded and compared separately; do not give them the provider VAT treatment. Enter all provider amounts on the same confirmed VAT basis. Customer purchases use the final whole-job receipt total including retail VAT, never a per-item amount. If you buy the main product, put separately billed provider components in the relevant extra, without duplicating them. Required unpriced costs stay unknown, not free. Enter full project costs, not a balance after a deposit; booking payments and refundable security deposits are recorded separately, not added as extras or deducted as visit credits.
This tool calculates from your entered quotations; it does not estimate a market tariff or verify a provider. Blank prices, unknown tax terms and unresolved extras keep the result incomplete. You must confirm the topic-specific scope checks before a cost difference appears.
How the arithmetic works
Labour is either the entered whole-job total or a per-item amount multiplied by the shared item quantity. Separate provider parts use the same unit choice. Each visit and extra charge is a whole-job amount added once. Use agreed whole-job totals for mixed models, repair units or prices.
Provider amount = labour/package + separately charged provider parts + visit + extras − eligible visit credit. A credit cannot exceed either the charged visit fee or the entered provider work excluding that visit. It cannot offset customer-bought parts. An included or no-charge visit is not deducted again. This model does not handle a separate cash refund arrangement.
The standard UAE VAT rate is 5%. VAT is added once to VAT-exclusive provider amounts, and not added to amounts already including VAT or confirmed not charged. Enter all of one provider’s amounts on the same VAT basis.
Project cost = provider total after its VAT treatment + your separately purchased parts at their final retail total, including any retail VAT and delivery. This keeps customer-supplied parts visible without taxing them twice. Already-owned parts count at the value you explicitly enter; entering zero deliberately excludes their historic purchase cost. No deposit or prior payment is deducted, so the result is not a remaining balance.
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic only, not a market rate: an AED 2,000 whole-job supply-and-install package plus AED 1,200 agreed support work and AED 300 reinstatement total AED 3,500 before VAT, or AED 3,675 if all provider amounts exclude 5%. Materials already inside the package are marked included. The visit and other provider lines are confirmed included or not needed; direct third-party fees and refundable deposits remain outside this example.
Assumptions and limits
Money is entered in AED with up to two decimal places. Each monetary field is limited to AED 1,000,000; item counts to 100; handyman lists to 12 rows; hours to 100; and technicians to 20. These are input-error safeguards, not market, capacity or safety limits. Invalid values are not silently rounded into valid inputs. Calculated monetary lines, VAT and totals are rounded to two decimal places.
Unentered damage, scope changes and future work are excluded. The known-provider subtotal uses the amounts as entered, without adding unconfirmed VAT or customer purchases; it is not an all-in quote. Even a complete cost comparison does not certify suitability, workmanship, insurance or approval.
No post size, footing, anchor capacity, tension or operating wind threshold is calculated. Do not attach a sail to an unassessed wall, fence or balcony. Use a competent installer and structural advice where needed; follow the actual system weather plan and keep flames or grills away from the fabric.
Read the related Dubai cost and scope guide·Shade sail installation