Find out which jobs actually paid
Break the work into jobs and tasks, record the time and spend against them, and cost it at three levels that roll up.
Three levels, one total
Cost a task and it reaches its job. Cost a job and it reaches the project. Nobody adds anything up.
Time against the work
Recorded on the job it was spent on, submitted, approved, and visible where the cost lives.
Margin while it matters
What you expect to make sits beside what it is costing, while there is still time to do something about it.
The costing becomes the quote
Same lines, same figures, turned into an estimate, an invoice or a purchase order without rebuilding it.
Break the work into pieces you can cost
A job is one line in a spreadsheet with a number next to it. When it overruns nobody can say which part did.
A project holds jobs, and a job holds tasks. Cost, time and spend attach at the level they belong to, so an overrun has an address.
See how it is costed →Hold projects, jobs and tasks together
Set the work up the way you talk about it. A project for the client, a job for each phase, tasks underneath. Import the ones you have.
See how it is run →Let the people who cost things reach them
Producers, account managers and finance all touch costings across many projects. Anybody who can work on projects reaches the costing. Staff never do.
See how roles work →Keep the work and the record together
The job lives in one place, the photographs in a phone, the decisions in a message thread, and the invoice is written from memory.
Tasks carry a status and a priority. Documents attach where the work happened, and discussion sits on the job with its history kept.
See how spend works →Attach the evidence where it happened
Photographs from site, the signed variation, the supplier quote, attached to the job they belong to. Comments on the job itself, with a history.
See how invoicing works →The costing you built becomes the quote.
Record time against the job it went into
Time is written on a sheet at the end of the week from memory, and by the time anybody looks the job is finished.
Time is entered against the job it was spent on, submitted for approval, and approved or sent back. What was approved is what counts.
See how personnel works →Approve time before it counts
Draft, submitted, approved or rejected. Nothing reaches a job on somebody’s say so, and what was rejected stays visible as rejected.
See how spend works →See the hours where the cost lives
Approved time sits on the job beside the material and the supplier bills. What a job consumed is in one place, not assembled from three.
See how it is costed →Cost at three levels that roll up
Revenue per client is easy. What that client cost to serve is spread across wages, bills and time nobody wrote down.
Put a cost on a task and it reaches its job. Put one on a job and it reaches the project. Drilling down takes two clicks.
See how accounting works →Let the totals build themselves
A project total is its own lines plus its jobs. Change a figure at the bottom and everything above moves without anybody re-adding it.
See how reports work →Watch the margin while you can act
What you expect to make sits beside what it is costing. You see a job going under while there is still something to be done about it.
See how budgeting works →What lands on a job
Everything the work consumed, in one place, at the level it belonged to.
Turn the costing into what you charge
The costing is built in one place and the quote typed in another. Two versions of the same numbers, and the client sees whichever was open.
The costing becomes the estimate you send, the invoice you raise, or the purchase order you place. Same lines, same figures.
See how invoicing works →Send the costing as the quote
Convert it into an estimate, an invoice, or a purchase order. It goes through the same path every other document takes, so it posts the same way.
See how invoicing works →Quote the next one from the last one
When the job is done you have what it really cost, at the level it was spent. The next job of that shape is priced from it.
See how reports work →Questions people ask first
Can I invoice straight from approved time?
Not directly. You convert a costing into the invoice, and approved time sits on the job alongside the other costs. The costing is what becomes the document.
Does payroll cost land on a job automatically?
No. Payroll cost lands on the location somebody works in. Time recorded against a job is what puts their work on that job, and it is entered deliberately rather than inferred.
What about work I subcontract?
Raise it as a spend request against the job. Once approved it becomes the bill, and it sits on the same job as your own team’s time.
Can I see margin before the job finishes?
Yes. What you expect to make sits beside what it is costing, on the line, so a job going under is visible while there is still something to do about it.
How deep can the work go?
A project holds jobs and a job holds tasks. Costs roll up on their own, so changing a figure at the bottom moves everything above it without anybody re-adding.
Does time count before somebody approves it?
No. Draft, submitted, approved or rejected. Nothing reaches a job on somebody’s say so, and what was rejected stays visible as rejected.
Can the costing become the quote I send?
Yes. Same lines, same figures, converted into an estimate, an invoice or a purchase order. There is no rebuilding it in another screen.
Can I attach what happened on site?
Photographs, the signed variation, the supplier quote, all attached to the job they belong to, with discussion on the job itself rather than in a message thread.
Who can see and edit costings?
Anybody who can work on projects, because producers, account managers and finance all touch costings across many projects. Staff never reach them.
Do I need anything else alongside it?
Invoicing, because a job that cannot be billed is a hobby. People and Procurement matter too if you record your own time or take on outside work, and all of them sit in the same plan.
Controlled the way everything here is controlled
A job pulls from everywhere it touched
Cost a job and turn it into a quote
Break a project into jobs, put costs and approved time on them, then convert the costing into the estimate you would send.