Construction ERP Software Development
Construction has a financial model no other industry shares. Work is billed on progress rather than delivery, part of the money is withheld for months after completion, and the scope changes constantly. A general ERP models none of that.
Discuss your projectWhy generic systems fail on construction
Three features define the problem. The first is progress billing: you invoice for work completed to date rather than on delivery, as an application for payment which the client may certify at a different value than you applied for. The difference between applied, certified and paid is three separate numbers against every job, and a system holding one of them tells you almost nothing.
The second is retention — a percentage of every payment withheld, released in stages, often half on practical completion and half at the end of a defects period a year later. That money is earned, owed and not yet collectible, and it needs tracking per job with release dates, because retention nobody is chasing is one of the largest avoidable cash leaks in the industry.
The third is variations. Scope changes constantly, often instructed verbally on site before any paperwork exists. A system needs to record a variation as soon as it is instructed, track whether it has been priced, submitted, agreed or disputed, and reflect the unagreed ones in the job's position — because the difference between a profitable job and a loss-making one is frequently the variations nobody formalised.
On top of those sits work-in-progress reporting: cost to date against value earned, with the over- and under-billing position per job. It is the number that tells you whether the business is actually making money, and it is the number most construction businesses compile by hand in a spreadsheet each month.
What we build
Job costing by cost code
Budget against committed against actual, at the cost-code level rather than the job level, so an overrun is visible in the trade where it is happening.
Progress applications
Applied, certified and paid tracked separately per valuation, with the variance visible — because the gap between applied and certified is a commercial conversation, not a rounding error.
Retention tracking
Held per job with release dates and stages, in both directions: retention your clients hold from you, and retention you hold from subcontractors.
Variations register
Instructed, priced, submitted, agreed or disputed, with the unagreed exposure reported rather than quietly assumed.
Subcontractor management
Orders, valuations, payments, insurance and qualification expiry dates. Expiries alerted before they lapse rather than discovered when someone is already on site.
Purchase commitments
A committed-cost view, so a job's position includes orders placed but not yet invoiced. Without this, a job looks profitable until the invoices arrive.
WIP and cost-value reconciliation
Cost to date against value earned per job, with over- and under-billing — produced from the data rather than assembled monthly by hand.
Site capture
Labour hours, plant, deliveries and day works recorded on site from a phone, since data captured on paper arrives late or not at all.
Common questions
Tell us what you need
Describe the problem and we will come back with scope, timeline, and a rate. No obligation to proceed.
Get in touch