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    Construction: projects, job costing and equipment

    Charge materials, labour and overheads to a job so you can see what a project is really costing.

    1 min read

    Construction is organised around jobs rather than a shop counter, and the question that matters is always the same: is this project making money, and do we still have time to do something about it?

    Job costing

    1. Create the project, with its milestones and its documents — permits, contracts, drawings — held in one place.
    2. Issue materials to the job. They come off stock and are charged to that job.
    3. Record labour and overheads against the job as they are incurred.
    4. Compare the running cost against what you quoted, while the work is still in progress.

    Equipment and assets

    Plant and equipment are tracked, including where they are and when they are next due for maintenance. Depreciation is recorded so the value on your books reflects reality.

    Buying for a site

    Purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills work as they do everywhere else, so materials bought for a site are matched against what actually arrived and what you were invoiced.

    Tip — Bill customers in stages and let invoice aging show you what is outstanding. On long projects, retention and slow payment do more damage than the cost overruns.
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