Budget and actuals by work item
The budget goes down to the work item; actuals coming from site match against the same item. Which work item is over budget is visible before the project ends, in time to intervene.
INDUSTRY SOFTWARE · CONSTRUCTION AND CONTRACTING
Construction and contracting software that connects the site to the office, from quantity take-off to progress payment, from subcontractor to site warehouse
We do not replace your accounting software or your project planning tools. We bring quantity take-offs and progress payments, subcontractor contracts and progress, site timesheets, material and warehouse movements and true cost per work item together in a single layer between office and site. The source code stays with you.
8 modules Quantities and progress payments, subcontractor tracking, timesheets, warehouse, work-item costing, progress reporting, document management, integration
Per work item Cost does not stop at the project total; it goes down to the work item
Field first Interfaces that run on a phone on site and can record offline
100% source code The software and the data stay entirely with you
Does this sound familiar?
Accounting records are complete, but what happened on site only becomes clear at month end
In contracting, profit or loss is made on site every day, not at project close. Yet in most firms the picture the office sees forms at month end, from accounting records; the delay in between turns a correctable deviation into an uncorrectable one.
- Work progress arrives from site verbally and as estimates. The gap between actual quantities and the quantities entered in the progress payment is noticed late; correcting it after the client sign-off is much harder.
- Subcontractor contracts, unit prices and scopes of work sit in different files. When an out-of-scope work request comes in, the basis has to be hunted down and the argument usually runs on memory rather than on the contract.
- Subcontractor progress payments are calculated in Excel. Because deductions, advances and retentions are kept in separate sheets, reconciliation turns into an argument every period, and the argument damages the site relationship too.
- Site timesheets are kept on paper. The split between subcontractor labour and own labour, and the true man-day cost, are unclear; labour is managed by guesswork even though it is one of the project's largest items.
- Material entering and leaving the site warehouse is not recorded regularly. Loss and over-ordering only surface at a count; at that point nobody can show where the material went.
- Cost is tracked at project level. Because nobody knows which work item is over budget, no one can intervene; the deviation only becomes clear at project close, at a point where nothing can be corrected.
- The work programme lives in a separate tool and is not updated with actuals. Plan and site drift apart; after a while nobody looks at the programme and it stops being a decision tool.
- Site photographs, minutes and field correspondence stay in messaging groups. In a dispute, gathering evidence takes days and the record being looked for often cannot be found at all.
- Occupational health and safety records, training and site access checks run on paper. The file requested at an inspection is slow to assemble; a missing document is discovered only at that moment.
- When several sites run at once, no comparative picture emerges. Which site is falling behind and where cash needs concentrate only becomes visible once the problem has grown.
The sector's software landscape today
Which software does construction and contracting use today, and where does it get stuck
Design and planning run on mature tools in this sector, and accounting is well established. The gap opens in the site management that sits between them, above all around subcontractors and progress payments.
| Layer | Software in use today | The gap it leaves |
|---|---|---|
| Design and modelling | AutoCAD, Revit and similar building information modelling tools | They are established tools on the design and model side and stay in place; they are also strong at producing quantities. Their limit is the link to the site: comparing model quantities with actuals is not these tools' job. In most firms the model is right and the site record is missing; because the comparison cannot be made, the accuracy the model provides goes unused in practice. |
| Quantities, estimating and progress payments | Oska and similar estimating and progress payment programs, Excel templates | They are widely used, especially on public works, and are built around the pay-item logic; they do their job on the client progress payment side. The gap is on the subcontractor side: subcontractor progress, deduction, advance and retention tracking, and the true cost on site, usually run outside these tools in separate sheets. And the firm's profit or loss is made precisely in that gap. |
| Project planning | Primavera P6, Microsoft Project | Mature tools for work programming and resource planning. The problem is not the tool but what feeds it: because actual progress does not flow regularly from site, the programme soon stops reflecting reality. A work programme that is not updated is not merely useless, it is misleading; decisions are made against a schedule that has in fact been overrun. |
| Accounting and finance | Logo, Mikro, Netsis and similar systems | Necessary on the financial side, and they stay in place; they carry progress payments, invoices and accounts. They show cost by account, not by work item. That is why accounting records eventually say whether a project made money, but never say on which work item it was lost. |
| Public procurement and regulatory interfaces | EKAP and related public systems, building inspection processes | They are mandatory processes on the tender and contract side and have their own order. Relating the data in these systems to the firm's own cost and progress tracking is a separate job, and in most firms it is never done; the pay-item structure of the contract and the tracking of work on site run in two different languages. |
| Site communication and records | Messaging groups, photo archives, paper minutes | The sector's most critical records are created here and stored in no system: variation instructions, handover minutes, work photographs and the site manager's notes. In a dispute, months-old messages are trawled for evidence. This is the intervention point that removes the most risk at the lowest cost. |
Our approach
A field layer that closes the gap between office and site
Our solution is not a rival to your planning and accounting tools. It makes the reality forming on site measurable and keeps the picture the office sees current; that way a deviation shows when it occurs, not at month end.
Subcontractor contract and progress payment tracking
Contracts, unit prices, scope of work, advances, deductions and retentions run in a single record. Progress payments are calculated from that record; the reconciliation argument gives way to documents.
Progress recording from site
Work progress is recorded on site, on a phone and with photographs attached. Records can be taken offline and sync when a connection returns; poor coverage on site does not stop the work.
Site warehouse and material movements
Material entering and leaving the site warehouse is recorded; consumption is linked to work items. Loss and over-ordering show without waiting for a count.
Timesheets and man-day cost
Own labour and subcontractor labour are tracked separately; man-day cost is allocated to work items. Labour stops being an item written down by guesswork.
Site records and document archive
Minutes, photographs, site instructions and handover records are stored with date and location. In a dispute, the evidence sought sits in a corporate archive, not in messaging history.
The systems we build
Systems we build for construction and contracting firms
Not every firm needs all of them. On a single site, subcontractor and progress payment tracking may be enough, while multi-site operations bring the comparative dashboard to the fore.
ERP
Quantities, budget and progress payment management
Budget by work item, actual quantities, and client and subcontractor progress payments run on the same ground.
Detailed page → ERPSubcontractor contract and scope tracking
Contract scope, unit prices, advance, deduction and retention tracking; putting out-of-scope work requests on record.
Detailed page → MESSite progress and work records
Photographic progress records from site, a mobile interface that works offline, matching against work items.
Detailed page → WMSSite warehouse and material tracking
Warehouse entries and issues, linking consumption to work items, transfers between sites and critical material alerts.
Detailed page → ERPTimesheets and labour cost
Separate timesheets for own and subcontractor labour, allocating man-day cost to work items, producing the file that goes to payroll.
Detailed page → QMSOHS and site safety records
Site access control, training and document validity, near-miss and incident records, keeping the file requested at inspections ready.
Detailed page → BIMulti-site comparison dashboard
Progress, cost deviation and cash needs by site; seeing early which site is falling behind.
Detailed page → APIAccounting and planning integration
Invoice, account and cost matching with Logo, Mikro and Netsis; feeding actual progress into work programme tools.
Detailed page → Integration with your existing ERP
We do not replace your existing tools, we connect them
Your design and planning tools and your accounting software stay in place. The layer we build collects the reality on site and produces the data those tools expect.
Our integration approach →- Invoice, account, advance and cost matching with Logo, Mikro and Netsis; double entry disappears and accounting and site show the same figure.
- Two-way transfer of pay-item and quantity data with estimating and progress payment programs; the contract's pay-item structure and the site's work tracking are brought into the same language.
- Feeding actual progress data into work programme tools; because the plan is fed from site, it stays current and usable.
- Matching the quantity lists produced by modelling tools against budget items; the accuracy the model provides becomes usable in site tracking too.
- Pulling staff entry and exit data from time-and-attendance (PDKS) and site access systems; timesheets and site safety records are fed from the same source.
Outcomes
What changes once this layer is in place
- Budget deviation by work item is visible before the project ends; it is noticed while intervention is still possible.
- Subcontractor progress payments are calculated from a single record; reconciling advances, deductions and retentions stops being an argument.
- Out-of-scope work requests go on record; the contract boundary stops being something remembered after the fact.
- Site progress is recorded with photographs; the quantities entering the progress payment have a documented basis.
- Material movements in the site warehouse are tracked; loss and over-ordering show without waiting for a count.
- Man-day cost is allocated to work items; labour stops being an item written down by guesswork.
- Site records and minutes are stored in a corporate archive; in a dispute, evidence is not hunted through messaging history.
- OHS records are gathered in one place; the file requested at an inspection is produced, not assembled.
- In multi-site operations, which site is falling behind shows early.
- The picture the office sees rests on current site records, not on the month-end close.
Process
A realistic five-stage path that begins with discovery.
- 01
Initial meeting
1 weekWe discuss your business structure, your number of sites, your subcontracting model and your current tools. We identify the point that hurts most together and draw a realistic frame; at this stage understanding, not selling, comes first. No obligation.
- 02
Site discovery
1-2 weeksWe walk at least one site in person. We see how progress is reported, how the warehouse is kept and how timesheets are taken. Site conditions shape the interface design directly; a screen used in gloves and under the sun cannot be designed like an office screen.
- 03
Scope and pilot design
1 weekWe decide which module to build first; subcontractor and progress payment tracking, or site progress recording, usually delivers the highest return. Scope, timeline and deliverables are put in writing.
- 04
Development and a pilot on one site
based on scopeThe system is developed and run in parallel with the existing routine on a single site. Progress payment results are compared with those prepared by hand; every diverging item is examined.
- 05
Rollout and handover
based on scopeOther sites and modules are added in turn and integrations are switched on. Users are trained, and the documentation and source code are handed over. Maintenance and support run under a separate agreement.
Why Pan Innovation House?
Not a software vendor, but a digital transformation team that knows the shop floor.
We design for site conditions
On site the internet is weak, hands are full and the screen sits in sunlight. We build the interfaces for that reality; a field app that does not work offline is abandoned in its first week.
We do not fight your planning tools
Your work programme tool stays in place. We collect the actuals coming from site and feed them into it; we do not try to take over the planning job.
Source code and data stay with you
Everything we produce, source code included, belongs to you. We leave behind no structure that cuts off your access when the project ends.
We tie progress payments to documents
In this sector the most expensive arguments break out at the reconciliation table. We build the system so that the record and the photograph behind every figure can be shown.
Staged rollout
We do not change everything at once. We start on one site and expand as the gains show; progressing while the work keeps flowing is essential.
A handover-ready delivery
Documentation and a handover package are part of the job. If another team takes over tomorrow, we deliver in a state they can take over.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Construction and Contracting software.
We already have a progress payment program; do we need this?
If your estimating and progress payment program does its job on pay items and quantities, it should stay. The gap is usually in three places: subcontractor contract and deduction tracking, documenting the actuals coming from site, and true cost by work item. If your current tool covers these, we will not propose a new system, and we will say so openly.
There is no internet on site; how will we record anything?
The field app is built to work offline; records are held on the phone and sync when a connection returns. Photographs are queued the same way. This is the sector's most decisive design constraint; an app that assumes connectivity will not be used on site.
Our subcontractors will not use software.
We design set-ups that expect no software use from the subcontractor. Progress and timesheet records are taken by your own site manager; the subcontractor only receives a signed minute or a progress payment statement. Where a subcontractor can use it, a simple approval screen can be added, but that is not a requirement.
We have several sites; will they all be in the same system?
Yes, and that is where the real gain lies. When sites are tracked with the same budget and work-item structure they become comparable; which site is falling behind and where cash needs concentrate shows early. Permissions are separated by site; each manager sees only their own site.
We do public works; does it cover the regulatory side?
Tender and contract processes run through the public systems and we do not change them. The layer we build keeps the quantity, progress payment and document data those processes require in order on the firm's side. Interpreting regulation and assessing technical specifications remains your domain and your consultant's.
We work model-based; will it integrate?
Quantity lists from your modelling tool can be matched against budget items. But a one-to-one match between model and site does not happen by itself on most projects; building that mapping is a separate piece of work and is written into the scope explicitly. Promising a fully automatic link would not be realistic.
How soon can we start using it?
The timeline depends on scope and is given in writing after discovery. Our approach is to get a working system live on a single site quickly and grow it from there. That way feedback arrives early and the return on the investment shows early.
What do we end up with?
A working system, its source code, the database and handover documentation. User training and initial support are part of the scope. Maintenance and development then run under a separate agreement; you are not obliged to sign one, and you can maintain the system with your own team.
Let us start together
Let's walk the site together and see the deviation together
Let us examine one of your sites in person and see how progress, subcontractor payments and cost are tracked today; then let us decide together where to start.
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