In construction, profitability is won or lost site by site. Yet many companies only discover a site’s real margin at the end — when it’s no longer possible to correct course. Structured tracking changes everything.
The usual problems
- Purchases are not allocated to sites.
- Hours and labour are tracked on paper.
- Progress billing is calculated by hand in Excel.
- Communication with the field goes only through WhatsApp.
- Budget overruns are discovered too late.
The 5 pillars of good site tracking
1. A forecast budget per site
Materials, labour, subcontracting, equipment rental: the budget is broken down by line item from the start. It is the reference against which everything will be compared.
2. Allocated purchases and stock
Every supplier order and every stock issue is linked to a site. The actual cost builds up automatically, with no re-keying.
3. Labour tracking
Time spent by each crew is recorded (ideally from the field) and costed. You know what each phase really costs.
4. Progress billing
Progress by work package generates the statements to invoice, with cumulative totals, advances already invoiced and retention money. No more calculation errors delaying payments.
5. The budget vs actual dashboard
For each site: budget, committed, actual, invoiced, collected. A variance appears? You see it within the week, not at the end of the project.
What about property development?
For developers, there is also tracking of off-plan sales (reservations, deposits, payment schedules, collections) and buyer relations. The ERP connects both worlds: construction costs on one side, revenue and cash flow on the other.
How to get started
- Start with a pilot site rather than all sites at once.
- Standardise budget line items.
- Train site managers to make simple entries from their phones.
- Review budget vs actual every week.
To go further on an often poorly managed topic, read our article on retention money in construction.
Frequently asked questions
Is an ERP suitable for a small construction company?
Yes. With three or four sites running in parallel, manual tracking becomes risky; a well-configured tool remains simple to use.
Can site managers enter data from the field?
Yes, from a smartphone: progress, consumption, time spent, photos.
Can subcontracting be managed?
Yes: contracts, subcontractor statements, retentions and payments are tracked per site.
See our construction and property development solutions.
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