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Construction costs, from estimate to actual

Estimate, budget, approvals, warehouse and purchasing in one system. Every cost lands on its own estimate line.

Request a demoHow the money moves
Estimate and budget screen. Five cards at the top: estimate, budget, committed, actual cost and remaining. Below them the WBS lines: groups 1, 2 and 3 folded, group 4 open. Line 4.3 Suvaq işləri has a budget of 8,000, 8,000 committed and 100% used. Line 4.6 Döşəmə örtüyü carries "Increase pending · 42,000.00".
  1. Remaining is recalculated after every entry: commitment and actual cost are taken off the budget.
  2. On line 4.3 the whole budget is committed and nothing remains. A new request on this line goes through only after a budget increase is approved.
  3. A request to raise the budget of line 4.6 from 38,000 to 42,000 has passed cost control and is now waiting for the CFO.

The screen is from a sample account, captured from the product itself.

Money is spent on site, and the news arrives from accounting at month end

  1. A field engineer asks for material in a WhatsApp voice note, and the keeper copies it from the chat into a notebook.

    A month later nobody can say which estimate line that material went to.

  2. The estimate sits in an Excel file that nobody has touched since the contract was signed.

    When you ask how much is left on a line, you get a guess, not an answer.

  3. The director approves a purchase over the phone, by word of mouth.

    When the amount goes over the estimate, there is no record of who agreed to it.

  4. What is in the warehouse lives in the keeper's notebook and memory.

    When a count comes up short, there is no way to rebuild which site it went to and at what price.

  5. Actual cost comes from accounting when the month closes.

    You learn the budget was overrun after the money has already gone.

Seven stops from estimate line to actual cost

Each stop shows who acts, what the system checks and what is written to the budget journal. The money leaves the line and comes back to the same line.

  1. 01

    Estimate line

    Who
    The project manager, then the CFO, approves the initial budget.
    The system checks
    The amount is quantity times unit price. Totals roll up the WBS tree from the bottom lines only.
    Written to the journal
    Budget set
  2. 02

    Material request

    Who
    A field engineer, project manager, warehouse keeper or buyer.
    The system checks
    The request is tied to one line and checked against its remaining when submitted, with no tolerance. If it does not fit, the author writes a justification, and a budget increase for the shortfall is raised automatically and goes to approval.
    Written to the journal
    Nothing yet
  3. 03

    Approval

    Who
    The project manager, then cost control.
    The system checks
    The budget is checked again at final approval. Whoever submitted the request cannot approve it.
    Written to the journal
    Commitment: the request's amount is held on the line
  4. 04

    Purchase order

    Who
    The buyer drafts the order. Then the CFO and the CEO approve it.
    The system checks
    If an order line's price exceeds the requested price by more than the account's tolerance, cost control joins the chain. If the budget no longer covers it, final approval is refused.
    Written to the journal
    The request's commitment is swapped for the order's, line by line
  5. 05

    Goods receipt

    Who
    The warehouse keeper receives goods, the project manager accepts services.
    The system checks
    Whoever submitted the order cannot receive against it. Over-delivery is allowed only up to the percentage set on the account, zero by default.
    Written to the journal
    Actual cost, at the order price. Stock goes into the site warehouse instead and becomes cost when it is issued.
  6. 06

    Issue note

    Who
    The keeper issues, and the receiver named on the project confirms or disputes.
    The system checks
    Nothing is issued beyond what is left on the line. Stock never goes below zero.
    Written to the journal
    Actual cost, at average cost
  7. 07

    Actual cost on the same line

    Who
    Cost control and the CFO read it.
    The system checks
    Remaining is what is left of the budget after committed and actual cost. If it goes below zero, the line is flagged in the estimate tree.
    Written to the journal
    A return from site reduces actual cost. Commitment nobody used is released when cost control closes the request.

Each line's journal only grows

A line's budget always splits into three parts: actual cost, committed and remaining. The journal only ever takes a new entry; the system will not let an old one be edited or deleted.

Budget = actual cost + committed + remaining

One WBS line: 2.3 Monolit beton tökülməsiBudget AZN 75,000
Actual cost
AZN 12,000
Booked at goods receipt and at issue.
Committed
AZN 19,160
Approved, not yet spent.
Remaining
AZN 43,840
What is left for new requests.
  • 80%The line is listed on the dashboard under lines that need attention (up to five lines).
  • 100%Remaining drops below zero and the line is marked red in the estimate tree; a group is marked when its own total goes below zero.

The journal has five kinds of entry

Each entry keeps who wrote it, the reason, the source document, and the budget, committed and actual cost after it.

  1. Budget setThe initial budget, once the project manager and the CFO have approved it.
  2. Budget changeAn increase goes through cost control and the CFO.
  3. CommitmentWhen a request or an order gets final approval.
  4. ReleaseWhen unused commitment goes back to the line.
  5. Actual costAt goods receipt and at issue. A return from site reduces it.

The figures come from a sample account.

Six document types, each with its own approval chain

The steps of each chain are fixed in the product; they cannot be added or removed. In your account you decide who the CFO and the CEO are, from what amount each step starts, and when a delay counts.

  1. Budget decrease

    1. Step 1Cost control

  2. Budget increase

    1. Step 1Cost control
    2. Step 2CFO

  3. Initial budget

    1. Step 1Project manager
    2. Step 2CFO

  4. Material / service request

    1. Step 1Project manager
    2. Step 2Cost control

  5. Purchase order

    1. Step 1Procurement
    2. Step 2Cost control*
    3. Step 3CFOExample threshold: from 5,000
    4. Step 4CEOExample threshold: from 40,000

  6. Purchase order change

    1. Step 1Procurement
    2. Step 2Cost control*
    3. Step 3CFOExample threshold: from 5,000
    4. Step 4CEOExample threshold: from 40,000

The amount threshold is an account setting and is empty by default. Left empty, every purchase order goes to both the CFO and the CEO. Example setting (demo account): 5,000 and 40,000

* only when a price is over tolerance

Approval steps for the six document types. The dashed lines on the purchase order columns are an example of an amount threshold set in the account.

Delay
A step not acted on within the account's set time is escalated. The default is 24 hours, it can be set from 1 to 720, and it is counted in working time on your work calendar. One reminder goes out at 75% of that time, and escalation is reported to the CEO (or to the account owners when no CEO is set). In the list each document shows green, yellow (half the time used) or red (overdue).
Delegation
An approver going on leave delegates to a colleague for a date range. Delegation is one level deep, and ranges cannot overlap.
Return for changes
Approving needs no comment. Rejecting and returning for changes do, and a returned request is changed and submitted again.
Who cannot approve
Whoever submits a document never approves it. Unless the account allows it, one person approves only one step of a document. Nothing passes without at least one human approval.
Decisions are made in the product
Approval happens inside the product, and on a phone the buttons sit at the bottom of the screen. E-mail and Telegram only notify: the Telegram message opens the document, and nothing can be approved from there.

We open these screens live in the demo

Captured from the working product with sample data. Project, people and supplier names and the amounts are samples.

Estimate and budget screen with the product's menu: estimate, budget, committed, actual cost and remaining at the top, the WBS lines as a tree below, one with an increase pending badge.

The WBS tree, each line with amount, budget, committed, actual cost, remaining and percent used. A line waiting on a budget increase carries its own badge.

Purchase order approval screen on a phone: order number, supplier and amount, the submitter, the net amount, and the approve, return and reject buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Decisions are made on the phone, the camera reads the goods

On site and in the warehouse the work is done on a phone: the keeper scans and issues, the named receiver on site confirms delivery, the approver decides on the way.

Scanning
QR, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, Code 128, Code 39 and Data Matrix with the rear camera. A torch, where the device has one.
Screens that scan
Issue, receipt, transfer, count and the product catalogue.
Approval
At phone width the decision buttons sit at the bottom of the screen, sized for a thumb.
Estimate
The estimate tree turns into a list on a phone.
QR on documents
The PDFs of a material request and of an issue note carry a signed QR code. A phone's own camera app opens it, and the system checks the viewer's permissions again.
Labels
Product labels on A4 sheets, 3x8 or 2x5 to a page, up to 200 products at a time.

This runs in the phone's browser. There is no app to install, and no data entry without a connection.

Who sees prices, and who sees the budget

Permission and function together

A permission in the account is not enough to work on a project; you also need a function on that project: project manager, cost control, warehouse, procurement or field / site. Six role templates are ready.

A portfolio for the directors

The CFO and CEO are designated at account level and see estimates, budgets and procurement across all projects, read-only.

Quantities shown, prices not

A keeper or buyer without budget rights sees quantities, not prices. A field engineer sees their own prices, not the line's budget. The purchase order PDF sent to the supplier carries no WBS and no budget.

Three journals nothing is deleted from

The budget journal, the stock movement journal and the approval history only ever take new entries; an old one is never changed or deleted. Every write also goes to the general audit log, but that log is kept for 30 days.

Stock never goes negative

Stock never drops below zero. Whoever dispatches a transfer cannot receive it, and applying a count's difference needs a permission separate from counting.

Stale commitment

If an approved request's open commitment sits idle for 60 days, a daily check flags it and tells cost control. The system never releases it by itself; a person decides.

The questions a CFO asks every week

The left column shows where the answer is today, the right column where it is in the system.

The questions a CFO asks every week, answered with Excel, messengers and paper, and with BIMPulse
QuestionExcel, messengers, paperBIMPulse
How much is left on this line?Whatever it was on the day someone last updated the fileBudget, committed, actual cost and remaining, after every entry
Who approved this order?In a chat, on a phone call, or nowhereName and time in the approval history, never deleted
How did a request over the budget get through?By word of mouthIt does not: the request is checked against the line's remaining, and a budget increase for the shortfall must be approved first
What is in the warehouse, and what is its average cost?Quantities in a notebook, cost in accountingStock and average cost per warehouse and product
Which line was the material sent to site booked to?The delivery slip names no lineThe issue note books actual cost to the request's line
When is actual cost known?When the month closesAt goods receipt and at issue
Which commitments are stuck?There is no listA commitment idle for 60 days is reported to cost control

The pilot runs on one site, on your own estimate

You cannot switch on the construction edition by signing up; we switch it on in your account. So the path starts with a demo and continues on one site.

  1. A demo with every role

    The prepared account has nine users: administrator, project manager, cost control, CFO, CEO, central keeper, site keeper, buyer and field engineer. We take one request through each of their screens.

  2. We enter your estimate together

    In a working session we enter the WBS and estimate lines of one of your sites into the system with you. Your own project manager and CFO approve the initial budget.

  3. A pilot on that site

    Requests, approvals, purchasing and the warehouse on that site run through the system. You see actual cost line by line, without waiting for month end.

What the pilot includes

Account
An account with the construction edition, switched on by us
Scope
The construction edition and all of project management
Site
One site, with your estimate
Roles
Six role templates, five project functions
Seats
As many as we agree
Storage
As much as we agree

The price is set on two measures, seats and storage, and the figure goes into the contract. We do not publish a price, and no feature is held back by price.

Request a demo

Running a design practice? Fee stages, man-hour plans and timesheets have their own page.For design practices

What contractors ask at the first meeting

Does a construction account include project management?

Yes, all of it. Tasks, the timesheet, the work calendar, the resource plan, contracts and invoices stay in place, and the construction edition is added on top. The Gantt chart is built over the same WBS, but it shows hours and dates, not estimate or budget money.

How do we start, and what does it cost?

A demo, then entering one site's estimate together, then a pilot on that site. We switch on the construction edition in your account; it cannot be switched on by signing up. The price is agreed in a contract on seats and storage, and it is not published.

Can we adapt the approval chain to our own rules?

In part. The steps of the six chains are fixed and cannot be added or removed. In your account you change the minimum amount for each step, who the CFO and the CEO are, the escalation time, the price tolerance and the over-delivery percentage. With no amount threshold set, every purchase order goes to both the CFO and the CEO.

How is our data kept apart from other companies' data?

Each account's data is separate: the system shows an account's data only to that account's users and never mixes it with another's. Inside the account, everyone sees only what their permission and their function on the project open up.

Can we load our estimate from Excel?

No, an estimate cannot be loaded from Excel. We enter the WBS and estimate lines of one site with you in a working session, and from then on each line runs with its own budget journal. There is no Excel export of the estimate and budget either.

Is there an integration with 1C or our accounting software?

No. There is no integration with 1C, accounting software or any other system, and no public API. Construction documents come out as PDF: the purchase order for the supplier, the material request and the issue note with a QR code. Each line's budget journal shows who wrote each entry, for what reason and against which document.

Does it track payments to suppliers?

No. Actual cost is booked to the line at goods receipt, at the order price. There are no supplier invoices or payment records; payment terms stay on the order as text.

Is there a mobile app?

No, there is no app to install. The product runs in the phone's browser: the camera reads QR codes and barcodes, the approval buttons sit at the bottom of the screen, and the estimate tree turns into a list. Data cannot be entered without a connection.

Can we work in several currencies?

Not within one project. The estimate, requests and purchase orders are written in the project currency, and there is no currency conversion. Approval thresholds are compared with the net amount in the document's own currency.

Let us find a time for the demo

On a prepared account we take one request from the estimate line to the issue note through every role's screen. Tell us how many sites you run and we set the demo up to match.

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