Specialty contractors
Labor, equipment and job cost data your trade can run on
When you self-perform, margin is won or lost on labor hours, crew productivity and equipment time, and those numbers usually sit in a payroll system, a time-tracking app, an equipment log and the accounting job cost ledger that do not agree. We connect those sources, reconcile them against your budget and cost codes, and automate the approvals and reminders that keep T&M, change orders and daily logs from slipping.
The challenges we hear
Labor cost shows up after the money is spent
Field hours often reach job cost only after payroll is processed, so a crew running over budget on a phase is found weeks later. Without a current view of hours against estimate by cost code, project managers cannot correct while the work is still underway.
T&M and change work that never gets billed
Extra work done on time and materials or ahead of a signed change order depends on tickets being written, signed and handed to the office. Tickets that go missing or sit unpriced turn into labor and material cost with no matching revenue.
WIP built by hand from several systems
Percent complete, cost to complete and over/under billing are usually assembled in a spreadsheet from accounting, the PM's forecast and the GC's pay application. Each month the logic is rebuilt, and the result is hard to explain to a bonding agent or lender.
Cost codes that differ between estimate, field and accounting
Estimators, foremen and accounting often code the same work differently, so comparing estimated to actual production by phase means manual mapping. A crosswalk that lives in one person's spreadsheet breaks when that person is out.
Equipment and material costs tracked off to the side
Owned and rented equipment hours, fuel and material deliveries are often logged outside the job cost system or charged in bulk. That hides which jobs and phases actually consumed them.
Compliance paperwork chased by email
Daily logs, certified payroll inputs, insurance certificates and GC-required submittals each have deadlines. When tracking is manual, the first sign of a gap is often a held payment or a GC notice.
What we build for you
Job cost and labor reporting by phase
Power BI reports on Microsoft Fabric that show budget, committed, actual and forecast cost with labor hours by job and cost code, refreshed from source systems with data quality checks.
T&M, change order and compliance workflows
Approval routing for change orders and T&M tickets, aging alerts on unpriced or unsigned items, and reminders for daily logs and expiring insurance certificates.
One cost code structure across systems
Integrations between project management, accounting and field tools, with a maintained cost code crosswalk so estimate, field and ledger roll up the same way.
Apps for how your crews actually work
When an off-the-shelf tool does not fit your trade, we build focused apps and portals, such as a field capture app or a GC-facing reporting portal, connected to the same data.
WIP schedule and cash forecast
A repeatable WIP schedule with over/under billing and a cash forecast that projects forward from backlog, billings and retainage, with the assumptions written down.
Field data captured once
Structured capture for daily logs, quantities and job walk notes, plus OCR for vendor invoices and delivery tickets, so the field record reaches the office without retyping.
Use cases
- Built and shown
Automated WIP schedule from Procore and accounting
A WIP schedule that builds itself from Procore and your accounting system every night, with month-end figures frozen as reported.
- Built and shown
Job cost reconciliation between Procore and accounting
A nightly cross-check of Procore cost against accounting job cost, with every difference listed and traced to the system to fix.
- We design and build this
Change order approval workflow with routing and escalation
Change orders routed to the right approver by amount and project, with reminders, escalation and a logged decision on every one.
- Built and shown
Cost-code crosswalk and master data that every report agrees on
Projects, cost codes, and vendors mapped once in versioned reference data, so every report uses the same answer and gaps go back to the owner.
- Built and shown
Construction cash flow forecast from AR and AP
A rolling weekly cash forecast built from the invoices and bills already in your accounting system, with assumptions stated on the page.
- We design and build this
Daily log reminders that chase only the jobs that are missing one
A scheduled check that finds active projects with no daily log for the last workday and reminds the person responsible, not the whole company.
- Built and shown
Field data capture app for checklists, photos and site notes
A mobile screen built for one field job, such as walks, checklists or quantities, that files data straight to the project and onward to your systems.
- We design and build this
Certificate of insurance expiry tracking and vendor reminders
Expired and expiring certificates of insurance flagged by vendor and project, with renewal requests sent before coverage lapses.
- Built and shown
A construction data lakehouse in Microsoft Fabric
One governed home for construction data: raw sources landed, cleaned, mapped, checked, and published to Power BI and a SQL endpoint.
- Built and shown
AI sales automation: lead capture, research, follow-ups and proposals
Agents handle the research, scheduling and first drafts around each sales step, a person approves anything customer-facing, and the CRM stays up to date.
- We design and build this
AP invoice approval routing by job, cost code and amount
Vendor invoices routed to the right project manager by job and amount, checked against the commitment, and passed to accounting once approved.
- Built and shown
Backlog and burn forecast for construction
Backlog value and backlog months by project and month, with weighted pipeline shown beside it but never counted as backlog.
- We design and build this
CRM to Procore integration: one job record from pursuit to closeout
Stamp the CRM deal ID onto the Procore project, keep company and contact records aligned, and report pipeline next to backlog without retyping anything.
- We design and build this
ERP migration data mapping without losing history
A versioned map from old ERP to new, reconciled before cutover, so job history, cost codes, and vendors carry over and reports read across both.
- Built and shown
Executive portfolio dashboard for contractors
A portfolio page and a one-page executive KPI view, with drill-through from any project to its detail.
- Built and shown
Get Procore data into Power BI, reliably
A repeatable pipeline from the Procore API into a Power BI model, with validation, history and refresh you can rely on.
- We design and build this
Invoice and document OCR extraction into Procore and accounting
OCR reads incoming invoices and documents, extracts the fields you need, validates them against your systems and sends anything uncertain to a person.
- Built and shown
Meeting and job walk transcription tied to the project record
Meetings and job walks are recorded, transcribed, summarized and attached to the project, so what was said and seen becomes searchable project context.
- Built and shown
Monthly progress report automation for contractors
The monthly progress workbook rebuilt as a refreshing Power BI report, with every figure traced to a source system or a validated input.
- Built and shown
Procore and QuickBooks Online integration for WIP and cash reporting
Procore forecasts and QuickBooks actuals joined through a trust-ordered crosswalk, so the WIP schedule builds itself and unmapped jobs stay visible.
- Built and shown
Procore and Sage integration for reporting you can reconcile
Procore projects matched to Sage jobs in a governed lakehouse, so cost, billing, and AP line up in one report and every mismatch lands on a worklist.
- We design and build this
RFI and submittal aging alerts before they hold up the work
RFIs and submittals approaching or past their due dates flagged to whoever has the ball in court, with a weekly aging summary for the project team.
- Built and shown
Structured manual inputs in SharePoint for data no system tracks
Wins, risks, safety, and QC registers move from loose spreadsheets into SharePoint lists with defined fields that flow through the same quality checks.
- We design and build this
Subcontractor onboarding and prequalification without re-keying
One intake for new subcontractors that collects documents, routes prequalification for review, and sets the vendor up in Procore and accounting once approved.
- We design and build this
Weekly owner update reports assembled from live project data
A weekly owner update built from live project data, with an optional AI-drafted narrative that a project manager reviews before it is sent.
- We design and build this
Won deal to project setup across CRM, Procore and accounting
A won deal in the CRM becomes a set-up project in Procore and a job in accounting, with matching identifiers and no re-typing.
Systems we connect
- Procore
- Sage 100 Contractor
- Sage 300 CRE
- QuickBooks Online
- HCSS
- Autodesk Construction Cloud
- Primavera P6
- SharePoint
- Microsoft Fabric
- Power BI
- Power Automate
- n8n
Proof
- BuildConstruction reporting: Procore, Sage 100 Contractor, Outbuild and SharePoint into Fabric and Power BI (Production)
- BuildConnected financial reporting with WIP, backlog and cash forecast (Production; walkthrough uses sample data)
- WalkthroughCustom n8n nodes for Procore, Autodesk, HCSS and Power BI
- ArticleGuide: WIP reporting in Power BI
- ArticleGuide: data quality rules for construction reporting
Frequently asked questions
Can you report labor hours against estimate by cost code?
Yes, provided hours and the estimate can be tied to a common cost code structure. We map the codes used in your estimating, time-tracking and accounting systems into a crosswalk, then report estimated against actual hours and cost by job and phase. Where codes do not map cleanly, the records are flagged for review rather than dropped.
We are a subcontractor, not a GC. Does a WIP schedule still apply?
Yes. Any contractor recognizing revenue over time on contracts needs percent complete, cost to complete and over/under billing, and sureties and lenders commonly ask subcontractors for a WIP schedule. We build it from your job cost and billing data with the calculation method documented so it can be reviewed and repeated each month.
How do you help with T&M tickets and change orders?
We build workflows that route tickets and change requests for approval, track their status, and alert on items that are unsigned, unpriced or unbilled past a threshold you set. The aging view can be added to your reporting so open change exposure is visible by job.
Do we have to change our accounting or field systems?
No. We start with the systems you already use and connect them through their APIs or exports. If a source has no API, we use structured inputs such as SharePoint lists or scheduled file drops, with validation on the way in.
How is the work scoped and priced?
Fixed scope and price, agreed after discovery. Discovery confirms which systems hold your labor, equipment and cost data, what reports and workflows matter most, and what a first release should include.
Next step
Which report or workflow would you like to improve?
Tell us what your team does today, which systems are involved, and what you want to change. We'll discuss whether there is a practical fit.
Prefer email? charley@buildflows.ai