Job Costing Software for UK Contractors

Job costing tracks what each job actually costs by coding labour, materials, plant and subcontractor spend to the job and cost code that caused it, as the cost is incurred. Compared against the budget the winning estimate created, it shows the true position per job while the work is still running, not after the final account.

The winning estimate becomes the cost-coded job budget, and from that point every timesheet, purchase order, subcontract and invoice lands on its cost code. Committed cost posts when an order is raised, actuals post when invoices are matched, and CVR (cost value reconciliation) shows budget, committed, actual and forecast together per job and across the portfolio.

Site timesheets carry cost rates, so recorded hours become labour cost on the right job and cost code the day they are worked rather than when payroll closes the month. Expenses and plant time are recorded with the same work.

Committed cost is money you have promised: purchase orders and subcontract packages post to the job the moment they are raised. Actual cost is money invoiced against those commitments. Archdesk keeps both visible per cost code, so a job’s true position is known months before the invoices arrive.

Yes. Every job closes with a complete actual-cost record per cost code, so estimators price the next bid from what jobs really cost. Because the estimate, the budget and the actuals share the same cost codes, the comparison needs no re-keying.

In UK practice, paying a subcontractor runs on the application and certification cycle: a payment notice sets out what will be paid, a pay less notice any difference, and retention is held and released under the subcontract. Documents, approvals and payment records live on the same job record in Archdesk, so the paper trail sits with the job cost numbers.

Retention is tracked per subcontract alongside the job cost record, so balances and release timing stay visible next to the costs they belong to. When the defects period ends, the release is a line already in the numbers rather than a figure someone has to hunt down.

Yes. Applications for payment run in the platform against the same cost codes the job budget and the CVR read from, so the applied position and the actual cost position sit on one record per job.

Yes. Archdesk is a certified Xero partner and integrates with Sage, so job cost records and the ledger stay in step without re-keying and finance keeps its own system.

Yes. The CVR (cost value reconciliation) is produced from the same live records job costing runs on, per job and across the portfolio, so there is nothing to rebuild in a spreadsheet at month end.