# Construction Job Cost Analytics: WIP and Change Orders

> Ask your job-cost ledger about cost to complete, over and under billing, pending change orders, retainage and labour by cost code, and send the WIP monthly.

HTML version: https://supaboard.ai/industry/construction

**Know every job's margin before the next pay application.** Connect your job-cost ledger and ask in plain English: cost to complete by job, over and under billing, change orders still waiting, retainage held, labour hours against budget by cost code.

For general contractors, specialty and trade contractors, and builders, and the project managers and accountants who run their jobs.

## Every question, by who asks it

### Project managers

- Labour hours against budget by cost code, on jobs over half complete
- Change orders pending approval for more than 30 days, by job
- Subcontractor commitments not yet invoiced, by job and subcontractor
- Equipment hours by job last month, against the estimate

### Accounting

- The WIP schedule: over and under billing by job as of month end
- Retainage receivable by job, and how much is on jobs already complete
- Pay applications billed but unpaid after 45 days, by owner

### Leadership

- Cost to complete and projected margin by job, against the bid margin
- Jobs whose projected margin fell more than 2 points since last month
- Backlog by project manager: contract value not yet earned

## Keep it running

- **The month-end WIP schedule** (2nd of the month, 07:00). Earned revenue, billings, over and under billing and projected margin for every open job, summarised and emailed to the controller and the project managers. Automation: Timed Start → Query Your Data → Summarize Insights → Send Email.
- **Change orders waiting past 30 days** (Every 5 minutes). A SQL check finds change orders pending approval for more than 30 days and emails the project manager with the amount and the days waited. Automation: Alerts → Send Email.
- **The project datasite** (Every Monday). Each job's cost to complete, labour hours by cost code and open commitments, on a private datasite project managers and superintendents sign in to with Google or Microsoft.

## The numbers it keeps watch on

| Measure | Definition | Source | In Supaboard |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Percent complete | Cost to date ÷ estimated total cost at completion | ASC 606-10-55-20, input method | A rule, read by every WIP question |
| Estimate at completion | Cost to date + estimated cost to complete | Common practice | Monthly WIP report |
| Projected margin | (Current contract value − estimate at completion) ÷ current contract value, against the bid margin | Common practice | Alert when a job fades 2 points |
| Over and under billing | Billings to date − earned revenue, where earned is percent complete × current contract value | Common practice | Monthly WIP report |
| Retainage | Amount withheld from each progress billing until completion, receivable from owners and payable to subcontractors | Your contract; shown on AIA G702 | Weekly report, by job |
| Change-order age | Days since submission, for change orders still pending approval | Common practice | Alert at 30 days |
| Labour hours to budget | Actual labour hours ÷ budgeted hours, by job and cost code | Common practice | Weekly report, by job |
| Committed cost | Subcontracts and purchase orders issued, less invoiced to date | Common practice | Ask it before each pay application |

## Where your data lives

- [SQL Server](https://supaboard.ai/integrations/ms-sql-server): connects live
- [Postgres](https://supaboard.ai/integrations/postgresql): connects live
- [MySQL](https://supaboard.ai/integrations/my-sql): connects live
- Oracle: connects live

Or attach an export to a conversation, as CSV or Excel: Pay applications and schedules of values; Job-cost reports from hosted accounting.

The tables these questions read: The job-cost ledger: cost by job, cost code and cost type; Budgets and estimates by cost code, with revisions; Commitments: subcontracts and purchase orders, with invoiced to date; Change orders, with status, amount and dates; Pay applications and progress billings, with retainage; Timesheets by job and cost code, and equipment hours.

## Teach it your definitions once

Rules are read with every question, so a term means the same thing in Chat, in Slack and in the Monday report.

- Rule: "Percent complete is cost to date ÷ estimated cost at completion, by job."
- Rule: "Contract value includes approved change orders only; pending ones are reported apart."
- Rule: "Retainage is held apart from receivables and ages from substantial completion, not from the invoice date."

[How rules work](https://supaboard.ai/product/knowledge-and-rules)

## Security

- **Read-only by construction.** Database and warehouse queries are read-only. We give you the SQL for a read-only user too.
- **Credentials stay in the workspace.** Scoped to the one workspace that connected them, never logged and never sent back to a browser.
- **SOC 2 Type II.** An organisation-wide audit of the platform, covering every plan.

## FAQ

### Does it work with our accounting system?

If your accounting or ERP system keeps its data in SQL Server, MySQL, Postgres or Oracle, connect that database and its job-cost ledger is queried in place, read-only. From a hosted accounting system, export the job-cost reports to Excel and attach them to a conversation, or copy the data into a database you connect to keep it current on a schedule.

### What about our project management software?

Attach an export of its change orders or pay applications to a conversation and ask about it. To keep that data current on a schedule, copy it into a database you connect, and Supaboard can combine it with your job costs when you ask.

### Can it build our WIP schedule?

Yes. Write your method once as rules, such as cost-to-cost percent complete and approved change orders only, then ask for over and under billing by job. Schedule it for month end and it arrives as a report.

### Can it change anything in our accounting system?

No. Database and warehouse queries are read-only. We give you the SQL to create a read-only user.

### Can project managers see job reports without a login to our accounting system?

Yes. Publish a private datasite they sign in to with Google or Microsoft, or email them a dashboard on a schedule. Viewers don't need a paid seat.

## More in Industrial & Manufacturing

- [Precision Manufacturing](https://supaboard.ai/industry/precision-manufacturing): Department costs, scrap by operation, on-time delivery and receivables, from your ERP.
- [Food & Beverage Manufacturing](https://supaboard.ai/industry/food-manufacturing): Yield, giveaway, batch cost and short-dated stock, from production and ERP data.
- [Wholesale & Distribution](https://supaboard.ai/industry/wholesale-distribution): Margin by customer, fill rate, stock ageing and receivables, from your ERP.

Supaboard is [the AI data analyst connected to your business data](https://supaboard.ai/). [All industries](https://supaboard.ai/industry).

---

- Site index for agents: https://supaboard.ai/llms.txt
- Sitemap: https://supaboard.ai/sitemap.xml
- Blog feed: https://supaboard.ai/blog/rss.xml
- Product documentation: https://docs.supaboard.ai

Any page on https://supaboard.ai is available as markdown: append `.md` to its path, or send `Accept: text/markdown`.