For building contractors

Contractor software for project costs, milestone invoices and retention

A build spends for five months and gets paid at milestones, with a slice held back for a year after handover. The contractors who go under are rarely the ones who priced the job wrong — they are the ones who never found out what it cost.

Start free → Talk to us on WhatsApp

Money out for months, money in at milestones

Cement in March, steel in April, roofing sheets in June, casuals paid every Saturday in cash. One house absorbs several hundred separate payments over half a year, made by whoever was at the yard, at prices that moved twice in between.

Against that sit three or four milestone payments and a retention the client holds for months after handover. That gap is the contractor's own working capital, and it is why a busy year and a profitable year are not the same year.

PesaScope's job is to attach every one of those payments to the project it belongs to, so at handover you have a real cost against a real contract value.

How a job runs through the app

  1. Quote the workPro quote lines can be priced by square metre, linear metre or cubic metre — enter width, height and depth and the line prices itself.
  2. Open a project for the jobName, client, site, dates and a budget. Everything that follows hangs off it rather than landing in a general pile.
  3. Buy against the projectMaterials as purchases against the supplier; plant hire and casual labour as expenses. Attach the delivery note or a photo of the receipt.
  4. Invoice the milestoneBill a percentage of the accepted quote at each stage. Record part payments as they come; the balance ages on its own.

The work a contractor prices

Pick "Building contractor" at sign-up and this list is already there, and after that a quote is assembled from saved lines rather than retyped for every enquiry.

Blockwork & masonry Concrete works Roofing & trusses Plastering & screed Painting & finishes Electrical installation Plumbing & drainage Site preparation & excavation

Pricing per square or cubic metre is what makes a quote defensible on site. When the client adds a wall, the rate is already agreed and the variation is a line item rather than an argument.

A five-month house build

Contract valueUGX 46,000,000
Cement, sand and aggregate− UGX 14,200,000
Steel, timber and roofing sheets− UGX 9,600,000
Casual labour over five months− UGX 8,900,000
Electrical and plumbing subcontracts− UGX 5,400,000
Transport, plant hire and site costs− UGX 2,300,000
Retention held by the client (5%)− UGX 2,300,000
In the account at handoverUGX 3,300,000

The job made UGX 5,600,000 — twelve percent. Retention is UGX 2,300,000 of that, so until you go back for it, forty-one percent of the profit is still with the client. Leave it on four jobs and that is UGX 9,200,000 of profit you have already earned and never collected.

Retention, and what the app will not do for you

There is no retention field. PesaScope does not know that five percent of your final invoice is withheld until the defects period ends, and it will not remind you when that period is up.

What it does instead is simpler. Invoice the full amount, record the payment that actually arrived, and the retained balance stays outstanding with a date on it. It appears in the aging report and keeps appearing until somebody deals with it. Retention is not lost by a decision to forgive it — it is lost because after handover nothing ever mentions it again.

Also absent: no bill of quantities and no takeoff from drawings, no programme or Gantt chart, no site diary, no plant maintenance schedule, and no timesheets for casuals. The app records what a man was paid, not the hours he worked.

Where a build leaks money

  1. Variations agreed standing on siteThe client asks for an extra door on a Wednesday. If it is not priced and invoiced inside the week it becomes free work.
  2. Materials bought for one job, used on anotherCement moved between sites makes both projects wrong. Record the purchase against the job that consumed it.
  3. The hardware account nobody settledStock taken on account and paid in dribs. Recorded as a purchase with part payments, the balance is visible rather than a shock.
  4. Retention on jobs finished last yearTwo and a half million on one, one and a half on another. All of it profit, none of it chased.

Read further

Quotes, projects & invoicesPer-metre pricing, milestone billing, project margin. Purchases & suppliersMaterials on account and what you still owe. Expenses & debtorsLabour, hire, and the aging report that surfaces retention. ReportsInvoiced against spent, job by job.

Questions contractors ask

Does it track retention automatically?

No. There is no retention field and no defects-period reminder. Invoice the full amount and record the part payment — the withheld balance then ages in the report until it is collected.

Can I quote per square metre?

Yes. Pro quote lines can be priced by square metre, linear metre or cubic metre from the width, height and depth you enter.

Can I invoice in stages?

Yes. Convert an accepted quote into an invoice for a percentage of its value at each milestone.

How do I record casual labour?

As an expense against the project, on the day you pay it. There are no timesheets — the app records what was paid, not hours worked.

Will it warn me that a job is going over budget?

The project summary shows invoiced against spent and the margin. It is only as current as the expenses you have entered.

I have three sites running. Can I keep them apart?

Yes, one project per job. Branches split takings by location; projects split costs and invoices by job.

Does it produce a bill of quantities?

No. It prices a quote from the lines you enter. It does not take off quantities from drawings and holds no standard BoQ library.

Set it up in about three minutes

Pick your trade at sign-up and PesaScope loads your starting list for you. Change any price, add what's missing, and record your first sale the same day.

Start free →