Know which jobs make money while they are still running
Attach materials, staff time, expenses and invoices to the project they belong to, and see quoted against actual as the work happens. The job that is quietly losing money becomes visible in week two rather than at handover.
- Quoted against actual
- Costs traced to source
- Margin per job
Included in every account · Unlimited projects · No per-user charge
Lekki fit-out
IN PROGRESS61% of budget
Most job costing happens after the job is finished
By then the price is agreed, the work is delivered and the only thing left to do is find out how it went. Costing while the work is running is the only version of it that can change an outcome.
Costs attached where they happened
Materials, staff time, subcontractors and site expenses carry the project they belong to. Job costing stops being an end-of-contract reconstruction and becomes a running total.
Quoted against actual, live
What you priced, what it has consumed and how much has been invoiced, side by side while the work is still in progress and something can still be done about the gap.
Margin per job, not just overall
A business can be profitable overall while half its jobs lose money. Costing per project is what tells you which kind of work to take more of and which to stop quoting for.
From quote to final claim, on one record
Open the project
Give it a customer, a quoted value and a budget. Stages or phases if the work is delivered in parts.
Attach the work
Purchases, expenses, staff time and subcontractor invoices are tagged to the project as they are recorded, not afterwards.
Invoice against it
Stage invoices, retention and variations raised from the project, so what has been billed is always visible next to what has been spent.
Watch the margin
Quoted, committed, spent and invoiced on one screen, with an alert when costs pass the threshold you set.
Every line traces back to something that happened
A cost figure nobody can explain gets argued with, and then ignored. Here each amount on the project resolves to the purchase, expense claim or timesheet behind it, which is what makes the conversation about a variance short.
- Materials from purchases and stock issued to the job
- Labour from timesheets, at real rates
- Subcontractor invoices and site expenses on the same record
Lekki fit-out
In progress
Quoted
₦6,400,000
Costs to date
₦3,918,000
Invoiced
₦4,800,000
Margin so far
38.8%
The extra work is where the margin usually goes
Scope grows in conversations on site, and the cost lands in your accounts whether or not anyone raised a variation. Recording changes against the project as they are agreed is the difference between a recovered cost and an absorbed one.
- Variations recorded against the original quote
- Approved changes flow into the next stage invoice
- Retention tracked so it is not quietly forgotten
Cost breakdown
Lekki fit-out
Materials
₦2,140,000
Labour and staff time
₦1,318,000
Subcontractors
₦460,000
Each line traces back to the expense, purchase or timesheet behind it
Live
Quoted against actual, while work is running
1
Record per job, from quote to retention
0
Spreadsheets to reconcile at handover
Unlimited
Projects and stages
What a project record carries
Quoted value and budget
Set at the start, compared against actual for the life of the job.
Stages and phases
Break a job into parts, each with its own value and completion.
Materials and stock issued
Items taken from stock to a job are costed and removed from inventory.
Staff time
Hours logged against the project, costed at real rates.
Subcontractors
Their invoices attached to the job, and their payouts made from the same account.
Variations
Scope changes recorded against the original quote and billed properly.
Retention
Amounts held back tracked per project so they are claimed, not forgotten.
Stage invoicing
Bill against progress, with what is invoiced visible beside what is spent.
Profitability reporting
Margin per project, per type of work and per customer.
A profitable business can still be full of unprofitable jobs.
Averages hide it. Until the cost of each job is measured against what it was quoted at, you are choosing which work to take on by instinct, and repeating whichever mistakes feel busy.
Businesses that sell work rather than items
Construction and contracting
Stage payments, retention and variations against a quoted contract value.
Professional services
Time and expenses per engagement, so realisation per client is visible.
Media and creative
Production costs against a fixed fee, with freelancers paid from the same account.
Events and entertainment
Budget against actual per event, while there is still time to adjust.
Manufacturing
Cost per production run, with materials issued from stock and labour costed.
Project management software
See how Niimbu compares with tracking jobs on a spreadsheet.
No charge per project or per person logging time
Run as many jobs as the business takes on, with everyone who touches them recording against the same record. Projects sit beside the invoices and payouts they generate, so nothing is reconciled between systems.
- Unlimited projects and stages
- Unlimited staff logging time
- Subcontractors paid from the same account
Frequently asked questions
Is this a task manager?
No. It tracks the money and the resources a job consumes rather than a board of tasks. If you need to plan who does what on which day, keep the tool you use for that. What this answers is whether the job is making money, which most task tools cannot tell you.
How do costs get onto a project?
By being tagged when they are recorded. A purchase, an expense claim, stock issued to the job, a timesheet or a subcontractor invoice each carry the project. Because that happens at the point of capture, the running total is real rather than assembled at the end.
Can I invoice in stages?
Yes. Stage invoices are raised from the project, so what has been billed sits next to what has been spent and what remains in the contract value. Retention is tracked separately so it is claimed rather than quietly written off.
How are variations handled?
A variation is recorded against the original quote, with its own value, and once approved it flows into the next stage invoice. This is the single most common place a contracting business loses margin, because the work gets done long before anyone raises the paperwork.
Can I see profitability by type of work?
Yes. Projects can be categorised, and margin reported by category, by customer and by size. This is usually where the useful discovery happens: one type of job consistently underperforming while the business assumed it was fine.
Does staff time have to be tracked to the minute?
No. Hours can be logged per day against a project, which is enough for costing. Precision that nobody will maintain produces worse data than a simple record people actually keep.
Can subcontractors be paid from here?
Yes. Their invoices attach to the project and the payout is made from the same account, so the cost and the payment are the same record rather than two entries to match later.
Does project tracking cost extra?
No. It is part of the same account, with no cap on projects or stages and no charge per staff member logging time against them.
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