Guide / contractors
Business management software for contractors
Contractors live on two records — the work and the materials. What the materials record needs (vans, sites, installs, history), what BSimple covers, and the quoting boundary stated plainly.
The key facts
- Contractors need two records: the work record (quotes, jobs, scheduling — field-service territory) and the materials record (van stock, consumption, reorders — operations territory).
- BSimple runs the materials record: vans and sites as locations, consumption per job, installed assets with lifetime history, reorders from par levels.
- Stated plainly: no quoting, no scheduling, no job cards, no GPS — and no claimed integrations with specific field-service tools.
- Accounting boundary: invoices push to Xero and MYOB (US integrations rolling out); compliance stays with the accountant.
- Where it fits: this page is one branch of the inventory management guide.
- 01The key facts
- 02What contractors actually need from software
- 03What BSimple covers for contractors
What contractors actually need from software
The work record. Quotes, scheduled jobs, technician dispatch, job cards, customer communication — field-service software territory, and for most contractors the first purchase. BSimple deliberately does not compete there.
The materials record. The quieter money-drain: what is in each van (and what walked away), what each job consumed, what needs reordering before the next job, and which installed equipment at which customer needs attention. When this record lives in memory and a ute fridge, shrinkage is invisible and reorder decisions are guesses. The van-as-location pattern, the construction case and the home-services shape all describe the same machinery.
The two records meet at the invoice: the job completed and the materials consumed become one approved invoice — pushed to the books without re-entry, with payment status returning to the record.
What BSimple covers for contractors
We build BSimple, so weigh that. Vans as locations holding real, visible quantities; transfers recorded between store and vehicles; consumption against jobs with a transaction history; the projects layer for installations — group inventory and on-site assets under a customer: reserve items without consuming stock, install and consume on invoice approval, keep warranty and service history per job; reorder levels feeding purchase orders with GST-inc/ex-GST supplier reconciliation; and stocktakes that survive a contractor's pace. Plans run $180/$250/$399 per month AUD with the whole record in the core.
Stated plainly, what it does not do: quoting and estimating, scheduling and dispatch, job cards, customer-facing booking, GPS tracking. Contractors pairing BSimple with a field-service tool get two records done deeply rather than one done shallowly — ask directly about your stack rather than trusting any integration claim, ours included. The trial tests the materials record on your real vans and jobs in an afternoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best business management software for contractors?
For the work record: a field-service tool you trial with a real job. For the materials record: an operations system like BSimple holding van stock, consumption and installed-asset history. Contractors past a few jobs a week usually need both, done deeply.
Can we track materials per job?
Yes — consumption is recorded against the job with actor, timestamp and reason, so job histories and reorder signals come from the same record. It is attribution, not job costing: the costing layer stays with your construction or field-service tooling.
Can we see what is in each ute?
Yes — vehicles are locations holding real quantities; movements between store and ute are recorded transfers. Restocking becomes an audit, and the counter can see what a van holds before promising a part.
Does BSimple do quoting and scheduling?
No — quoting, scheduling and dispatch are field-service territory, stated plainly. BSimple holds the materials and installation record those tools typically lack.
What does it cost?
$180/$250/$399 per month AUD with vans, projects and reorders in every plan. The trial runs one real job — reserve, install, consume, invoice — before any commitment.
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