Guide / construction, honestly
Construction management software for small business
Construction software usually means scheduling and estimating. The record underneath — materials per site, consumption on claims, plant and tools, invoicing to the books — is the part that fails on spreadsheets.
The key facts
- What construction jobs consume: materials promised to a site, issued as work proceeds, invoiced in claims — the stock record and the job must be one record.
- In BSimple: a job is a project — reserve materials without consuming stock, consume on invoice approval, keep per-site history.
- Also carried: purchasing from demand, depot/site stock as locations, invoicing to Xero or MYOB, asset history for tools and plant.
- Not claimed: estimating, takeoffs, Gantt scheduling — specialist software; BSimple is the record behind it, from $180/month (AUD).
- Where it fits: this page is one branch of the inventory management guide.
- 01The key facts
- 02What construction actually struggles to track
- 03How BSimple carries a construction job
- 04The honest boundary
What construction actually struggles to track
Three record problems, familiar to every small builder. Materials promised to a site: the flooring ordered for the Wednesday job is still in the yard — a record without "reserved" either double-promises or deducts too early. What each job actually consumed: costs reconstructed from receipts after the fact, which makes every claim and margin a surprise. Plant and tools: what was sent to which site, when, and whether it came back — a lifetime-asset question that folders cannot answer.
These are the same problem in three costumes: the job and the stock live in different places. Software that unites them makes consumption a transaction and the job's history a record rather than a recollection.
How BSimple carries a construction job
We build BSimple, so weigh that. A job is a project under the customer: reserve materials against the project without consuming yard or depot stock — availability stays honest for other jobs; consume on approval — when the progress claim or invoice is approved, reserved materials are consumed in one transaction and the invoice pushes to Xero or MYOB with payment status mirrored back; remember — the project keeps its history of what went to the site, and tools or plant keep their own asset records with maintenance notes.
Around the jobs, the same record runs purchasing from reorder levels (so consumables reorder before they run out), yard and van stock as locations, and counts from any phone browser. Plans start at $180/month (AUD), every feature in the core plans. The job-management pattern covers the daily flow; the contractor view and the construction comparison place it among the trade options.
The honest boundary
BSimple does not do estimating, takeoffs, Gantt schedules or subcontractor management — those are specialist construction tools, and we do not claim them. What BSimple owns is the record the schedule draws on: materials truth per job and per site, consumption tied to invoicing, and the asset history the site leaves behind. The test is one real job: reserve its materials, approve the claim, and read the history back in the trial — an afternoon, your own numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does BSimple handle estimating and scheduling?
No — takeoffs, estimates and Gantt scheduling are specialist construction software, and BSimple does not claim them. BSimple is the record behind the schedule: materials reserved and consumed per job, purchasing, invoicing and site history.
How does material tracking work across sites?
Sites, yards and vans work as locations: materials are transferred and reserved against jobs, consumed on invoice approval, and counted from a phone browser — every movement a recorded transaction with an audit trail.
Can we track tools and plant?
Yes — assets keep their own records: what was sent to which site, when, and its maintenance history. The question "where is the compactor and what has it been through" reads from the record instead of the foreman's memory.
What does BSimple cost for a small construction business?
Plans start at $180/month (AUD) with projects, purchasing, locations and invoicing in the core plans. The trial runs one real job from reservation to claim before you decide.
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