Subcontract work orders with certified measured work
Give work to freelancers and subcontractors on a work order with item lines and rates. Work done is measured and certified by a Projects Manager. Running bills work out retention, advance recovery, back-charges and withholding tax.
PLANSScale only
Why it matters
When you pay a freelancer or subcontractor by the piece, the risk is paying for work never done, or paying twice. A bill typed from the subcontractor's own claim cannot be checked against the order. In SmartMy Projects a bill is filled only from measurements your own person certified. It cannot go past the quantity ordered. Retention, advance recovery and tax kept back are worked out on every bill. Project tools for services firms do not do this; construction tools do, as their own product.
The problem it solves
- A freelancer bills for 140 screens when the order was for 120, and nobody checks before paying.
- Running bills are typed from the subcontractor's own claim, not from what your engineer saw.
- Retention and the advance are recovered by hand in a spreadsheet, and errors surface at the final bill.
- A bill is paid after the subcontractor's insurance or licence ran out.
How it works
- Make a work order on the project for the subcontractor: the work, trade, dates, and lines with item no., description, place, unit, quantity and rate. Add retention %, advance, advance recovery % and withholding tax %.
- Send for Approval. It waits in the Subcontract Work Order chain; a Projects Manager approves to start with. Approved, it is Running and locked.
- As work is done, make a measurement on the running order: each line names the work, the place, and Nos. x length x breadth x depth, or the quantity typed. Add photos.
- A Projects Manager presses Certify. The certified quantity is added to Measured on the order's line, and the measurement cannot change.
- Make a bill and press Fill from Measurements. It takes every certified measurement not yet billed and shows billed before, this bill and up to date per line.
- The bill works out retention kept, advance recovered, back-charges and withholding, and the net to pay. Send it for approval in the Subcontractor Bill chain.
- Approved, the billed quantities go up and a draft vendor bill is made in accounting, with the project and the Subcontracts line of the budget.
Everything it does
The work order
- Work, project, subcontractor, trade, order date, start, finish by, scope and terms
- Lines: item no., description, where (a place of the project), unit, quantity, rate, amount, measured and billed so far
- Retention %, withholding tax % (such as TDS or CIS), advance paid and advance recovered %
- Insurance Valid Until and Licence Valid Until: a bill dated after either is not approved
- Order value, billed, and retention held, worked out from approved bills
- Statuses: Draft, Waiting for Approval, Running, Closed, Cancelled; numbered WO/year/0001
Changing and closing
- A sent or running order cannot be changed; Send Back returns it to draft while it has no bills
- Once billed, the quantities cannot be raised; extra work goes on a new work order
- Close needs every open bill approved or sent back
- An order with approved bills is closed, not cancelled
Measurements
- Made on a running order: date, measured by (you to start with), lines, photos and notes; numbered MB/year/0001
- Each line: the order's work, where, Nos., length, breadth, depth or height, quantity and a photo
- The quantity is Nos. x the sizes filled in, or typed; it must be above zero
- Certify: a Projects Manager only; the order must be running; then it is locked
- Statuses: Draft, Certified, Billed; filters To Certify and Certified, Not Billed
- Certifying more than ordered is allowed; the bill stops it
Running bills
- Bill no. (1st, 2nd ...), date, the subcontractor's bill no., final bill, notes; numbered SB/year/0001
- Fill from Measurements takes certified measurements not yet billed; Give Back Measurements frees them
- Per line: ordered, billed before, this bill, up to date, rate and amount; this bill can be lowered
- Up to date more than ordered is refused until the order is amended
- Retention kept: this bill x retention %
- Advance recovered: this bill x recovery %, never more than the advance left; can be typed lower
- Back-charges: lines typed with what for and amount, such as material given, rework or a penalty
- Withholding tax: this bill x withholding %
- Net to pay: this bill less retention, advance, back-charges and withholding, plus retention released
- An approved bill is not cancelled; correct it with a back-charge on the next one
Retention release and accounting
- Release Retention on the order makes a bill paying back all retention held, after the defects period
- Each approved bill becomes a draft vendor bill. Work lines are at the entity's purchase tax. Retention, advance, withholding, release and back-charges are their own lines
- Make Vendor Bill makes it again if needed; Vendor Bill opens it
- Posted, it is actual cost on the project's Subcontracts and Freelancers budget line
Who uses it
Project managerWrites work orders, measures the work done and makes the running bills.
Projects ManagerApproves work orders and bills, certifies measurements, closes orders and releases retention.
FinanceApproves bills at their level of the chain and posts the vendor bills.
Subcontractor or freelancerGets the work order and is paid the net of each approved bill. They have no login for it.
Where you use it
- Web: Projects > Money > Subcontractors > Work Orders, Work Measured and Subcontractor Bills, for managers
- Measurements and bills open from buttons on the work order
- Not in the phone app: measurements and photos are entered on the web
- Not on the client portal or a subcontractor portal
What you control
Settings
- Per work order: retention %, withholding tax %, advance and advance recovered %, insurance and licence dates
- The Subcontract Work Order and Subcontractor Bill approval chains: a Projects Manager to start with
- The entity's default purchase tax on the vendor bill's work lines
Approvals
- Subcontract Work Order: a Projects Manager approves to start with; add levels or a chain above an amount
- Subcontractor Bill: the same, on the net to pay
- Measurements are certified by a Projects Manager with Certify, not through a chain
Notifications
- Request Waits for Your Approval: to the approvers of work orders and bills, in the app, by email and as a phone notification
- A to-do for each work order and bill waiting, with the subcontractor and the amount
Questions
Can we pay a freelancer for part of what was measured?
Yes. After Fill from Measurements, lower This Bill on a line. The quantity left is billed on a later bill.What happens if a subcontractor did more than ordered?
A measurement can certify more, but a bill cannot go past the ordered quantity. Before the first bill, send the order back and amend it. After that, give the extra work a new work order.Is the measurement certified through the approval chain?
No. A Projects Manager certifies it with one button, and their name is kept on it. The work order and each bill go through approval chains.Is the running work order counted on the budget?
No, only the bills. The vendor bill made from an approved running bill is actual cost on the Subcontracts line once posted.Can the subcontractor submit measurements themselves?
No. Measurements are made by your people on the web. A subcontractor portal is not built.Which plan has it?
Scale.Related features
MONEYProject budgets by OPEX and CAPEXEach project gets a budget by cost category, marked OPEX or CAPEX, approved before it counts. Time, expenses, orders, bills and store issues fill it by themselves, with alerts at 80 % and over 100 %.MONEYPurchase orders, bills and invoices on the budgetPut a project on a purchase order and it is committed on that project's budget when confirmed. Its vendor bill turns the commitment into actual cost, and customer invoices with the project count as revenue.ACROSS SMARTMY PROJECTSApproval chainsTimesheets, billing runs, expenses, budgets, stage overrides and subcontract work go to the right people in the right order, set up by you without code. Every decision is kept with who made it, when and why.MONEYProfitability per projectOne row per project with revenue, cost, margin and budget used, read from the project's budget ledger. Time is costed at each person's cost per hour, and filters show the projects losing money or over budget.ACCOUNTINGFull accounting with GST returnsKeep the books in the same system as your projects. You get journal entries, the chart of accounts, matching payments to invoices, and full reports from ledgers to cash flow. For Indian entities, GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are worked out from the posted invoices and bills.
See your next project on it.
Tell us how many people keep time, how you bill your clients today (hours, fixed price, retainers) and what you use now. We will set up one of your real projects with you.