We run a mid-sized construction company—about 15 active projects at any time. For years, we had no idea which jobs were profitable until after they finished. And by then, it was too late to fix. One project we thought was making 20% margin actually lost us $40,000 because of unbilled change orders and materials we’d ordered twice.
The root cause was disconnected data
Our site supervisors tracked labor on paper, the warehouse manager ordered materials using a separate spreadsheet, and the accounting team paid invoices based on yet another system. No one had a real-time view of project costs. ERPNext Consulting helped us connect the dots: every material requisition, every labor hour, every equipment rental—all linked to a specific project code. Suddenly, we could see cost overruns within two days instead of two months.
- Standardized project codes across all documents (took a weekend to clean up old data)
- Set automated alerts when actual costs hit 85% of budget (prevented three overruns in the first month)
- Created a simple mobile form for change orders—no more lost pieces of paper
What changed our behavior was visibility at weekly meetings
Now every Monday, the project manager pulls up a dashboard listing each job’s budget vs. actual. If something is red, we talk about it—before it becomes a crisis. Our project margin accuracy improved from 55% to 88% in six months. And we stopped buying materials that were already sitting on site. One superintendent said it was the first time he trusted the numbers. ERPNext Consulting didn’t just give us a system—they gave us a common language.
If your project costs feel like guesswork, start by putting a unique code on every expense. You’ll be amazed at what you find.