The work is on site. The admin is three weeks behind.
In construction the margin does not sit in the contract sum but in what gets added and taken off during the project. Exactly that part — extra work, instalments, subcontractor invoices — is tracked by hand.
How it works today
Subcontractor invoices arrive in the payables mailbox, sometimes without a project number, often without a purchase order reference. Someone works out which project they belong to and whether the amount is right.
Meanwhile the site reports progress in one system and the instalment schedule lives in another. Whether what is being invoiced matches what has actually been built is a question nobody has time to answer weekly.
Extra work is agreed verbally on site and written down later, if at all. That is where the margin goes.
- Contractors and construction firms with 10 to 100 staff
- Projects invoiced in instalments
- Regular subcontractors who each invoice in their own way
- Extra work agreed on site and written down afterwards
What happens, step by step
- 1Collect the invoice
From the payables mailbox or the supplier portal. PDFs, scans and invoices without a project number are processed just as well.
- 2Match to the project
Purchase order number, project number, address or creditor — whatever is on it is used to find the right project and the right purchase order.
- 3Check against the instalment schedule
The invoiced instalment is compared with the schedule and with instalments already paid. One that is already open or duplicated is flagged.
- 4Compare with reported progress
What is being invoiced is laid against the latest completion report from site. Invoicing ahead of progress goes to a person.
- 5Separate extra work
Extra work lines are recognised and separated from the instalment. Without a signed order they go to the site manager, with the day report attached.
- 6Post and queue
What checks out goes into the bookkeeping against the right project and cost type and sits ready in the payment run. The rest waits, with the reason stated.
Where it goes wrong when it is built too simply
These are the questions we ask in the quick scan. If a supplier does not ask them, they surface later anyway — usually once there is already an invoice.
- An invoice with no project number from a subcontractor working on four projects at once.
- An instalment invoiced before the work it covers has been reported complete.
- Extra work agreed verbally on site, invoiced without a signed order.
- A retention percentage that has to be withheld and released later.
- A subcontractor invoicing under a different legal entity after a restructure.
- A collective invoice covering three projects with no split on it.
What it delivers
The payables round stops being archaeology. What matches goes through; what does not is on one list with the reason next to it.
The bigger effect is on extra work: because it has its own route with an approval step, it gets invoiced more often instead of quietly absorbed into the contract sum.
This is one of the harder ones, because every construction firm keeps its instalment schedule somewhere slightly different. That is what the Automation Check establishes first.
Build: €4,500 – €8,500
Category: Extensive automation
Build time: 38 to 60 hours
Lead time: 4 to 6 weeks
Maintenance: Managed, €395 per month
A range, not a quote. What it becomes for you follows from the Automation Check. All prices →
See all prices →Start with one process
Tell us which work gets retyped most often at your company. If automating it turns out to be a bad idea, you will hear that in the first conversation — before there is an invoice.
The first conversation is free and without obligation. Want it substantiated? The Automation Check is €295 — deducted if you have us build within 30 days.