Subcontractors
Subcontractors are the outside crews you hire for a job — a plumber, an electrician, a groundworks team. The module keeps a directory of them, a per-project contract for each engagement, and every act, payment and document that follows.
It sits between what you pay the crew (NET) and what you bill the client (SALE): add a markup, hold a little retention, and the module tracks the balance from the first advance to the final release. It reuses the same client-billing rails as materials and equipment, so a subcontractor cost reaches the client the same tidy way everything else does.
What is inside
Companies or individuals, grouped by trade, with contact details, a default markup and payment terms.
One per engagement, tied to a project. Agreed NET, markup to SALE, retention percentage, and a client or internal kind.
Completion acts record work done. Approving one locks its amounts and, on a client contract, lets you bill it out.
A ledger of what you pay the crew — advances, progress, retention releases, back-charges — and a derived balance.
Contracts, licences and insurance with expiry dates, plus a schedule that flags overdue and expiring items.
Rate quality, timeliness and safety after a job; the average rides along with the crew in the directory.
The money model
Every contract has two sides. NET is what you agree to pay the crew. Apply a markup and you get SALE — what the client pays. Retention holds back a slice of NET until the work is signed off.
- SALE = NET × (1 + markup %), rounded to two decimals. The client only ever sees the SALE price, never your cost.
- Retention = NET × retention %, withheld from what you owe until you release it.
- Client vs internal. A client contract passes the SALE amount through to the client; an internal one is your own cost and never reaches a client.
Contract lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being set up — edit freely before work starts. |
| Active | Live: record acts and payments against it. |
| Completed | Work signed off. Re-open if you need to add more. |
| Cancelled | Abandoned. Its acts can no longer be billed. |
How it fits the ERP
- Contracts attach to a project, and optionally to a work-plan stage.
- Billed acts land on the client ledger as a service charge — the same rail materials and equipment use.
- With the Estimates add-on, a contract can link to a budget line and reconcile plan against actuals.