Construction businesses do not run like shops or factories. Every project is its own profit centre, materials move between sites, and payment depends on certified progress. A general-purpose ERP can handle the accounting, but it often struggles with how a contractor actually works. These are the questions we suggest asking any vendor before you sign.
Can it cost every project against its BOQ?
The bill of quantities is the budget. Your ERP should load it, then show actual cost against each line as purchases, labour and plant hours are booked.
- Can a BOQ be imported from the format your quantity surveyors already use?
- Are costs captured at line level, not just per project?
- Can variations be recorded and tracked against the original budget?
How does it handle site stores?
Materials are bought centrally, delivered to sites, moved between sites and issued to specific work. Without control, this is where money quietly disappears.
- Can each site run its own store, with requisitions, issues and returns?
- Are transfers between sites recorded on both sides?
- Can you see stock by site, and material issued per BOQ line?
Does it support progress billing and retentions?
Interim payment certificates, retentions and advance recovery are routine in construction, and painful in spreadsheets. Ask to see a full cycle: a certificate raised, retention held, the advance recovered and the retention released at the end.
What about subcontractors and plant?
- Subcontractors: contracts, measured work, certificates and payments, with retention, all linked to the project.
- Plant and equipment: hours, fuel, servicing and hire charges per machine, with internal hire charged to projects.
Ask for a demo with your own project
Give the vendor a real, anonymised project: a BOQ, a few purchases, a site transfer and a certificate. Watching them run it end to end tells you more than any slide deck.
Can management see the whole picture?
Directors need a single view across projects: budget, cost to date, committed cost, certified value and cash received. If producing that view takes a week of spreadsheets, the system is not doing its job.
Local fit matters
- TZS and USD on the same project, with exchange rates per transaction.
- TRA-ready invoicing and the tax reports you file locally.
- A support team in your time zone that understands construction.
iNova ERP's construction edition was built around these questions. See iNova ERP or book a demo with your own project.