Learn how a jobsite
really runs.

A schedule breaks work into activities, gives each a duration, and links them in the order they must happen. The critical path is the longest chain of dependent activities — the one that sets the finish date. Slack (or "float") is how long a task can slip before it starts to push that date.

Delay a task on the critical path and the whole project finishes late. Knowing which tasks are critical tells the team where to spend attention — and where a little slip is harmless.

The Schedule module is a real CPM Gantt: drag to set durations, link tasks with logic ties, and it computes float and highlights the critical path for you. Baselines let you compare plan vs. reality.

A cost code is a bucket for a slice of the work (say, "branch wiring"). The budget is split across those buckets, and every hour and dollar spent is charged back to one. Job costing is simply comparing what you budgeted to what you've actually spent, code by code.

A job that's "20% over" hides the truth. Costing by code shows exactly where — the code burning budget faster than the work is getting done — early enough to correct it.

The Cost Codes and Job Cost views show budget vs. actual per code, fed by the same hours crews log — so the numbers are live, not a month-end surprise.

Every job needs the right number of people at the right time. A manpower curve forecasts crew size across the whole job — ramping up, peaking, tapering off. Man-loading takes it further: it attaches workers to specific tasks so the schedule and the crew plan agree.

Too few people and the job falls behind; too many and you burn budget standing around. A good curve keeps labor matched to the work — and warns you of a peak you can't staff.

Manpower Curves forecast hours, crew size, and cost from one model that recalcs against change orders, with plan-vs-actual as hours are logged. Man Loading resource-loads the actual tasks.

A timecard records who worked, how long, and on which cost code — the raw data behind payroll and job cost. When the owner asks for work outside the contract, you either price it as a change order or bill it Time & Material (T&M) — actual hours and materials, tracked as you go.

Unbilled extra work is money given away. Clean timecards make payroll and costing honest; documented T&M and change orders make sure you get paid for everything you actually did.

Timecards flow draft → submitted → approved with signatures and per-day absences, freezing on approval. Hours drive T&M tags and post to job cost, and Change Orders adjust the budget and the curves.

An RFI (Request for Information) is a formal question to the design team when the drawings are unclear. A submittal is the reverse: the contractor sends product data, samples, or shop drawings for approval before buying or building. Both are tracked with a "ball-in-court" — whose turn it is to act.

A wrong guess on an unclear detail is expensive to rip out. RFIs and submittals create a paper trail that catches problems on paper, before they're built — and shows who caused a delay.

Submittals & RFIs are per-project logs with statuses, ball-in-court, and overdue KPIs — so nothing sits waiting on someone silently. It's the framework that keeps documents moving.

A daily log is the project's diary: who was on site, what they did, the weather, deliveries, visitors, and anything unusual. It's a small habit that becomes the single most valuable record a project keeps.

When a dispute or delay claim comes up months later, the daily log is the evidence. "It rained six of eight days" is only worth anything if someone wrote it down at the time.

The Daily Log auto-pulls weather and has structured field sections. Crew hours entered on the log post straight to job cost on submit — one entry, two jobs done.

Quality control on well-run jobs follows three phases for each activity: Preparatory (before work starts — is everyone ready, are materials approved?), Initial (check the first piece of work), and Follow-up (spot-check that quality holds). The phase gate is the whole point.

Catching a defect in the first installation is cheap; catching it after a hundred are built is not. The three phases force a check before mistakes multiply.

The Quality module runs the USACE preparatory → initial → follow-up sequence with a real gate between phases, tying findings to specific locations on the job.

Safety management is the system that keeps people from getting hurt: hazard analyses before risky work, toolbox talks, inspections, and — when something does happen — recording it correctly on the OSHA 300 log. It's proactive planning, not just reacting to incidents.

Beyond the human cost, injuries drive up insurance and can shut a job down. A documented safety program is also a legal requirement — and one of the first things an owner checks.

The Safety department covers notices with a review step, OSHA 300 built from incident classifications, compliance frameworks, and 811 utility locates — plus certification tracking so nobody works out of ticket.

Contractors don't invoice once — they bill monthly for progress. A pay application (the AIA G702/G703 forms) lists each line of the Schedule of Values, how much is complete this period, and subtracts retention the owner holds back until the end.

Billing is cash flow. Bill too little and you're financing the owner's project; bill sloppily and it gets rejected. The math — this period, to-date, retention — has to tie out every month.

Billing generates G702/G703 pay apps and sub pay apps with lien waivers, from one math module. The Schedule of Values saves non-destructively, and each period's line 7 carries the prior app's line 6.

Earned value compares three numbers: what you planned to spend, what you've actually spent, and what the work you've completed is worth. From those you forecast the final cost (EAC). A WIP (work-in-progress) report rolls this across every job to show over/under-billing.

Percent-of-budget-spent can't tell you if you'll finish in the black — earned value can. WIP is how a company knows, this month, whether its jobs are truly making money.

Forecast & Cash Flow builds EAC by cost code (the auto figure is a floor, not a guess) and a straight-line cash flow that says so. The WIP report rolls billings vs. cost across the portfolio.

Closeout is finishing the last 2% that takes 20% of the effort. A punch list catalogs every small defect to fix before the owner accepts the work. Handover delivers the operating manuals, warranties, and as-builts, and formally turns over the commissioned assets.

Final payment and retention are held until closeout is done. A disorganized punch and handover can strand a company's profit for months after the work is physically complete.

Issues tracks punch items by location with a close-out gate; Assets & Handover manages warranties (running from substantial completion) and commissioning that's earned, not just typed.