Project Costing for Construction and Development
Budget by cost head, award work orders, certify every running bill with retention held back and advance recovered, and watch the project’s cost build up against its budget, bill by bill.
ERP that fits how project owners actually run
A construction project is spent long before it is sold. Contractors submit running bills every month, a percentage is held back as retention, the mobilization advance paid at the start is recovered a slice at a time, and material bought directly by the owner sits on site waiting to be used. Most developers track this in one spreadsheet per contractor, and discover at handover that the project cost a good deal more than the budget everybody was quoting.
NavoBook sets the project’s budget by cost head and issues work orders to contractors with their retention percentage. Each interim payment certificate records the work certified, holds back retention, recovers advance, and posts the gross work to project work in progress rather than to expense. Payments to contractors, retention releases and direct project costs all go through the same books, so the project’s cost against budget is always current.
Where project costs run away
Budget in one file, spending in another
The approved budget and the bills being paid never meet until the project is nearly done.
Retention forgotten
Money held back from contractors is tracked on paper, then released twice or not at all.
Advances never fully recovered
Mobilization advances are paid up front and the recovery from each bill is not followed.
Project cost in the expense account
Construction spending is expensed as it is paid, so the balance sheet shows no asset and the profit makes no sense.
Contractor balances disputed
Each side keeps its own running total of what has been certified and paid.
How NavoBook runs a construction project
Budgets by cost head
Set the project’s budget line by line against your own cost heads, and read actual cost against it.
Contractor work orders
Issue work orders to contractors with the agreed value and retention percentage.
Interim payment certificates
Certify each running bill: gross work, retention held, advance recovered and net payable, posted in one step.
Retention and advance tracking
Retention payable and mobilization advance each have their own balance, per contractor, until settled.
Work capitalised to WIP
Certified work and direct costs build the project’s work in progress on the balance sheet, not expense.
Direct project costs
Material, labour and other costs paid directly by you are recorded against the project and its cost heads.
How the work moves through NavoBook
In the order it happens, from the first record to the last.
- 1
Budget
The project is set up with its budget by cost head.
- 2
Award
Work orders go to contractors with their retention terms.
- 3
Certify
Each running bill is certified, holding retention and recovering advance.
- 4
Pay and track
Payments and releases follow, and cost builds against budget in WIP.
Modules project owners use most
All 23 modules are included on either plan, so you can switch any of these on as you grow, with no extra fee.
Construction & Development Projects: frequently asked questions
Who is this for, the developer or the contractor?
It is built for the project owner: a developer, builder or company that runs a project through contractors and needs to control what it pays them. The contractor’s bills come in as interim payment certificates that you certify.
How does NavoBook handle retention money?
Each work order carries a retention percentage. When a running bill is certified, that share is held back as retention payable to the contractor and released later through its own payment.
Why is construction cost posted to work in progress?
Because a building under construction is an asset, not an expense. Certified work and direct costs build up in project WIP on the balance sheet, which is the standard treatment and keeps the profit and loss meaningful during the build.
We are a housing society. Does this connect to plot sales?
Yes. Project Costing and the Real Estate module work together: development cost is captured against the project, and the real estate page covers plots, bookings and instalments.
Guides for project owners
Written for Pakistan, by the same team that builds the software.
ERP & Software
One Owner, Five Businesses: Running Multi-Company and Multi-Branch on One ERP
9 min readERP & Software
Profit by Salesman, Branch and Project: What Custom Fields and Dimensions Actually Do
8 min readERP & Software
How Much Does ERP Software Cost in Pakistan? The Real Numbers (2026)
8 min readRun the whole business on NavoBook
From PKR 20,000 a month, all 23 modules included. No per-module fees, no installation.