For a decade my "system" was a 1.7 MB Excel macro workbook. It tracked every progress claim, every variation, every certificate across every fire-protection job I had on at my own contracting business.
It worked — barely. The macros pushed variations from a master register into per-project files AND the master invoicing tracker. Hyperlinks scaffolded folder structures when I typed a new job number. It saved hours of admin every week.
But it crashed if anyone renamed a folder. It couldn't be opened by two people at once. It only ran on Windows. And every new job felt like adding another plate to a stack that was already wobbling.
The dedicated claims tools do progress claims with retention beautifully — but only that. You still need somewhere else to see how the rest of the job is going, and they're not cheap once you scale.
The big project-management platforms are built for tier-one head contractors with five-figure software budgets. Implementation teams. Annual contracts. Overkill for a 30-person subbie.
The rest are aimed at residential builders, or are accountant-first. There was nothing for the people I work with every day — fire, electrical, mechanical and civil subbies running 5–100 commercial jobs.
I rebuilt my Excel system as a real product. Cloud-native. Multi-user. Mobile-friendly. Posts straight to Xero.
At the heart is the retention math — 10% per claim, capped at 5% of the adjusted contract value, with 50% release at Practical Completion and 50% at end of the 12-month Defects Liability Period. Variations roll into the contract base automatically. The cap rises with them. The math just works.
Around that, the things I always wanted: project overview across every live job, variations register as a single source of truth, document compliance tracker (drawings, OHS, Form 12, certificates), and a claim form that takes 30 seconds instead of an afternoon.
AU data residency. Plain English everywhere. Mobile-friendly so site supervisors can check status from their phone. Retention math correct out of the box. Statutory notice text drafted by a construction lawyer, per state. Read-only Xero where it makes sense, and the ability to post a claim straight to Xero when you need to (rolling out to all plans). No surprises, no lock-ins, cancel any time.