Custom software · Electrical contractors

Build a contracting system around your BOQ, your drums and your monthly bill.

An electrical contractor prices work in points, metres and numbers of DBs, buys copper at a rate that moves every month, and sends drums out to four sites at once.

The money leaks in the gaps between those facts. A drum goes to site, some of it comes back, nobody measures the offcut, and it walks to the next job on somebody’s shoulder. The BOQ was priced in January and the cable is being bought in June.

The software we build for electrical contracting follows the job itself. BOQ and rate analysis, material from godown to site and back, wiring teams on piece rate. Then the monthly measurement, the running account bill and the test readings the inspector will ask for.

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Who this is for

Contracting businesses we can build for.

A residential wiring contractor and a panel and substation contractor keep different books, and the system is built around the one you keep. A pure solar installer belongs on the solar companies page, and an air conditioning contractor on the HVAC one.

Electrical contractors
Residential wiring contractors
Commercial and office fit-out electrical contractors
Industrial electrical contractors
Panel building and switchgear contractors
Substation and transformer contractors
HT and LT cabling contractors
Street lighting contractors
Fire alarm and safety system contractors
Data cabling and network contractors
MEP contractors taking the electrical package
Contractors taking electrical and plumbing on the same site
Lift and escalator installation contractors
Electrical maintenance contractors
Government and municipal work contractors
Builders with an in-house electrical division
Contractors working across several districts

What can be built

The modules, and what each one covers.

Nothing here is a fixed package. Each module is built, left out or changed to match how your organisation already works.

Enquiries and tenders

Client and project
Source: builder, architect, consultant, factory or tender
Drawings and BOQ received
Scope in brief
Site location
Submission due date
Deposit paid on a tender
Quoted, won or lost
Rate at which the job went to somebody else, where you learn it

Estimation

Wiring points, conduit runs, cable metres, DBs, panels, earthing and fixtures, counted off a drawing by somebody with a scale rule.

Item-wise quantities from the drawing
Wiring points by type: light, fan, five ampere, sixteen ampere
Cable runs by size in square millimetres
Conduit by diameter and metre
Distribution boards and their ways
Panels and switchgear
Earthing pits and strip
Light fittings and fans
Cable tray and ladder
Quantity take-off saved against the drawing revision

Rate analysis

A point rate is a small sum with four moving parts inside it, and copper is the one that moves most.

Material cost per item
Copper and aluminium rate on the date of quoting
Wastage allowance
Labour cost per point or per metre
Supervision and overheads
Transport to site
Margin
Rate arrived at, with its working kept
Rate used on previous projects for comparison

The rate of copper is a market fact, and the software only records which rate the quotation was built on. It cannot protect a margin against six months of price movement.

Quotation

Drawings
Take-off
Rate analysis
Quotation
Negotiation
Revision
Work order

Item-wise rates and amounts
Supply and labour split
Inclusions and exclusions
Material make and brand offered
Payment terms
Validity, given the copper rate
GST
Revision history and what changed

Work order and contract terms

Work order value and date
Client and consultant contacts
Agreed rates by item
Mobilisation advance received
Security deposit or retention terms
Billing cycle agreed
Completion schedule
Penalty clauses recorded
Scope excluded in writing
Work order document on file

Project stages

Slab conduiting
Wall conduiting and chasing
Wiring
DB and panel installation
Fixture fixing
Earthing
Testing
Handover

Stage names are set to the way your site actually works. A factory job and a flat do not move through the same sequence.

Material planning

Requirement worked out from the BOQ
Requirement for the current stage only
Material already at site
Indent raised by the supervisor
Approval before purchase
Order placed to dealer or direct
Expected delivery date
Shortages holding up work
Over-indenting flagged against the BOQ quantity

Purchase

Supplier and dealer register
Rate comparison across dealers
Purchase order with make and size
Copper rate on the purchase date
Delivery to godown or straight to site
Goods receipt with quantity checked
Supplier bill matched to the order
Payment due and paid
Purchase against the estimated quantity

Godown and site material

Four sites, one godown, and a lorry that dropped half a load at the wrong gate on Tuesday.

Stock at the godown
Stock at each site
Material issued to a site with a challan
Received and signed at site
Transfer from one site to another
Material returned to the godown
Consumption against the BOQ item
Balance per site
Material lying at a closed site

Cable and drum tracking

A drum is issued at four hundred metres and comes back with an unmeasured end. That end is your margin.

Drum number and size
Metres issued
Site issued to
Metres used against each run
Offcut measured on return
Drum returned or scrapped
Scrap copper recovered and sold
Wastage against the allowance
Cable reconciliation per site

Wiring teams

Teams and gang leaders
Wiremen and helpers
Site allotted
Daily wage or piece rate
Points wired per team per day
Metres pulled
Work measured and accepted
Advance paid
Weekly settlement
Sub-contract labour bills

Measurement

The client’s engineer counts fewer points than your supervisor, and the bill waits while two men walk a floor with a torch.

Measurement sheet by item, floor and area
Quantity claimed
Quantity measured jointly
Difference and the reason for it
Date of joint measurement
Person from the client’s side
Cumulative quantity measured to date
Balance quantity against the BOQ
Measurement sheet attached to the bill

A joint measurement still needs two people and a tape. The system holds the record and the history, which is usually enough to shorten the argument.

Running account bills

Measurement
Joint check
Bill preparation
Submission
Client verification
Deductions
Payment

Bill number and period
Cumulative and previous quantities
Amount claimed this bill
Advance recovered
Retention deducted
TDS and GST
Client deductions and their reasons
Amount passed against amount claimed
Bills submitted and pending

Extra items and variations

Work outside the original BOQ
Instruction from the client or consultant
Rate for the extra item
Rate approval before the work starts
Quantity executed
Added to the running bill
Extras done without written approval
Value of unapproved extras

Extras executed on a verbal instruction are the commonest reason a final bill is short. The system records who asked and when, and it cannot make the client honour it.

Retention and deposits

Retention deducted per bill
Cumulative retention held
Release on completion
Balance held through the defect liability period
Security deposit paid to the client
Refund due date
Deposits with the utility
Amounts still unreleased from old projects

Client payments

Payment against each bill
Short payments and reasons
Ageing by project
Follow-up history
Payment promised dates
Cheque and transfer receipts
Outstanding by client
Money due against money spent on site

Sub-contractors

Sub-contractor register by trade
Work order issued to them
Rates agreed
Work measured
Bills received
Advances and recoveries
Material supplied by you and recovered
Payment status
Performance notes

Testing records

Megger readings written on the back of a drawing, and the inspector standing there asking for them.

Insulation resistance readings by circuit
Earth resistance readings by pit
Continuity checks
Phase sequence and load balance
Panel and switchgear test records
Date and the person who tested
Instrument used
Photographs of the reading
Test report kept with the project

Approvals and inspections

Drawings submitted for approval
Electrical inspectorate application
Queries raised and replies filed
Inspection date
Observations to be closed
Approval received
Utility load sanction and meter application
Fees and deposits paid
Your own contractor licence renewal date

Inspections and load sanctions run on the authority’s own timeline. The system tracks the file, the fees and the observations, and it moves nothing along faster.

Safety records

Work permits at industrial sites
Height and hot work permits
Safety equipment issued
Toolbox talk record
Incident and near miss record
Worker insurance details
Safety observations from site visits
Client safety audit points closed

Tools and equipment

Tool register
Issued to a site or a team
Returned
Lost or damaged
Testing instruments and their calibration dates
Hired equipment and hire charges
Ladders, drilling machines and welding sets
Maintenance history

Handover and defect liability

Snag list by area
Rectification and closure
As-built drawings handed over
Test reports handed over
Warranty documents for fittings
Handover certificate
Defect liability period and visits
Complaints during the period
Retention released at the end of it

Project cost against value

Turnover looks fine until somebody adds up what the copper, the labour and the wastage actually cost on one site.

Estimated cost by item
Material consumed at actual rates
Labour cost paid
Sub-contractor cost
Site overheads
Value billed to date
Margin as it stands
Loss-making items
Cost overrun against the estimate

Role-based access

Owner
Project manager
Estimator
Site engineer
Site supervisor
Store in-charge
Purchase
Billing engineer
Accounts
Sub-contractor

Management dashboard

Live projects and their stage
Value of work in hand
Quotations submitted and pending
Bills raised and passed
Outstanding by client
Retention held
Material consumption against estimate
Labour cost by site
Margin by project
Sites behind schedule
Stock lying at closed sites

What it connects to

Tally or your accounting software
WhatsApp and SMS providers
Payment gateways
Cloud storage for drawings
Supplier price lists
Existing project or billing software

Drawings stay on the drive your office already uses. The system holds the reference, the revision and the take-off made from it.

The journey

One connected workflow, end to end.

Every stage below can sit in one system, so nobody re-enters what the last stage already captured.

Enquiry
Drawings and BOQ
Estimation
Quotation
Work order
Material planning
Procurement
Site execution
Measurement
Running account bill
Testing
Handover
Retention release

Built in phases

You do not have to replace everything at once.

Each phase is usable on its own, so the system earns its place before the next part is built.

1
Estimation and quotation
Take-off from drawings, rate analysis with the copper rate of the day, quotations and work orders. The office stops rebuilding the same sheet.
2
Material and site
Indents, purchase, godown and site stock, drum and cable reconciliation, teams, attendance and the daily site report.
3
Measurement and billing
Measurement sheets, joint measurement records, running account bills, extras, retention and client payments.
4
Records and analysis
Test readings, inspectorate files, safety records, handover documents and the project costing that says which jobs actually earned.

How we work

How a build actually runs.

01
Understand
We take one finished project and follow it backwards, from the final bill to the first take-off.
02
Map
Items, rates, stages, material flow, teams, measurement practice and the approvals each kind of client insists on.
03
Design
Screens for an estimator with a drawing open and a supervisor standing in an unplastered flat with no lights on.
04
Build
Estimation and site material first. Those two carry most of the loss in this trade.
05
Test
Your team runs a live site through it for a month, including one measurement and one running bill.
06
Deploy
Site by site rather than all at once, with supervisors trained on the phone screens they will actually use.
07
Improve
Test records, safety and costing analysis, once material and billing are being kept properly.

What we can build

Systems we can put together for you.

Electrical contracting management systems
Estimation and rate analysis software
BOQ and quotation systems
Site material and godown tracking
Cable and drum reconciliation systems
Labour and piece-rate management
Site attendance applications
Measurement and running account billing software
Project costing systems
Testing and inspection record keeping
Sub-contractor management
Management dashboards
Multi-site contracting platforms

Common questions

Questions owners ask before starting.

What does custom software for an electrical contractor cover?

Estimation in points and metres, quotations, site material, wiring teams, measurement sheets, running account bills and test records. It is a project system, not a service ticketing system.

Can it price work in points and metres the way we quote?

Yes. Point types, cable sizes, conduit runs and DB ways are all priced from your own rate list, with the rate analysis kept behind each figure.

Can it track cable drums between sites?

Yes. Metres issued, metres used, offcuts returned and scrap recovered, per drum and per site. Somebody at site still has to measure the offcut.

Can it prepare running account bills?

Yes, from the measurement sheet, with cumulative and previous quantities, advance recovery, retention and the deductions the client applied.

Can supervisors use it on site?

Yes. Attendance, material received, daily progress, photographs and indents are built for a phone, because nothing else works in a building with no power yet.

Can we see the margin on a project while it is still running?

Yes. Material consumed at actual rates, labour paid, sub-contract cost and value billed, against the estimate. The numbers are only as good as what site records, though.

Can it keep our megger and earth readings?

Yes, circuit by circuit and pit by pit, with the date, the instrument and a photograph of the reading, kept with the project for the day somebody asks.

Will it handle approvals from the electrical inspectorate?

It tracks the application, the fees, the queries and the observations. The approval itself moves at the authority’s pace, and no software changes that.

Can it manage labour on piece rate?

Yes. Points wired and metres pulled per team, measured and accepted, with advances and the weekly settlement against them.

Will it work with Tally?

Usually. Purchase bills, sales bills and receipts can be posted across, and how they travel depends on which Tally you run. We look at yours first.

Can we run several sites at once?

Yes, with stock, labour, progress and billing tracked per site, and a consolidated view of what each is costing.

Can we start with only estimation and material?

Yes, and most contractors should. Those two are where the money goes. Measurement and billing can follow once site staff are used to recording things.

Your trade

How we work with this trade.

Electrical contractors

Build a system that counts the offcut.

Electrical contracting is priced in small units and lost in small units. A few metres per floor, a few points disputed per bill, a drum that nobody closed off.

Take one completed floor and compare what left the godown with what you billed for it. That difference is the whole argument for a system here, and it is the first thing we would put right.

Tell us how you work

Tell us how your electrical contractors runs today.

We will tell you what can be digitised, what can be connected, what is worth automating, and what you should leave alone.

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