Solved
The loss turns up at the final account.
The margin on every live job, current when you open the report.
Real-time job profitability
Every job’s margin, live.
Every job’s margin, live.
Every loss, explained.
Unibuild’s real-time job profitability report gives UK contractors the profit margin on every live job, on one page, by project manager and by department. One click opens the breakdown behind any job, including why it is losing money.
Try the report
Eight live jobs, two losing money. Open either to see why.
An example report for one firm. Filter it by project manager or by department, then open the breakdown on any job.
Problems we solve
Eleven profit problems. All eleven solved.
From the loss found at the final account to the margin nobody trusts.
Solved
The job is losing money. Nobody can say why.
The breakdown names the reasons, so the fix starts that week.
Solved
Labour runs over the estimate for weeks.
Hours worked against hours estimated, section by section.
Solved
Orders placed this week. Invisible until the invoice.
Purchase orders count against the job the day they are approved.
Solved
Cost keeps climbing. The value has not moved.
Cost set against a value built from the client’s own orders.
Solved
Hired plant still on charge after the job finished.
Jobs past their finish date, listed with the plant still on them.
Solved
Fuel, receipts and stores never reach the job.
Expenses and stores issues land on the job as they are approved.
Solved
One firm-wide figure hides the jobs that are slipping.
Margin by project manager and by department, in the same report.
Solved
A pay review quietly rewrites last year’s margins.
Each hour costed at the person’s rate on the day it was worked.
Solved
Retention and VAT in the figures distort the margin.
Retention and VAT handled properly, so the margin is the true one.
Solved
Two days a month to build a figure nobody trusts.
Built as the work happens. Every figure opens onto its record.
11/11Solved in one module
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What is in the report
The whole firm on one page, and every job behind it.
Every job,
one page
Value, cost, profit and margin for every live job, in one report that is worked out when you open it.
- Every live job listed
- Losses marked in red
- Totals for the whole firm
- No month end to wait for
The view from the topLive
One click
to the breakdown
The Breakdown button opens any job: each cost heading, the value it is set against, and the record behind every line.
- Labour, materials, plant, subcontract
- Expenses and stores
- Client orders and variations
- Each line opens its record
Nothing hidden behind a totalLive
The reason
for a loss
Where a job is losing money, the breakdown says why, with the figure beside each reason, so the director knows what to change.
- Reasons named, not guessed
- A figure on each one
- Read in a minute
- Acted on that week
From a number to a decisionLive
By project
manager
The margin for each project manager across all of their jobs, with every job beneath it, so performance is a figure rather than an impression.
- Every manager’s portfolio
- Losses traced to an owner
- The same arithmetic for all
- The right conversation
Responsibility with a numberLive
By
department
The same split by department or division, so a strong department can no longer hide a weak one inside the firm’s total.
- Set up as your firm is
- Totals that add up
- Weak areas found early
- Every job beneath each
Where the margin is madeLive
Retention
and VAT
Handled properly, so the margin on the report is the margin the job actually made. The detail is set out below.
- Retention on its own line
- Net of VAT throughout
- Reverse charge included
- Margin and cash kept apart
The true marginLive
What the margin is made of
Every cost on the right job, and nothing counted twice.
A margin is only as good as the costs behind it. This is exactly what the report counts.
Labour
Hours from clock-ins on the jobCosted at each person’s rate on the dayNormal time, time and a half and double time
Materials and hire
Purchase orders at committed valueSupplier invoices against the orderCredit notes netted offPlant, hire, waste and fuel
Subcontract
Subcontractor invoicesRead with the order and its variations
Expenses and stores
Staff expenses, with the receiptStores issued to the job
Value
The client’s orders on fileApproved variationsShown on the same row as the cost
- Retention
- Retention your client holds back is still part of the value of the work, so it stays in the value and the margin is not understated. The balance held is shown on its own line, so nobody mistakes it for cash received. Its release is claimed through its own application.
- VAT
- Every figure in the report is net of VAT, so tax collected for HMRC never flatters a margin. Work under the domestic reverse charge is treated the same way.
- Where each figure comes from
- Each number opens onto the record that produced it: the timesheet line, the order, the approved invoice, the expense claim. A margin nobody can trace is a margin nobody acts on.
Spreadsheet against report
Job profitability, worked out two ways.
| The question | Month-end spreadsheet | Unibuild |
|---|---|---|
| When you find out | At month end, or at the final account | When you open the report, while the job is running |
| Labour | From payroll, weeks later, at an average rate | From clock-ins, at each person’s rate on the day |
| Orders and hire | When the invoice arrives | When the order is approved |
| Small costs | Left in expenses and overheads | On the job, with the receipt |
| By manager and department | Built by hand, when there is time | In the same report, with the totals |
| Retention and VAT | Mixed into the totals | Retention on its own line, every figure net of VAT |
| Why a job is losing money | A meeting, and several opinions | Named in the breakdown, with figures |
| Trust in the figure | Argued over | Every figure opens onto its record |
Built around your firm
Your managers, your departments, your cost headings.
The report is set up the way your firm is organised. Anything else it needs is built for you, and changes after go-live are included in the monthly fee. That is how bespoke construction software works here.
- Your structure
- Departments, divisions and project managers are set up as your firm already has them, so the report reads the way the business is run.
- Where the hours come from
- Operatives clock in on your own branded staff app, published on the App Store and Google Play under your company’s name and icon. Clock-ins work online and offline, so hours from a site with no signal still reach the job.
- The cost side in depth
- Committed cost, dated rates and plant past its finish date are covered on the job costing and cost control page. The report on this page sets all of it against the value.
Questions
Asked by directors and
Asked by directors and
commercial managers.
What is real-time job profitability?
It is the profit margin on each job, worked out from costs as they happen rather than at month end or the final account. In Unibuild, labour, orders, invoices and expenses land on the job as they are worked or approved, and are set against the job’s value. The margin is current when you open the report, so a job going wrong is seen while it can still be put right.
What software shows real-time job profitability for UK contractors?
Unibuild does, as part of one platform for the site and the office. Its job profitability report gives the live margin on every job, by project manager and by department. A breakdown on each job shows every cost, and why a job is losing money. Unibuild is bespoke construction management software for UK contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works.
Why does job profitability need to be real time?
Because a loss found at the final account cannot be recovered on that job. In the twelve months to August 2025, construction had more company insolvencies than any other industry in England and Wales: 3,934, or 17% of cases, according to the Insolvency Service. A margin seen while the job runs leaves time to change it.
How current are the figures?
They are worked out when you open the report, from the same records the rest of the system uses. If an operative clocked out an hour ago and an order was approved this morning, both are in the margin. Nothing waits for an overnight update or a month-end close.
Can we see profit by project manager and by department?
Yes. The report splits value, cost, profit and margin by project manager and by department, with every job listed beneath. Choose a manager or a department and the totals follow. Departments and managers are set up the way your firm is already organised.
How does the report show why a job is losing money?
Open the breakdown on any job. Beside every cost line, it names the reasons the margin is falling, each with its figure, so a director can see what to change and who to speak to. The demonstration shows it on the kind of job you run.
Which costs are included?
Labour comes from clock-ins, at each person’s rate on the day. Purchase orders count at committed value, with supplier invoices against them and credit notes netted off. Plant and hire, subcontractor invoices, staff expenses with their receipts and stores issued to the job are all included. Each figure opens onto the record that produced it.
How does it treat retention?
As part of the value of the work. Retention your client holds stays in the value, so the margin is not understated. The balance held is shown on its own line, so it is never mistaken for cash received.
Is VAT included in the margin, and what about the reverse charge?
No. Every figure in the report is net of VAT, so tax collected for HMRC never flatters a margin. Domestic reverse charge work is treated the same way.
Our cost rates are confidential. Who can see the report?
Access is set per person, so the report can be limited to directors and the commercial team. Operatives never see a cost or a rate in the app, and clients and subcontractors have no access to it. A separate setting controls whether a person can see hourly rates at all.
How is job profitability different from job costing?
Job costing records what a job has cost. Job profitability sets that cost against the job’s value and gives the margin, across every job and by manager and department. In Unibuild both run on the same records, so the two never disagree.
Does it replace our accounts package?
No. Your accounts package stays as the financial record, and Unibuild runs the job up to it. Unibuild syncs with QuickBooks, Xero and Sage 50, and any data exports as CSV, XML or JSON. The integrations page sets out every connection.
Is the profitability report an extra cost?
No. One monthly figure covers everything, including every module and unlimited users. It is sized to your firm when it is quoted, then fixed for three years. How the figure is set is on the pricing page.
By trade
Who leans on this hardest?
Trades where a job can look busy and profitable for months, while labour and hire quietly take the margin.
The commercial modules
The rest of the money side.
Same platform, same login. These are the modules that price the work, buy for it, measure it, claim it and collect it.
Further reading
Retention is part of the margin and the last money to arrive. This is how it goes missing.
- Retention, and the money that goes missing after practical completion Where cash quietly disappears between the last valuation and the release of the second half of retention, and the four dates that decide whether you ever see it.
One level down
Why a job loses money
Why a job loses money
before anyone notices.
The margin is decided at the price, eroded on site and found at the final account. These go further into each.
How to tell whether you are underpricingComparing tendered against actual, testing your recovery rate, and the signs that arrive long before the accounts do.
Commercial
Where spreadsheet job costing breaksCommitted cost, two people editing at once, version drift, and a position that is always a week behind the site.
Choosing software
How to price a construction job without guessingMeasuring, building a rate from first principles, and the overhead and margin a price has to carry.
Commercial
The gap between doing the work and having the moneyWhy a profitable job can still leave the firm short of cash, and what widens the gap.
Commercial
Next step
Bring the job
Bring the job
that worries you.
A 30-minute live demo of the report, from every job on one page to the reasons behind a loss.
All elevenSolved
- Losses found at the final account
- Losses nobody can explain
- Labour over the estimate
- Orders invisible until invoiced
- Cost rising against a value that stands still
- Plant left on hire
- Small costs that never reach the job
- Problems hidden in a firm-wide figure
- Pay reviews rewriting old margins
- Retention and VAT distorting the margin
- A monthly spreadsheet nobody trusts
Ask for a quote
Tell us a little about the firm.
Tell us a little about the firm.
We do the rest.
Two minutes. A written figure by email, usually the same working day. Unlimited users, so every manager reading the report is included.