Favorite reports for T&M

SOLVED

Hello,

We've switched to a cost plus billing model and have struggled to find the "perfect" reports to present to clients to show the work completed.    For those of you who also do so...what report version are you using for clients and do you show them a cost to complete or budget vs actual?    We want to figure out the best practice without experimenting on our clients too much.

Thanks

  • 0

    The job cost reports won't show overhead and profit as a separate line item because they are not costs to you, they are costs to the client.  So you will want to stick with the reports in the T&M section.  You can do a T&M invoice, and then the T&M Summary which compares the billed to proposal from 6-9.

  • +1
    verified answer

    HI Debora, We re a cost plus construction company, and switched from Quickbooks to Master Builder (now Sage) twenty years ago. We struggled at first, but worked with Kathryn (at Sage) to work out a process that works for us.  We had previously provided to the client both an AIA  Application and a detailed listing of all costs. To accomplish this in Sage, we create a 3-7 Progress Billing Invoice, which breaks down all billable expenses to the cost code level and compares to the job's contract; then we create a 3-10  T&M Invoice which individually lists expenses being billed on the Progress Invoice.  Once you post the T&M invoice, those costs become "billed" -- this helps to not bill any cost twice.  We provide both the AIA type - Progress invoice and the T&M invoice (which we renamed "Invoice Detail" to our client each billing period.)   This has worked for us -- and acts as a checks-and-balances routine for our A/R team as the two reports should match.  Once issued, be sure to delete the T&M invoice so that you don't have two invoices in your system.  Hope this helps somewhat.

  • 0 in reply to Sharon S

    This is great and quite helpful!  I love the idea of the progress billing in conjunction.    Which T&M invoice under 3-10-3 do you use as invoice detail?  

  • 0 in reply to Char DeLange

    Thanks Char.  I am using the reports in 3-10 and the summary in 3-10-8.   But was looking for others experiences as we either feel we are showing too much detail or not enough depending on which report we use under 3-10-3.  

  • 0 in reply to Sharon S

    Thats a lot of work for a cost plus job (when there is no hidden markup).  You can just use the T&M Summary to show billed to date.

  • 0 in reply to DeboraB

    3-10-8 is not modifiable but 3-10-3 are.  And you can create your own 3-10-8 summary if you know how.  

  • 0 in reply to Char DeLange

    Isn't time consuming to create a Progress Invoice. All of our projects are large scale and referred through an AIA, and most AIA's (at least here on the east coast) require billing to be provided using an AIA billing format. This allows monthly billing to be routed through the architect for approval and signature if required. It is also more professional vs just providing a summary report. We have modified the Progress Invoice cover sheet to include job-specific information also (deposit on account or realized variance).

  • 0 in reply to DeboraB

    We use the T&M Invoice by Cost Code - we've added a column to include Vendor, and adjusted column widths etc to fit our description better.

  • 0 in reply to Sharon S

    Great!   I also find that the descriptions need to be fuller.   Not much room on there.   Great idea to add the column for vendor.    Thank you for your insight!

    I've been using the Summary to create a cost to complete after exporting to excel and using change orders to adjust the changes in scope.   I am going to visit the progress billing and see if that might be a better option for us.  Really appreciate your help!