AI-powered operations for a construction contractor that also trades materials
Walk through a working copy with sample data for Northstone Infra, a made-up waterproofing and repair contractor: four sites, daily reports from the phone, running bills, stores, site cash, a trading desk, and Datum AI to ask it anything. Click anything; changes reset every night.
SiteBook is one operations system for a specialty contractor that works on site and supplies construction materials: daily reports, attendance, schedule of values and pay applications, yard and job stock, site cash, a director dashboard and a supply desk. Every feature below runs in the live demo above with sample data.
An AI assistant that answers from the books
Datum AI sits in the corner of every screen. Ask in plain words,: which sites are over budget, who has not sent today's report, how much PU membrane is in the yard, who owes us money past 60 days, whose onboarding is pending. It answers with the same figures the screens show, and links to the screen.
The model only picks which look-up to run; the numbers come from the app's own queries, never invented. Each morning it opens with a briefing: reports to approve, sites without a report, overdue tasks and what customers owe. Site engineers never see money, margins or payroll through it.
The site engineer files one report per site per day from a phone: quantity done against each schedule of values line, labour by trade, material used from the site's own stock, weather, issues and up to six photos, shrunk on the phone before upload.
The project manager approves it or sends it back with a note. Only approved work counts toward the site's progress, so the progress bar on every site is something the office has checked.
Each site has its crew. The engineer marks present, half day or absent with one tap per person, or "rest present" for everyone else, and can pull a worker in from another site for the day.
The daily report's labour section fills itself from attendance by trade, and labour cost on the dashboard comes from the same marks.
A job's schedule of values is copied from the owner's accepted estimate or entered line by line. A change order is an estimate of its own; once accepted, its lines join the schedule of values and are billed apart, so the original contract sum and net change by change orders stay visible.
Work is measured against each line (or filled from approved daily reports) and stored materials are added per line. A pay application shows scheduled value, previous, this period, stored materials, % complete and balance to finish, holds retainage, works out the current payment due, and downloads as a G702/G703-style PDF with the architect's certificate. Lien waivers, ours and our subs' and suppliers', conditional or unconditional, are ticked off per pay app.
Material arrives from suppliers into the yard and is transferred to sites; each site holds its own stock, and material used is taken from it on the daily report. Nothing can be sent or used that is not there.
The daily stock report has the same columns as a stores register kept in Excel: opening, receipt, dispatch and closing per material, for one location or all of them, for a day or a date range, as CSV or print. Materials below their minimum at the yard are flagged.
Each job's superintendent holds a cash float. Spends are recorded from a phone with what they were for and a photo of the receipt; anything entered three days late is flagged. A job cannot spend more cash than it holds.
Every Thursday the site submits the week's spends as one claim. Accounts approve it or send it back, and paying a claim tops the job's cash back up and lands in the finance book at the same moment.
Each worker's onboarding is captured on a phone: photo, photo ID, I-9, W-4 (or W-9 for a 1099 subcontractor) and direct deposit, with photos of the documents. The same phone can't be added twice, and a similar name asks whether it is the same person.
The monthly pay register works out days from attendance at each person's rate, less advances, with totals per crew; each worker is paid once a month. Payroll taxes stay with the payroll provider. Gate passes need complete onboarding and print as an ID badge.
Each owned machine has a printed QR label. Scanning it on a phone opens the machine: where it is now, and a one-tap move to another site or back to the yard.
Hours run come from the daily report, so the register shows how much each machine actually worked and how many of its days on site it sat idle. Machine days are costed into each site's margin.
The weekly report is put together from the approved daily reports: work done against the schedule of values, labour, material, machinery, issues and photos. The PM picks which sections each client sees and downloads the PDF.
Material used is compared with the norm for each schedule of values line, so over-consumption on a site shows up the same week, not at the end of the job.
Cost to date is material used on site, labour from attendance and wages, and site cash spent. Against the value of approved work it gives each site's margin so far; scaled to the whole contract, it projects where the site will finish against its estimate.
Sites are marked on track, over budget or losing money, next to a short list of what needs attention today: reports waiting for approval, sites low on cash, materials below minimum.
An inquiry becomes a quote that starts from the rate card: the primary supplier's current rate, the backup supplier's when the primary can't supply, or the last purchase. A margin percentage sets the selling price, and alternatives (a polyurethane system against an acrylic one) can be quoted side by side. The quote PDF never shows cost or supplier.
The customer's PO is checked on six points and names the option chosen; the order is held until prepayment is in or it fits the customer's credit limit with nothing overdue. Stock is reserved for confirmed orders, and what the yard can't cover is pooled into one supplier PO at the minimum order quantity. Ship part now and the balance becomes its own order on the same PO; supplier-direct deliveries get a packing slip with no prices. The invoice carries sales tax.
Everything customers owe, pay applications and supply invoices together, sorted into not due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days. Each overdue bill becomes a follow-up task for its salesperson or PM once a week, and past 30 days it is escalated to the director.
Supply invoices carry sales tax and pay applications carry retainage, and both download as PDFs.
Customer receipts, supplier payments, advances and site cash all land in one cash book. Site staff never see company finances or the dashboard; this is enforced on the server for every request, not just hidden on screen.
Ahrom Labs has built each of these connections for clients before. Two run in this demo; the rest are set up for each company with its own accounts.
TelegramIn this demo
Each site has a group: the approved daily report and site cash updates are posted there, so the site and the office see the same thing. In the demo the messages wait in Settings → Sites and channels.
Google MapsIn this demo
Each site has a map pin; attendance records where it was marked and flags marks away from the site. Live, road distance from the yard feeds freight costing.
GmailSet up per company
Estimates, pay applications and invoices emailed to the customer from the app, with the PDF attached.
Cloudflare storageIn this demo
Site photos, receipts and documents stored safely and shown inside the app.
Telegram
Google Maps
Gmail
Cloudflare storage