For South African contractors & builders

Catch the overrun at the first certificate, not at final account.

Log the slip from the bakkie. See the line running hot the same day. Fix it while the walls are still going up.

Start your first project
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30-day free trial · no card

  • Reads the BOQ you already have
  • Your foreman logs from site
  • A progress page for your client

Not ready to sign up? See where your job is leaking margin

Retention
Certified to dateR838,000
Held back at 5%R41,900
Released onPractical completion

Retention, tracked — not remembered.

Every certified claim holds back its 5%. siteMargin keeps the running total, so the release isn't a surprise on either side of the table.

Purchase orders
PO-0417 · Plumbing rough-inR38,500
SupplierTrident Plumbing
StatusAPPROVED

Commitments on the line, before they're invoices.

Raise a PO against a line item and its budget already knows the money's spoken for.

Progress vs spend
Joinery & carpentry62% spent
Work complete41%
GapAHEAD OF PROGRESS

Spend running ahead of the work.

Money out is 21 points ahead of work done on this line. That's the one to walk before the next claim goes in.

Three fights you won’t have at final account.Everything that's inside
Why not the spreadsheet

Your sheet isn't wrong. It's late.

The number that gives an overrun away isn’t the budget — it’s the gap between money spent and work actually done. Proper cost-control software watches that gap, but it is built for firms with a full-time QS and a budget to match. For a two-to-ten person outfit it is overkill, so the job ends up in a spreadsheet nobody updates until it matters.

That is not a discipline problem. It is a structural one: the only person you can trust with the whole file is the one person with no time to open it — and the people with time are the ones you can’t show your margins to.

Your spreadsheet

  • Only you can update itOr whoever you trust with the whole file.
  • Right the evening you rebuild itWrong every day in between.
  • Silent when a line goes overIt waits for you to notice.

siteMargin

  • Your foreman updates itFrom site, without seeing a single margin.
  • Right the afternoon the slip comes inThe slip is photographed, the line moves.
  • Amber the day spend gets ahead of the workBefore the next claim goes in.
From the BOQ you already have

Your BOQ in. The sheet out.

The bill of quantities for our sample job, Eaton Road, and the page siteMargin built from it once the slips and progress went in. Drag to compare.

Your BOQIn siteMargin
The same nine lines in siteMargin: 69% of the budget spent with 57% of the work done, heading for about R232 355 over, with the two lines driving it named
Who this is for

Whoever’s on site, same numbers.

Contractors
3free site seats

Runs the job

Budget vs actual that updates itself, not a spreadsheet you rebuild every Friday.

Subcontractors
Freesite seats cost nothing

Does the work

Clean POs, visible payment and retention status.

Home owners
R899once-off, one build

Pays for the build

On budget, on track — not a platform built for a GC.

Developers
5%retention tracked per unit

Holds the retention

You hold the retention and pay for the variations. The same numbers, read from your side of the table.

For developers →
Everywhere on site

Six tools. One set of numbers.

The six you’ll use most, colour-coded so you know which one you’re in.

Cost & ProgressR232k over Daily Log6 photos today Snag List4 open ScheduleRoof due Fri Payments & RetentionR41,900 held DrawingsRev D, explained
The principle

Made for the size of outfit that never gets proper software.

Built in Cape Town for South African contractors — JBCC-aware, rand-native, retention held the way your contracts hold it.

  1. <1 MIN per entry

    Fast to update

    Log spend in under a minute — a tool nobody updates is worse than none.

  2. 4 languages

    Plain-language

    Drawings explained in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa or isiZulu. No variance formulas, just numbers you can read.

  3. From R399 per month

    Priced for small businesses

    30-day free trial, then free on your first project. Paid plans for outfits running two to ten, not enterprises.

Before you sign up

The questions we get on WhatsApp.

Do I need a QS background?
No. It talks plain site language, not variance formulas.
Can I bring my existing budget?
Yes. Excel, CSV, PDF or a Word quote, checked line by line.
Will it price my job?
No. You bring your prices; it tracks what happens to them.
Does it replace my QS?
No. Your QS can check its certificates; it isn’t a JBCC compliance tool.
What does it need from me?
Spend logged and progress measured. No updates, no warning.
What happens to my data?
It’s yours. Any job downloads as PDF, Excel or CSV on a paid plan.

All questions, answered →

Resources

The forms and registers you’d make yourself, already made.

Retention registers, VO forms, snag lists. Download them, use them, no strings.

Guide

Retention, explained

What it is, when you actually get it back, and a register to track it. Free spreadsheet.

 Template

Snagging list

Free download — the same list the app turns into a proper record.

 Checklist

Before you sign

Twenty questions on payment terms, retention and variations. No sign-up.

 Spreadsheet

Cash-flow forecast

See which job needs capital next, before it needs it. Free Excel.

All eight, in the Construction Library ›

Load the job you’re worried about.

30-day free trial, then free on your first project. No card, no demo call.

Sign up free
Or send me your budget — I'll tell you where it finishes

POPIA-compliant · encrypted

Spread the word
Got a mate in the trade who finds overruns at final account?
Pass it on. No referral code, just the link.
WhatsApp Email
Snag List

Snags come in from WhatsApp. Your client signs them off.

  1. Post one link in the site WhatsApp group. Anyone on site can take a photo and send a snag, with no app and no login.
  2. It lands in your snag list as Reported. You add it to the list or dismiss it, so the list stays clean.
  3. Your client sees the same list, live. When a fix is done they tap Accept, or send it back with a note.
Start free Everything else inside →
Cost & Progress

Spent against built, on every line.

The Cost & Progress page on a sample job: 69% of the budget spent with 57% of the work done, and the two lines causing it flagged
  1. Log costs as they happen. Snap the slip, pick the line. Under a minute, even with no signal.
  2. Say how far each line is. Update the percentage built as the work moves.
  3. See the gap the day it opens. 90% spent but 60% built is flagged straight away, by line and by trade.
Start free Everything else inside →
Daily Log

The reason behind every number, written down on the day.

A cost line marked over budget, with the site note explaining why and the invoice, quote and photo attached
  1. Write the day from your phone. Notes and photos, saved even when there's no signal on site.
  2. Attach the paperwork to the line. Invoices, quotes and photos sit with the cost they explain.
  3. Answer a query in seconds. When a client asks why a line went over, the note and the slip are right there.
Start free Everything else inside →
Schedule

The programme, next to the budget.

  1. Put the job on a timeline. Each task with its dates, on one simple bar chart.
  2. See what's due next. What has to happen this week is the first thing you see.
  3. Mark tasks done as they finish. Progress on the programme sits beside progress on the money.
Start free Everything else inside →
Payments & Retention

Know what you're owed, not just what you've spent.

Claimed, certified, retention held and uncertified amounts for each line item
  1. Claimed, certified and paid, line by line. See exactly where a certificate came in short.
  2. Retention tracked on every job. Held, due for release and still holding, across your whole list.
  3. A certificate your client can read. A clean one-page claim to hand over, ready to print or send.
Start free Everything else inside →
Drawings

Your drawings, explained in plain words.

A foundation plan drawing beside siteMargin's plain-language explanation of it
  1. Upload a drawing. A PDF from the architect or engineer is enough.
  2. Read it in plain words. What the sheet says, in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa or isiZulu.
  3. Share it with the team or client. Everyone reads the same explanation. The signed drawing stays what gets built.
Start free Everything else inside →