Answers about budgets, contracts, payment certificates, retention, GST, cash flow forecasting, milestones, and team access for NZ and Australian construction project managers and main contractors.
Manage Your Build is a project finance management tool designed for construction and professional services. It helps you track budgets, manage contracts and suppliers, forecast cash flow, process payment certificates, and generate financial reports — all in one place.
From the Projects page, click "New Project", enter your project name and details, and you're ready to start adding budgets, suppliers, and contracts.
When you sign up you get a 2-week free trial of the Professional plan on 1 project — full editing, budgets, contracts, and reports. No credit card required. When the trial ends you automatically drop to the Free plan (your project stays read-only) until you choose a paid plan. Upgrade any time to unlock printing, CSV exports, PDF reports, and collaboration.
Work your way down the sidebar — each section builds on the last: Project Data — Set up once with your project details, client info, and key dates. Budget Setup — Set up once. Revisit if the budget changes or a client scope change is introduced. Contracts — Set up contact details, retention structure, contract type, and insurances once per supplier. Revisit monthly when payments are due, contract instructions need to be issued, or variations are required. Allowances — Review monthly, or as contracted commitments are entered against your budget. Forecast — Review alongside your budget to track committed vs actual vs forecast costs. Don't know where a number has come from? Click the link and it'll take you there. Timelines — Set up at the beginning. Update as required and track monthly for reporting, or set up auto tracking for when progress is steady. Cash Flow — Set up at the beginning. Use the interactive chart or different methods to spread your forecast cost over time. Lock it down for reporting, then reopen to refine as the project progresses. Insights — Use our automated project review prompts to write your monthly executive summary. Once the initial setup is done, most of your time is spent in Contracts, Cash Flow, and Insights — the rest updates automatically as you go.
We offer four plans: Free (1 project, limited features — this is also the plan you land on after your 2-week free trial of Professional ends), Professional (1 project with addons available, up to 2 view-only collaborators per project), Team (1 project with addons, unlimited collaborators with full editing access), and Elite (custom pricing — contact us for large organisations). Visit the Pricing page for current pricing.
Professional is ideal for individuals managing their own projects: 1 project included with additional projects available as addons, and you can share with up to 2 view-only collaborators per project. Team is built for organisations: 1 project included with additional projects available as addons, and unlimited collaborators with full editing access across all your projects. See the Pricing page for current addon rates.
Yes. Both Professional and Team plans support addon projects at competitive monthly rates. Add them from the Usage & Billing page — charges are prorated for the current billing period. See the Pricing page for current rates.
Go to Usage & Billing, open the Change Plan section, and select your new plan. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades are scheduled for the end of your current billing period.
The downgrade is scheduled for the end of your billing period. When it takes effect, all your owned projects are locked (team members see them locked too), addon slots are removed, and your account continues on the Free plan. You can upgrade back anytime to unlock everything.
You have three options for stepping away from the platform — pick the one that matches what you actually want: Downgrade to Free — keeps your account and your projects, but locks the projects (read-only) and removes any addon slots. Scheduled at the end of the current billing period. You can upgrade back any time to unlock everything. Cancel your subscription (via the Stripe Customer Portal) — your paid features end at the end of the current billing period, after which your data is held for a 30-day grace period during which you can resubscribe and pick up where you left off. After 30 days, project data is removed. Close Account — Usage & Billing > Account tab > Close Account. This is the immediate, permanent option: your Stripe subscription is cancelled and your account and all of your data are deleted straight away. There is no grace period and it cannot be undone. Only choose this if you genuinely want everything gone now.
All billing is monthly through Stripe. You can view invoices, update your payment method, and manage your subscription through the Stripe Customer Portal, accessible from Usage & Billing.
Yes — all subscription prices are billed in New Zealand Dollars and include GST. Project data is a separate matter: each project displays in its own currency (NZD, AUD, or USD), which you choose when you create it. Subscription billing currency does not change.
Free: 1 project. Professional: 1 included plus addon projects. Team: 1 included plus addon projects. Elite: custom allowance — contact us.
Marking a project complete archives it and frees up a project slot on your plan. The project still appears in your list as completed and you can view its data and reports. If you need to make changes again, you can reopen it — the first reopen is free; subsequent reopens of the same project incur a small fee. See the Pricing page for current rates.
Yes. You can bulk-import budget items and suppliers from CSV files. The import dialog auto-maps your columns, previews the data with validation checks, and shows any errors before committing. You can also download a template CSV to get started.
Yes, paid plans include full printable reports and PDF exports for financial reports, payment certificates, and more.
The activity log records every significant change made to your project — budget edits, supplier updates, invoice certifications, milestone changes, and more. It's available on paid plans and gives you a clear audit trail of who changed what and when.
The system automatically takes a daily snapshot of your project data. You can also create manual snapshots at any time. If something goes wrong, you can roll back to a previous snapshot to restore your project to that point in time.
Yes. The dashboard has a Simple/Detailed toggle. Simple mode shows a concise summary of your project's key metrics. Detailed mode shows all available tiles including financial gauges, contract status, cash flow coverage, timeline progress, and insights.
Each project has an Engagement Type that controls the financial labels used throughout that project. There are three options: Acting as Agent / Client Side PM — the default. Standard PM language: Budget, Forecast Saving, Forecast Overrun, Scope Changes, etc. Main Contractor / Builder — Open Book / Cost Reimbursable — same PM-style labels as Agent. Use this when you're the main contractor working on an open-book or cost-reimbursable basis. Main Contractor / Builder — Fixed Price / Quoted — switches the labels to contractor terms: Quoted Value (instead of Budget), Forecast Margin (instead of Saving), Margin Erosion (instead of Overrun), Quote Variance (instead of Budget Variance), Risk Allowance Remaining (instead of Contingency), Client Variations (instead of Scope Changes), and so on. It only changes wording — none of the calculations, totals or numbers move. Set it on the Project Data page when you create the project.
The entire production database is automatically backed up every hour, encrypted, and stored in our cloud storage. Backups are kept for 30 days on a rolling basis and copies are emailed off-site for disaster-recovery. You don't need to do anything — it's all handled in the background.
Yes. We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure password hashing, HttpOnly session cookies, and full data isolation between accounts. Your data is never shared with other users.
Go to Usage & Billing > Team tab, enter their email address, and choose their access level. They'll receive an email invitation to join your project.
View Only members can see project data but cannot make changes. Full Access members can view and edit all project data. Professional plans only allow View Only collaborators (up to 2 per project). Team plans allow both View Only and Full Access, with unlimited collaborators.
Yes. From the Manage Access dialog on a project, you can transfer ownership to another user with a paid plan. They'll receive an email invitation to accept the transfer.
No. Collaborators get free access to projects they're invited to — it doesn't use any of their own project slots.
Individual cost entries within your project budget, such as "Earthworks", "Electrical", or "Architect Fees". All plans include budget lines and suppliers.
From the Budget Setup tab, add budget line items for each cost category (e.g. Earthworks, Electrical, Architect Fees). Each line has an original budget value and a code. As you add contracts and scope changes, the system tracks your current budget against the original.
Scope changes track approved budget adjustments separately from your original budget, so you always have a clear audit trail of what changed and why.
Each supplier contract is broken into stages (e.g. "Foundations", "Framing", "Fit-out"). Each stage has its own contract value and reference. Invoices are then claimed and certified against individual stages, giving you granular tracking of progress and payments.
Variations are approved changes to a contract's value — additions or deductions. Each variation is linked to a contract stage and includes the amount, description, approval date, and a reference number. Variations are tracked separately from the original contract so you always know what changed and why.
Configure retention percentages for each contract. The system automatically calculates withheld amounts on each invoice and tracks when retention is due for release.
Each project has a supplier directory. Supplier records hold contact details, trade category, contract type, retention settings, insurance policies, and key contract dates. All invoices, contract stages, and variations are organised under their supplier.
Contract Instructions (CIs) are formal notices you can issue to suppliers. Each CI is auto-numbered (e.g. BB-CI-0001), has a type (Instruction, Commercial Status, Contractor Action, or general), and generates a printable A4 letter matching MYB branding. Use them for site instructions, cost notifications, or required actions.
Yes. Each project lets you customise the display names for budget category headings (e.g. rename "Construction" to "Build Costs"). These custom names flow through to all reports, the dashboard, and cash flow views. The underlying category structure stays the same — it's just the label that changes.
Each supplier can have insurance policy records including policy number, insurer, expiry date, and type. The Insights engine automatically flags expired or soon-to-expire policies so nothing slips through the cracks.
From a supplier's contract page, create a new invoice. Enter the claim amounts against each contract stage and any variations. The system calculates the certified total, applies retention, adds GST, and determines the payment due.
Payment certificates are the formal output of the invoice process. They show the contractor's claimed amount, the certified amount, retention held, GST, and the net payment due. You can print them as branded A4 documents directly from the app.
If the certified amount is less than the claimed amount, the difference is tracked as a withheld payment. You can add notes explaining why, and the system maintains a running record so nothing gets lost.
Retention is held back from each payment as security. When Practical Completion (PC) is achieved, a percentage is released. The remaining balance is released after the Defects Liability Period (DLP). The system tracks both milestones and calculates releases automatically.
GST treatment and rate flow through every certificate, payment schedule and audit report on your project, so getting it right at the start keeps all your historic numbers consistent. It's designed to be set once at project setup and rarely changed — pick the option that matches how your contracts are priced and leave it.
Values you enter exclude GST, and the system adds GST on top when calculating certificates, payment schedules and audit-report payment-due totals. As a rule of thumb, this is typical for commercial projects where pricing is quoted ex-GST.
Values you enter already include GST, and the system extracts the GST portion so you can still see the net and GST split clearly. As a rule of thumb, this is more common on residential projects where pricing is quoted GST-inclusive.
15% is the New Zealand standard rate and what we set by default. Only change it if you genuinely operate under a different rate — there's a small warning if you set it to anything other than 15% so you don't change it by accident.
You'll be asked to confirm the change because it affects future calculations. Your existing Payment Certificates and audit-report rows stay locked at the GST settings that were active when they were entered, so historic numbers don't silently move. Only new invoices and certificates entered after the change use the new settings.
Open the project's Project Data form and expand the GST Handling section. The summary line shows your current treatment and rate, and expanding the section lets you switch between Inclusive and Exclusive or change the rate.
The forecast report brings together your original budget, approved variations, certified-to-date amounts, uncommitted and risk allowances, and calculates your forecast final cost. It highlights savings or overruns per budget line and across the whole project.
Cash Flow lets you map your budget across a timeline to create a planned spend profile. As invoices are certified, actual spend is recorded automatically. A cumulative chart shows planned vs actual progress, making it easy to spot if spending is ahead or behind schedule.
You have full control. Click the pencil icon on any cash flow line to open the Edit Monthly Cash Flow Values dialog, where you can type exact dollar amounts or percentages for each month. This is ideal when you know the real payment schedule differs from the forecast — for example, a supplier billing in specific milestones rather than evenly. Your manual values are saved and will be used instead of the automatically distributed amounts.
When you add or edit a cash flow line, you can choose how the total value is spread across its duration. Options include Even (equal amounts each month), Front-loaded (heavier spending at the start), Back-loaded (heavier at the end), S-curve (ramps up, peaks, then tapers off — common for construction trades), or Custom (enter your own month-by-month profile). Pick the pattern that best reflects how you expect to spend, and the system distributes the values automatically.
Yes. Each cash flow line has a coloured bar showing its timeline. Grab either end of the bar and drag to change the start month or extend/shorten the duration. When you release, the values are automatically redistributed across the new time period using the line's current distribution pattern. It's a quick way to shift spending earlier or later without recalculating manually.
Yes. Inside the Edit Monthly Cash Flow Values dialog, you'll find Download Template and Upload CSV buttons. Download gives you a pre-filled CSV with all the current monthly values for that line. Edit it in Excel or Google Sheets, then upload it back. The system matches months automatically and populates the dialog — you can review everything before saving. This is especially useful for complex multi-month payment profiles.
Actuals come directly from your processed invoices. As you certify invoices against contract stages, the certified amounts are automatically mapped to the relevant month and budget line. On the cumulative chart, you'll see a separate Actual line alongside your Planned line. The actuals line stops at the end of the prior month to give a fair, settled comparison — because invoices in the current month may still be coming in.
Yes. Toggle "Milestones" to On (in the controls above the table) and your project milestones appear as coloured background bands across the relevant months. Each milestone's colour matches its phase (Design, Construction, Completion). This gives you a clear visual of what's happening and when, so you can see how your planned spend lines up with key project dates — all in one view.
Yes. Some budget lines — like contingency, profit margins, or management fees — may not represent real monthly cash outlays. You can mark these as excluded, and they'll be removed from both the cash flow table totals and the cumulative chart. This keeps your cash flow focused on actual money going out the door.
Yes. If a budget line has multiple payment streams (for example, 65% to a main contractor and 35% to a subcontractor), you can split it into sub-lines. Each sub-line gets its own timeline, pattern, and monthly values while staying linked to the parent budget line. The parent row shows the combined total.
The project dashboard includes a 7-month cumulative cash flow chart centred on the reporting month (the prior month). It shows Planned vs Actual lines and a quick variance indicator so you can see at a glance whether spending is tracking to plan. The same chart appears on the printable dashboard report.
Yes. Use the lock toggle to freeze the cash flow. When locked, no one can edit values, drag bars, or change patterns — protecting your baseline from accidental changes. Unlock it when you need to make updates.
Yes. Paid plans include full printable reports that can be exported to PDF. Financial Forecast Reports, payment certificates, and comprehensive project reports are all available in print-ready A4 format with MYB branding.
We find Adobe PDF works best for printing the dashboard. In the print dialog, select Adobe PDF as your printer, then use these settings for a clean single-page result: Paper size — A4 Margins — Custom: 0.2" on top and sides, 0.0" on bottom Scale — ~97% Headers and footers — unchecked Some PDF printers — particularly Microsoft Print to PDF — don't handle the dashboard layout well and can produce blurry or poorly rendered text. If your output doesn't look right, switching to Adobe PDF (or using your browser's built-in "Save as PDF" option) will usually fix it.
Each project displays its active currency — currently NZD, AUD, or USD. You set the currency when creating a project, and all financial figures throughout the app display with the correct symbol. Multi-currency support within a single project is planned for the future.
Uncommitted allowances represent budget set aside for work that hasn't been quoted or contracted yet. They keep your forecast realistic by accounting for known future costs that don't have a supplier attached.
Risk allowances are prudent set-asides for things that might go wrong — weather delays, ground conditions, design changes. They give you a financial buffer and keep your forecast honest rather than optimistic.
Each time you change an allowance amount, you can add a note explaining why. The system keeps a full adjustment history so you have a clear audit trail of how your risk and uncommitted positions evolved over the project.
We're not here to replace your 2,000-line-item MS Project file. The Timelines section is designed to capture what matters for reporting — rolled-up tasks, critical path activities, and key milestones. Keep it high level. Think of it as the programme summary your client or stakeholders actually want to see, not the full construction schedule your site team works from day to day.
The Milestones page gives you an interactive Gantt-style timeline. Add milestones with start and end dates, assign them to phases (Design, Construction, Completion), and track percentage complete. You can zoom in from yearly down to daily views and drag bars to adjust dates.
Yes. Milestones are grouped into project phases — typically Design, Construction, and Completion. Each phase shows aggregate progress, and the Insights engine uses milestone dates to flag overdue items or approaching deadlines.
The Days +/- column lets you enter how many days a task is ahead (+) or behind (-) schedule. When you enter a value, the system automatically calculates the corresponding % complete based on the task's dates and how far through it you are. It's a quick way to update progress without calculating percentages manually. Entering 0 means the task is exactly on track for today's date.
The auto-track toggle (timer icon) locks a milestone to its Days +/- offset and automatically recalculates the % complete each day. For example, if a task is set to +5 days ahead, the system updates its progress daily to stay 5 days ahead of schedule. This keeps your dashboard and reports current without needing to manually update percentages. Manually editing % complete disables auto-track for that milestone.
Shown at the top of the Timelines page, Programmed Completion is the end date of your last milestone — when the project is planned to finish. Forecast Completion is calculated from the current progress of active tasks. If any task is behind schedule, the forecast shifts later; if everything is on track or ahead, it matches the programmed date. It gives you an at-a-glance view of whether the project is likely to finish on time.
Yes. On the Cash Flow page, you can toggle "Milestones" on to display your milestones as coloured background bands across the cash flow table. This lets you see your planned spend alongside key project dates — so you can check whether your financial profile lines up with the programme. Milestones also feed into the Insights engine, which flags overdue or approaching deadlines.
The Insights page gives you a monthly health check on your project. It analyses your live project data and flags potential issues across four categories: financial health, timeline risks, compliance gaps, and cash flow variance. You get a recommended RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status and can save a monthly summary with your own commentary.
The analysis engine is built on 20+ years of hands-on construction project management experience from our founder, Dave. This isn't AI guesswork — it's practical logic developed from decades of actually dealing with the financial realities of construction projects. Every flag and threshold reflects real patterns Dave has seen derail real projects.
The engine highlights things like budget overruns, uncommitted and risk movements, risk allowance shortfalls, overdue milestones, approaching completion dates, expired supplier insurance, and significant cash flow variance between planned and actual spend. Think of it as a friendly heads-up on the areas of your project that may need your attention — so you can review them and keep things running smoothly.
Every Monday morning, paid-plan users receive an email summarising their active projects. It includes a RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status for each project, key financial figures such as budget position and certified-to-date totals, and any insights flagged by the analysis engine. It's a quick way to stay on top of your projects without logging in.
Go to Settings and scroll to Notification Preferences. You'll find four toggles: a master email toggle (turns off all non-essential emails), weekly digest, project updates, and marketing emails. Critical account emails like password resets are always delivered regardless of your settings.
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Manage Your Build Limited — construction project finance management software for New Zealand and Australian construction professionals.