Cost before commitment
Separate the inputs that make up the job price so missing labour, materials, or allowances are easier to catch.
CostForgeJob costing software for trades
Job costing for trade businesses
Know what the job needs to earn before you commit to the price.
CostForge connects the quote to the job record, keeping labour, materials, commercial notes, revisions, and margin decisions in one place for owners, estimators, and trade teams.
Build quotes from labour and material detail
Track quote status and accepted work
Keep internal commercial notes private
Use the live Xero integration for accepted quote invoicing
Cost and margin control
Live commercial view
Estimate → quote → invoice
Costs
Visible
Margin
Protected
Client
Ready
The commercial problem
Job costing is not only an end-of-job report.
If the first view of profitability comes after completion, it is already too late to correct an underpriced scope. A better workflow starts during estimating, makes the cost logic visible, and keeps the approved quote available for the job that follows.
Protect working detail
Keep internal cost logic, staff rates, and margin checks connected to the client-ready version without exposing everything.
Compare revisions
Retain quote history so your team can see what changed between the first estimate and the accepted scope.
Hand work forward
Move from an accepted quote towards invoice creation without recreating the client and job detail from scratch.
A repeatable workflow
Make costing part of the quote-to-cash workflow.
Job costing works best when the estimate, quote, job, and invoice do not become separate versions of the same information.
01
Set the cost structure
Create the client and job, then define the sections, staff roles, material lines, allowances, and commercial notes.
02
Check the price
Review labour cost, materials, markup, tax labels, and client total before the quote is issued.
03
Keep the trail
Track revisions and acceptance, then hand accepted work towards invoicing with the approved quote as the source.
Built for real work
For businesses where a job needs to make sense commercially.
Whether you run a one-person operation or a small estimating team, job costing gives you a way to see the business behind the workload.
Sole traders
Stop relying on memory to know whether a job covered the time, materials, and overhead you put into it.
Trade contractors
Keep recurring installation packages and cost assumptions consistent across similar jobs.
Construction teams
Give estimators and owners the same view of quote versions, accepted scope, and commercial context.
Xero users
Keep detailed estimating in CostForge, then use the live Xero integration for the invoice workflow after acceptance.
Explore pageQuestions trade teams ask
Use the answers below to compare a structured quoting workflow with spreadsheets and generic accounting tools.
What is job costing software for tradespeople?
It is software that records and compares the labour, materials, overhead, and other costs associated with a job so a trade business can price work more accurately and understand margin.
How is job costing different from invoicing?
Invoicing records what the customer owes. Job costing helps the business understand what it costs to deliver the work and whether the agreed price protects profitability.
Can job costing start before the job is won?
Yes. Starting with the estimate is useful because it lets you review the commercial logic before the price becomes a commitment.
Does CostForge replace Xero?
No. CostForge is focused on structured quoting and job costing, while its live Xero integration helps accepted quote work move into the accounting workflow.
Build a calmer commercial process
Price the job with the finish line in view.
Use the quote as the commercial foundation for the job, not as a document that disappears once the client accepts.
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