Odoo ERP for construction companies
Win the tender. Build it on budget. Get paid on time.
Odoo for UK main contractors, specialist subcontractors and building services firms. Price and win work, turn awarded contracts into costed projects, schedule labour and plant, control commitments and variations, and handle CIS, reverse charge VAT and stage invoicing in one connected system.
- Official Odoo Partner
- ISO 27001 and ISO 9001
- Cyber Essentials certified
- UK team in Northampton
In one sentence
What is Odoo for construction companies?
It is Odoo's CRM, Sales, Project, Planning, Purchase, Inventory, Timesheets, Employees, Documents, Sign and Accounting apps configured for how construction businesses tender, build and get paid. Every contract, commitment, hour and invoice sits on one project record, so commercial, site and finance teams see the same live position. In short: construction ERP and job costing software built for UK contractors.
- 01Who it is for
- Main contractors, specialist and trade subcontractors, groundworks and civils, M&E and building services, fit-out and refurbishment firms
- 02Core Odoo apps
- CRM, Sales, Sign, Project, Planning, Timesheets, Purchase, Inventory, Rental, Documents, Employees, Time Off, Accounting
- 03Typically replaces
- Sage or Xero plus cost report spreadsheets, paper timesheets and day sheets, and separate estimating, purchasing and document tools
- 04Your partner
- Thoughtlogik, Official Odoo Partner with a UK team in Northampton
The bigger picture
A £140bn industry running on thin margins.
Rising material and labour costs, late payment and tighter compliance squeeze every job. Contractors who see their cost position live make better decisions, sooner.
of new construction work in Great Britain in 2024
ONS construction statistics →VAT or PAYE registered construction firms in Great Britain
ONS construction statistics →employees in construction, before counting the self-employed
ONS construction statistics →CIS deduction on labour paid to unverified or unregistered subcontractors
HMRC, CIS guidance →Sound familiar?
The problems we hear from contractors every week.
Every new contract adds suppliers, subcontractors and paperwork. Spreadsheets and disconnected packages stop keeping up, and the commercial team spends its week reconciling.
Every unbilled variation, late cost and double-booked gang comes straight off the bottom line.
Estimates that never match the job
Tenders are priced in spreadsheets, then rebuilt as budgets, so nobody can compare what was priced with what is being spent.
→ Odoo fix: Quotes that become project budgets
Cost reports a month out of date
Commitments, invoices and labour reach the cost report late, so overruns appear when the money is already spent.
→ Odoo fix: Live committed and actual cost
Variations that never get billed
Instructions agreed on site live in notebooks and emails, and slip through before the next valuation.
→ Odoo fix: Variations as tracked order lines
Subcontractor admin by hand
Verification, CIS deductions, reverse charge VAT and payment runs are worked out in spreadsheets each month.
→ Odoo fix: UK CIS and reverse charge built in
Labour and plant double-booked
Gangs, plant and subcontractors are juggled on whiteboards and phone calls, with no live view across sites.
→ Odoo fix: Planning by trade, crew and plant
Cash tied up in unbilled work
Applications, stage invoices and retentions are tracked outside the accounts, so cash arrives later than it should.
→ Odoo fix: Stage, deposit and milestone invoicing
Today versus tomorrow
Six tools and five hand-offs, or one record.
Follow a typical contract through a construction business today. Every orange dot is a hand-off where someone retypes, chases or reconciles. Then flip to Odoo.
TodaySix tools, five hand-offs, no single cost position
With OdooOne record from first enquiry to final report
CRMTender
SalesAward
PurchaseBuy
PlanningSite
TimesheetsLabour
ProjectCosts
AccountingValuation
DashboardsReportsHow Odoo works for construction companies
One record, from tender to final account.
Follow a contract through Odoo. Each step picks up exactly where the last one finished, so nothing is retyped and nothing slips between the office and site.
CRM, estimates and e-signature
Win the work
CRMSales
Sign
DocumentsTender enquiries from email, portals and your website land in one pipeline. Estimators build priced quotations from templates for labour, materials, plant and subcontract, and clients accept online.
- Tender pipeline with stages, deadlines and win rates
- Outlook add-in creates opportunities and logs emails
- Quotation templates with sections, optional items and alternatives
- Tender documents and drawings stored on the opportunity
- Online acceptance and e-signature
An awarded tender becomes a confirmed contract in one click.
Enquiry £2.1m
Pricing £3.4m
Submitted £2.7m
Won £1.9m
Projects, programmes and resources
Plan and resource
ProjectPlanning
RentalConfirming the contract creates the project with its phases, tasks and milestones. Planners book gangs, supervisors, plant and subcontractors against the programme and see clashes across every site.
- Project created from the contract, with budget by cost code
- Phases, tasks, dependencies and a Gantt programme
- Resource planning by trade, crew and availability
- Plant and equipment bookings with the Rental app
- Approved time off visible, so no one is double-booked
Everyone knows who and what is on which site, this week.
Mobile day sheets, POs and documents
Run the site
TimesheetsPurchaseDocuments
ExpensesSite teams use the Odoo app to see their programme, log hours against cost codes, raise purchase orders, photograph deliveries and open the latest drawings, all against the right project.
- Timesheets and day sheets against project tasks
- Purchase orders raised and approved from site
- Deliveries booked in against the purchase order
- Drawings, RAMS and specifications on the current revision
- Progress photos and site diary notes on each task
Labour and materials reach the cost report the same day.
Received against PO
Awaiting approval
Job costing, commitments and variations
Control cost and change
ProjectPurchaseAccountingEvery order, supplier bill, timesheet and plant charge posts to the project as it happens. Commercial managers see budget, committed, actual and forecast by cost code, and variations are priced, approved and added to the contract value.
- Budget against committed and actual cost by cost code
- Analytic budgets for each project, phase or package
- Variations added as approved order lines
- Work in progress: cost incurred against revenue valued
- Revenue recognition with deferred revenue entries
See every job's margin while there is still time to change it.
Budget against committed and actual. VO-07 approved and added to contract value.
Purchasing, subcontractors and CIS
Buy and pay
Purchase
InventoryAccountingOrders and subcontracts follow approval rules. Supplier and subcontractor invoices emailed to Odoo are read by AI, matched to the order and receipt, and CIS is deducted from labour before payment.
- AI-driven capture of supplier and subcontractor invoices
- Purchase order approval above a set amount
- Three-way matching: order, receipt and bill
- CIS deductions on labour lines and monthly return to HMRC
- Domestic reverse charge VAT on construction services
Pay only for what was ordered, approved and delivered.
Brickwork subcontractor
Labour, blockwork L1: £8,400.00
Materials, ties and mortar: £1,260.00
VAT: domestic reverse charge
Gross due: £9,660.00
Stage invoicing and dashboards
Invoice and report
AccountingDashboardsProjectRaise stage, milestone and deposit invoices from the contract, chase payment with automatic reminders and reconcile bank feeds. Dashboards show pipeline, workload, project margins and cash across the business.
- Stage, milestone and percentage invoicing
- Deposits and down payments deducted automatically
- Automatic payment reminders and aged debt
- Bank statement integration and reconciliation
- Project performance, margin and cash dashboards
One live view from tender pipeline to cash in the bank.
Productive vs non-productive labour hours Last 6 months
Inside real Odoo
Screenshots from standard Odoo with Odoo demo data.
Screens above show illustrative sample data based on standard Odoo. Your solution is shaped around your processes in discovery.
Site and mobile working
Built for site teams, not just the office.
The Odoo app gives supervisors and operatives the same live data as the office, on the phone they already carry. No separate apps, no paper day sheets to post back.
Programmes and shifts
Gangs see which site they are on today and this week, with the task, contact and address.
Timesheets and day sheets
Log hours by task and cost code with a timer, or enter them at the end of the shift.
Expenses and deliveries
Snap receipts and delivery notes. Odoo reads receipts and routes them for approval.
Purchase orders
Raise a PO for materials or hire from site, approved by a manager from their phone.
Shift confirmed
Review now
Approvals on the move
Approve timesheets, expenses, purchase orders and bills wherever you are.
Drawings, RAMS and specs
The current revision of every document opens on site, so nobody builds from an old drawing.
Site diaries and photos
Record progress, delays, instructions and photos against each task, straight onto the job.
CRM on the go
Directors and estimators update tenders, log meetings and send quotes from a phone.
People and HR
Manage your people in the same system.
Operative records, CSCS cards and qualifications, holidays and absence, timesheets and expenses all live alongside your projects. Approved leave shows in Planning, so nobody is booked on a site while they are off.
EmployeesProfiles, contracts, skills and qualifications in one place- Time OffHoliday requests and approvals from the app, with live allowances
- TimesheetsHours by project and task, approved by managers
- ExpensesReceipts captured on a phone and reimbursed quickly
Finance and UK compliance
UK accounting that understands construction.
Odoo's UK localisation covers the rules contractors deal with every month, so finance stops keying and checking and starts managing cash.
Construction Industry Scheme
Deduction rates per subcontractor, CIS on labour lines of bills, and the monthly CIS return sent to HMRC from Odoo.
Domestic reverse charge VAT
Reverse charge tax codes and fiscal positions so construction invoices and bills carry the right VAT treatment.
Making Tax Digital VAT
VAT returns built from the ledger and submitted to HMRC from Odoo, on a VAT100-ready tax structure.
Cost codes by project and division
Analytic plans tag every line by project, package, division and region, for reporting without extra ledgers.
Stage payments and retentions
Milestone, percentage and deposit invoicing are standard, with retentions configured around your contract terms.
AI supplier invoice capture
Bills emailed to Odoo are read by AI: supplier, lines, VAT and totals, ready to check and post.
Bank feeds and Bacs
Bank statements imported and reconciled automatically, with supplier payment runs exported as Bacs files.
Revenue recognition and WIP
Deferred revenue entries and WIP reporting keep month-end margins honest on long contracts.
Moving from Sage or Xero? We migrate your chart of accounts, contacts, subcontractors, open balances and history, and run both in parallel until you are confident to switch.
Talk to a finance consultantTwo-minute check
How connected is your construction business?
Switch on everything that is true today. Your score shows how much time and margin a connected system could give back.
One platform, every type of contractor
Whatever you build, Odoo fits how you work.
Main contractors, trade specialists and building services firms all run projects differently. Odoo is configured around your contracts, while finance sees one set of books.
Odoo for main contractors
Multi-trade projects with many subcontractors, where commitments, variations and valuations decide the final margin.
- Subcontract orders with approval rules and CIS
- Committed cost reports by package and cost code
- Variations and stage invoices from the contract
- Documents and RAMS shared per project
Odoo for specialist subcontractors
Trade packages for several main contractors at once, where applications, labour productivity and cash flow matter most.
- Applications and stage invoicing per package
- Gang timesheets against tasks and cost codes
- Material call-offs with Purchase and Inventory
- Domestic reverse charge applied on invoices to contractors
Odoo for groundworks and civils
Plant-heavy work where machine hours, fuel and hire costs swing margins job by job.
- Plant and vehicles in Fleet and Maintenance
- Hire in and hire out managed with Rental
- Machine and labour hours costed to each job
- Materials and muck-away tracked against budget
Odoo for M&E and building services
Install projects followed by planned maintenance, where you need project control and recurring service revenue.
- Install projects with stage invoicing
- Planned maintenance contracts on Subscriptions
- Equipment serial numbers tracked by site
- Reactive call-outs logged in Helpdesk and scheduled in Planning
Odoo for fit-out and refurbishment
Fast programmes, client changes and long-lead items, where purchasing and variations must keep pace.
- Long-lead items ordered and tracked from the contract
- Client variations approved online
- Snagging tasks with photos and sign-off
- Margin by project across the whole portfolio
Why Thoughtlogik
A UK Odoo partner that connects your whole business.
We are a Northampton-based consultancy implementing Odoo for project-led and service businesses. Our consultants understand how construction contracts are won, delivered and paid for, so workshops are about your work, not software jargon.
We speak finance, not just software
CIS, reverse charge VAT, WIP and revenue recognition are designed in from day one, with your accountant in the room.
Standard Odoo first
We configure before we customise, so your system stays easy to upgrade and affordable to run.
Clear scope, clear plan
A fixed scope, phased plan and named consultants, agreed before any build starts.
Support after go-live
Hypercare at launch, then ongoing support and improvement through Thoughtlogik Shield for Odoo.
How we deliver
SCALE: five phases, clear deliverables.
Scope
Define success and lock the scope
- Success criteria and KPIs
- Approved requirements and process maps
Craft
Design the right solution first
- Solution design blueprint
- Integration and data migration plan
Assemble
Configure, integrate and test
- A configured, working system
- Tested automations and integrations
Launch
Train, go live and stabilise
- Trained, confident users
- Go-live with hypercare
Evolve
Optimise and keep improving
- Continuous improvement roadmap
- Regular health checks
What changes
From reconciling spreadsheets to running the business.
Estimates become live budgets
Committed and actual cost, live
Every variation approved and billed
CIS and VAT returns from the ledger
Hours logged from site the same day
Stage invoices raised on time
Try Odoo free
Start your free Odoo trial
Explore Odoo's apps in your own trial database. When you are ready, we will help you configure it for how your business really works.
FAQs
Odoo for construction companies: your questions answered.
Cannot see your question? Our UK Odoo consultants are happy to talk it through.
Is Odoo suitable for construction companies?
Yes. Odoo's CRM, Project, Planning, Purchase, Inventory, Timesheets and Accounting apps cover the contract lifecycle, from tender and award to resourcing, cost control, subcontractor payments and invoicing. Because every app shares one database, commercial, site and finance teams work from the same live cost position.
Does Odoo handle CIS and domestic reverse charge VAT?
Yes. Odoo's UK localisation includes a Construction Industry Scheme module: you set deduction rates per subcontractor, apply CIS to labour lines on bills and send the monthly CIS return to HMRC from Odoo. Reverse charge tax codes and fiscal positions handle domestic reverse charge VAT, and VAT returns are submitted under Making Tax Digital.
Can Odoo track committed cost and job profitability?
Yes. Purchase and subcontract orders show as committed cost once confirmed, then supplier bills, timesheets, expenses and plant charges post to the project as actual cost. Analytic budgets compare budget, committed and actual, and the project profitability view shows margin while the job is live.
How does Odoo handle stage payments, variations and retentions?
Milestone, percentage and deposit invoicing are standard in Odoo Sales and Project. Variations can be added to the contract as new order lines and approved by the client online. Retentions are configured around your contract terms, for example as a retention line on each stage invoice released at completion, and we design this with you in discovery.
Can site teams use Odoo on their phones?
Yes. The Odoo app for iOS and Android lets supervisors and operatives see their programme, log timesheets, submit expenses, raise purchase orders, record deliveries and progress photos, and open the latest drawings and RAMS.
Can we manage plant and equipment in Odoo?
Yes. Fleet tracks vehicles and their costs, Maintenance schedules servicing and inspections for plant, and Rental manages equipment hired out or booked to jobs. Plant costs can be charged to each project.
Can we manage employees, holidays and qualifications in Odoo?
Yes. Odoo Employees holds operative records, contracts, skills and qualifications such as CSCS cards, Time Off handles holidays and absence with approvals, and approved leave shows in Planning so nobody is booked on site while away.
Can we move to Odoo from Sage or Xero?
Yes. We migrate your chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, subcontractors and their CIS details, open balances and the history you need, and can run both systems in parallel until you are confident to switch.
How long does an Odoo implementation take for a contractor?
It depends on the apps, integrations and data involved. Most contractors go live in phases, starting with projects, purchasing, CIS and finance, then adding planning, mobile and dashboards. After discovery we give you a fixed scope and a clear timeline.
Odoo by industry
Explore Odoo for other industries.
From installers to manufacturers and distributors, see how Odoo fits other sectors we work with.
Start your project
Ready to run your construction business on one system?
Tell us about your contracts, sites and subcontractors. A certified Odoo consultant will get back to you within one working day with practical next steps.
- Free, no-obligation consultation
- Review of your tender-to-cash process
- Clear plan, milestones and pricing
Cost reports in spreadsheets, CIS by hand?Talk to a UK Odoo consultant for contractors.
Book a free call