For builders, tradies, manufacturers and any project-based business on Xero — SiteMargin turns your tracking-category data into clear WIP accounting, accurate profit take-up, fully-loaded labour costing and live margin tracking against every quote.
No credit card. No commitment. Just early access.
| Project | Contract | Invoiced | Recognised | WIP | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Dombey St | $480,000 | $312,000 | $296,500 | −$15,500 | 38.2% |
| BLDG02014 | $215,000 | $180,000 | $190,000 | $10,000 | 31.5% |
| Harbour Fitout | $740,000 | $290,000 | $275,000 | −$15,000 | 22.1% |
| RESI04022 | $168,000 | $168,000 | $168,000 | $0 | 41.0% |
Every project-based business owner I've worked with — builders, electricians, cabinet makers, civil contractors, manufacturers — tells me the same thing: “I don't know if I'm making money on this job until it's over.” And when they look at their P&L, the numbers swing wildly month-to-month because profit lands whenever an invoice happens to be raised, not when the work was actually done.
The fix is accrual accounting — recognising revenue and cost in the period the work happens, not when paperwork catches up. Your accountant will tell you it's the right way. Most owners know they should be doing it. But until now, the only way to get there was a $40k+ ERP system — too expensive, too complex, too much overhead for a business doing $1M–$20M.
I looked at Xero's own Projects module too — but anyone who's tried it seriously knows it frustrates both the business owner and the bookkeeper within a few months. So I built something different: a clean layer on top of Xero that turns the tracking-category data you already have into proper WIP accounting, period-end journals, and live margin tracking. No new system to learn. No data to re-key. Priced for an SMB, not an enterprise.
Built for the tradie, the builder, the project manager, and the bookkeeper keeping it all together.
Whether you're a builder, electrician, cabinet maker, painter, civil contractor or manufacturer — if you run projects through Xero, you have the data. You just can't see it clearly.
Spreadsheets, custom reports, manual journal entries — every period close is hours of work that shouldn't need to exist.
You invoice and receive cash — but without recognised revenue accounting, you don't know if a project is profitable until it's done. By then it's already a loss.
Auditors and accountants need period-by-period WIP movement reconciled to the balance sheet. Producing that today means more manual work — or an uncomfortable conversation.
SiteMargin sits on top of Xero — reading your existing invoice data, matching it to projects, and producing the WIP accounting your business needs.
Real screens from the working app — not mockups, not wireframes.
| Project | Type | Contract value | Invoiced | Recognised | WIP balance | EAC | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Dombey Street | Fixed | $480,000 | $312,000 | $296,500 | −$15,500 | $288,000 | 38.2% |
| Harbour Fitout Stage 2 | Fixed | $215,000 | $180,000 | $190,000 | +$10,000 | $148,000 | 31.2% |
| Commercial Warehouse Civil | T&M | $740,000 | $290,000 | $275,000 | −$15,000 | $556,000 | 22.1% |
| RESI04022 — Duplex | Fixed | $168,000 | $168,000 | $168,000 | $0 | $98,000 | 41.0% |
| Cabinet Install — Queen St | Fixed | $42,500 | $28,000 | $22,400 | −$5,600 | $26,800 | 36.9% |
Project portfolio view. Every project with contract value, invoiced amount, recognised revenue, net WIP balance, EAC and live margin — all pulled from your Xero tracking categories.
FTC notes per line item. Click the speech bubble on any cost row to leave a dated note — timber price revision, subcontractor quote update, scope change. Each note captures the FTC value at the time, giving you a full audit trail of how your forecast evolved.
| Period | 10 Dombey St | Harbour Fitout | Commercial Civil | RESI04022 | Queen St Cabinet | Period total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | −$12,400 | +$8,200 | −$3,100 | +$4,800 | +$2,200 | −$300 |
| Apr 2026 | −$18,200 | +$12,400 | −$6,800 | +$9,200 | +$3,800 | +$400 |
| May 2026 | −$22,100 | +$15,600 | −$9,400 | +$11,800 | −$1,200 | −$5,300 |
| Jun 2026 ← | −$15,500 | +$10,000 | −$15,000 | $0 | −$5,600 | −$26,100 |
| Closing balance | −$68,200 | +$46,200 | −$34,300 | +$25,800 | −$11,800 | −$42,300 |
Period-by-period WIP schedule. Opening balance, movement, and closing WIP for every project across every accounting period. Post a WIP journal directly from this screen — one click sends it to Xero as a manual journal, fully coded and reconciled.
| Account | Tracking | Description | Dr | Cr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2150 · WIP — Overbillings | 10 Dombey St | WIP reversal Jun 26 | $15,500 | — |
| 4100 · Revenue recognised | 10 Dombey St | Revenue recognition Jun 26 | — | $15,500 |
| 1150 · WIP — Underbillings | Harbour Fitout | WIP accrual Jun 26 | $10,000 | — |
| 4100 · Revenue recognised | Harbour Fitout | Revenue recognition Jun 26 | — | $10,000 |
| 2150 · WIP — Overbillings | Commercial Civil | WIP reversal Jun 26 | $15,000 | — |
| 4100 · Revenue recognised | Commercial Civil | Revenue recognition Jun 26 | — | $15,000 |
| Totals | $40,500 | $40,500 | ||
One-click journal posting. Review the full debit/credit breakdown before it goes anywhere. When you're ready, post directly to Xero as a manual journal — fully account-coded, tracking-category tagged, and balanced to the cent.
Built for any project-based business on Xero — from a sole-trader electrician to a multi-project civil contractor.
Opening balance, movement, and closing WIP for every project across every period. Reconciles to your Xero balance sheet automatically — no spreadsheet required.
Cost-to-cost or completed-contract methods. Know your true margin at every stage of a project, not just when invoices happen to be raised.
Review the WIP journal, approve it, and post directly to Xero as a manual journal — fully coded to your chart of accounts, fully reconciled, in seconds.
Maintain cost forecasts by category — labour, materials, contractors, other. Add a note to any line when a forecast changes: timber prices up, subcontractor revised. Every note captures the FTC value at the time.
Every journal posting recorded with a snapshot of the FTC forecast at the time. Your auditor or accountant gets the complete picture — period by period, no chasing.
Every Xero invoice, purchase bill and credit note tagged to a project — synced incrementally via the Xero API, matched to tracking categories, visible by project or across the portfolio. Voided/deleted invoices in Xero are tracked too and excluded from WIP calcs.
Add scope changes as approved or pending variations on each project. Approved variations flow into the forecast value and re-calculate margin instantly — pending sits in the wings until signed off. Full audit trail of who, when, how much.
See each project across three lenses: what you quoted, what you forecast now, and what's actually hit the books. Trend arrows on the overview tell you at a glance which jobs are improving and which are slipping.
Build a fully-loaded hourly rate per role: wage + super + payroll tax (state-aware) + workcover + leave, divided by efficient billable hours. Every rate change is logged with user and timestamp — and you can recalc historical labour on the new rate when you need to.
Drag-drop a timesheet export from Employment Hero, KeyPay, Deputy, Tanda or MYOB. Auto-detects columns, matches employees by ID, skips leave hours, flags unknown projects with “did you mean?” suggestions. Duplicate detection means you can re-run without doubling up.
Current month, quarter, financial year, or all time — one click. SiteMargin pulls your financial year start straight from Xero so FYTD numbers always line up with your accountant's.
We're opening SiteMargin to a small group of project-based Xero businesses before public launch. Register your interest and we'll be in touch.
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