Who it's for: the investor — the contractor's client — invited to the project with the Investor role. Also contractors who want to know what the investor will see.
What you'll do: learn what the investor sees in the project, how they approve amendments and the baseline, how they record their own purchases, pay the contractor's contract instalments and report issues.
Before you start
- The contractor invites you to the project. After signing in you'll see the Invitations window and click Join. See How to invite a person to a project.
- The investor role is available on every contractor plan.
What the investor sees
- The project dashboard with work progress and the Investment cost card: the contract with amendments, your expenses split into paid, to pay and to refund, and the gross total.
- The contract and amendments with their history.
- The schedule with progress, and the baseline for approval, including your own scope of work if the contractor turned it on.
- The site journal, issues, acceptances and documents shared by the contractor.
- Conversations with the project team.
The investor does not see the contractor's budget, costs or profit.
Steps
1. Decide on an amendment
When the contractor proposes a change to the contract value, you get an e-mail and a card on the dashboard. Click Approve or Reject. See How the investor approves a contract amendment.
2. Approve the baseline
When the contractor freezes the agreed dates as the baseline, you get it for approval. After that, every date change has a reason, and slips show up in the drift summary.
3. Run your own scope of work
You can commission part of the work yourself, e.g. windows, electrics or kitchen units. The contractor turns this on in Project settings → Investor scope in the schedule.
- Investor scope items are in the schedule with an Investor badge. They are outside the contractor's contract and budget, and you track their progress.
- On an item you enter who it's Performed by, e.g. “Mark, electrician, 600 123 456”.
- The My scope filter shows only your items in the schedule.
- If the contractor also turns on Investor plans own tasks, you add, change and delete items on your side yourself and choose after which work they start. You can't change the contractor's items, the contract or the budget.
- When your item is late and pushes the contractor's work, the schedule shows it under Moved by the investor’s scope.
- You handle the fix of an issue in your scope. The issue is marked that way.
4. Record your purchases
- Choose Quick actions → Investor purchase, or go to Purchases → Investor purchases → Add expense.
- Choose who bought it and who pays:
- Own purchase — you bought it yourself and have already paid,
- Invoice to pay — the contractor passed on an invoice issued to you,
- Refund for the contractor — the contractor paid and asks for a refund.
- Enter what you bought, the amount, the shop and the date. Add a photo of the receipt.
You settle invoices and refunds yourself: Mark as paid, Mark as refunded, or I don't accept it with a reason the contractor will see.
5. Pay the contractor on schedule
Money from the contract that you hand over to the contractor — advances and instalments — goes into Purchases → Payments. These are not expenses: they don't raise the investment cost, they show how much of the contract you have paid and how much is left.
- Set up a schedule: Add instalment to schedule, enter a name, amount and due date. The schedule is optional.
- Three days before the due date you get a reminder. Open it and click I paid — the amount and name are already filled in. You can pay part of it: the rest stays in the schedule.
- Without a schedule, click Add payment and enter how much you paid and when. Attach the transfer confirmation or a photo of the receipt.
- The contractor gets a confirmation request and clicks Confirm or Dispute with a reason. It also works the other way round: when the contractor clicks I received, you confirm.
- Download a confirmed payment as a PDF Receipt — with the amount in words and space for signatures.
On your phone, in mobile mode, payments are under Purchases → Payments towards the contract: you can report a payment, confirm or dispute one and download the receipt there. You set up and adjust the instalment schedule in full mode.
6. Decide who sees the amounts
The contractor sees what you bought, but not the amounts. To show them, turn on Show the contractor the amounts of my purchases.
7. Check the requisitions
When the investor buys a material, the contractor adds it to Requisitions with a quantity and date. You get a notification. You close the item with a purchase or tick it as bought.
8. Report issues
You can report an issue from your phone with a photo, also after final handover. The contractor gets it on their list with a repair deadline. See How to report and resolve a construction issue.
What happens next
- The Investment cost card shows the full gross cost of the investment. You can set an investment budget, the amount for the whole job, and see the reserve: what is left for purchases, amendments and additional works. The contractor doesn't see this amount.
- An amendment waiting for your decision is shown separately on the card, as “in progress”.
- When the contractor finishes the work before your own scope (e.g. electrics, kitchen units), you get a notification that the site is ready for it.
- The Investment cost card also shows payments to the contractor: confirmed, awaiting confirmation, what's left of the contract and the next instalment.
Troubleshooting
- I can't see the project. Check that you accepted the invitation with Join and that you're in the right workspace.
- The investment cost doesn't include VAT on the contract. The contractor entered the contract net without a VAT rate. Ask them to add it.
- The contractor can't see the amounts of my purchases. That's the default. Turn on sharing the amounts in Investor purchases.
- The contractor doesn't confirm a payment. The request waits in their decision centre. Until they confirm it, the payment shows Awaiting contractor — you can correct or withdraw it.