How to Manage Contractor Work Orders

Overview

Contractor work orders define the products or services to be provided by a contractor. You can create work orders manually in a job, or automatically when you schedule a contractor within a job or in Schedules > Day View or Week View.

If you use the same contractors regularly, and you can add pre-builds to a work order instead of manually defining the labour and materials. Learn more in What are Contractor Pre-Builds.

In Simpro Premium, contractor work orders are added as committed costs. The labour component of work orders becomes actual costs when the contractor is scheduled. Actual labour costs are calculated from the rates on the contractor’s card file. Alternatively, you can apply an actual cost for a work order by adding a one off item to the job. Learn more in Create and add one off items.

US only: If you use Simpro Premium in the United States, the term 'contractor work order' is used instead of 'work order'.

US only: If you use Simpro Premium in the United States, the term 'retainage' is used instead of 'retention'.

Create a contractor work order

You can create contractor work orders in two ways:

In Details > Contractors in a job

Create a contractor work order in Details > Contractor in a cost centre within a job.

Use this if the contractor has agreed to complete the work based on a quote value and / or the date and time to complete the work has not yet been determined.

In the schedule

Schedule a contractor in Schedules > Day View or Week View or in the Schedule tab of a cost centre to automatically create a contractor work order.

Use this if you know the exact date and time you require the contractor to complete the work.

To create a contractor work order:

Create a job, then go to Details > Contractors.
- If you are creating a job with multiple cost centres, go to the Cost Centre List, click the required cost centre, then go to Details > Contractors.
Click New Work Order.
Select the Contractor and Employee from the drop-down lists.
Select the required Date.
Select Applying Retention? if applicable, then enter the Retention Amount, Amount Per Claim and Retention Period.
Enter a Description. Alternatively, use Insert script to select a pre-defined script.
Select Contractor to Supply Materials? if the contractor is supplying all or some of the parts needed for the job.
- Catalogue items and pre-builds can be selected on the work order and one-off items can be requested with a purchase order. Learn more in How to Create a Purchase Order.
Enter the Qty Assigned for the parts.
Enter the cost of Labour manually or select Schedule Based to automatically calculate it based on the scheduled time.
- Schedule based labour cost is calculated only if you have added labour rates to the contractor card file.
Select the applicable Tax Code.
Click Save and Finish to update your changes.

The work order then appears when you hover over Jobs in the main menu and click Contractor Jobs. Contractors can view their work orders through the contractor portal and create their own schedules. Learn more in How to Set Up the Contractor Portal. Created work orders also appear in the job log.

Alternatively, you can schedule contractors to automatically create work orders. You can access and adjust these work orders later if the labour is based on an agreed fee with the contractor, and not on the schedule.

Work order attachments are not viewable from within a job, and are not included when sending work orders to other Simpro Premium users. Public job attachments are viewable from within the work order. Public work order attachments can only be viewed in the Contractor Portal, and are available to include with contractor invoices.

Click the Custom Fields tab to view the custom information added for the selected contractor. You can use this information to locate the required contractor records and report on this information using BI Reporting. The Custom Fields tab only appears if you have custom fields created for contractor work orders. Learn more in How to Use Custom Fields.

Set up retention for a work order

If you have retention withheld from you by customers on certain jobs, you can pass all or part of that retention on to your contractors. You can do this by entering the applicable Retention Liability Account code or name in System > Setup > Defaults > Financial > Accounts.

Select Applying Retention? when creating a work order to set up invoice retention. Using this option, you can withhold a percentage of the contract value from the contractor until the project is completed to your satisfaction.

More information:

Retention Amount (%)	The maximum percentage of the contract value you withhold from the contractor. The standard retention amount is five percent, however this may vary depending on contract terms.
Amount Per Claim (%)	The maximum percentage per contractor invoice withheld by your business until the entire contract value has been claimed. The standard amount per claim is 10 percent, however this may vary depending on contract terms.
Retention Period	Also known as a defects liability period, this is the number of months after practical completion of the project (the issue date of the final invoice) that the contractor can claim their withheld retention. The standard retention period is 12 months, however this may vary depending on contract terms.

When you invoice a contractor work order with retention applied, invoice the retention amount separately.

Schedule a contractor

Scheduling a contractor to a job automatically creates a new work order in the job if none have been created for that contractor. You can schedule a contractor before or after creating a work order either from the Schedule tab in a cost centre or Schedules > Day View or Week View.

You can then access and adjust the work order in Jobs > Contractor Jobs.

Make sure that the contractor has rates and schedule rates in their card file. If your contractor uses a flat rate, use a pre-build or one off item instead. Learn more in What are Contractor Pre-Builds.This ensures that your actual costs are updated correctly.

To schedule a contractor from the Schedule tab within a job:

Open the required job, then click the Schedule tab.
- If you are scheduling a contractor within a job with multiple cost centres, go to the Cost Centre List, click the required cost centre, then click the Schedule tab.
Click the icon next to the contractor's name.
Click and drag the schedule block to the required day and time.
- To extend or shorten a schedule block, hover over the top or bottom edge, then click and drag the white arrows.
Close the schedule pop-up window using the icon in the top right corner.
Click Save and Finish to update your changes.

To schedule a contractor in Schedules > Day View or Week View.

Hover over Schedules , and then click Day View or Week View.
Search and select the job.
Select a cost centre from the drop-down list, if necessary.
If in Week View, select the contractor under Employee.
Click the required time slot to create a schedule and drag the block to modify.
Click Save.

Logs

Go to Details > Logs to view a history of actions in that contractor job, along with the logged-in employee who performed them and the date and time.

The log includes any changes to the following:

Contractor Job (Work Order) created
Contractor Job updated: Includes changes to Materials, Labour, Description, Assignment of Item, Tax Rate, Custom Field, Status, Retention, Amount Per Claim, Retention Period, Creation Date
Contractor Job Approved
Contractor Job Dispatched
Contractor Job set to Completed
Contractor Invoice created
Contractor Invoice marked as Paid
Contractor Job has been Viewed
Contractor Invoice deleted
Contractor Job Printed
Contractor Job Emailed
Contractor Job Attached
Attachment added to Contractor Job
Add attachment to email attachments
Remove attachment from email attachments
Set attachment to public
Set attachment to private
Delete attachment