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Money & insights 5 min read

Financial reports (WIP + profitability)

BuiltUp's Financials page shows you revenue, margin, and work-in-progress across every project you're running. Here's how to read the WIP report and the profitability breakdown, and when to download the PDF for your accountant.

Before you start
  • At least 2-3 projects with scope and invoices on them (reports are less useful with one job)

Most builders don't know their real margin until the accountant tells them six months after a job finished. BuiltUp's Financials page tries to fix that — it aggregates every scope, every invoice, and every payment across your whole workspace and shows you where your money is, where it's going, and which projects are actually making you anything.

1
Step 1

Open the Financials page

Click Financials in the top nav. You'll land on a dashboard with four headline numbers:

  • Revenue — total invoiced this month (or a date range you pick)
  • Labor cost — estimated cost of labour across all active jobs
  • Margin — revenue minus labour minus materials, as a percentage
  • WIP value — value of work in progress that hasn't been invoiced yet

Below that you've got charts and breakdowns. The key ones are:

BuiltUp
DC

Financials

Download WIP PDF
Revenue (MTD)
£48.2k
+12.4%
Labor cost
£19.8k
41% of revenue
Margin
27.6%
+2.1pp
WIP value
£124k
12 active jobs
Profitability by project
Hampton kitchen£19.9k
28%
Maple Ave bath£18.9k
24%
Cedar loft£32.4k
31%
Acorn office fit-out£62.3k
18%
2
Step 2

Read the profitability by project chart

The Profitability by project section ranks every active project by margin percentage. Green bars are above your workspace target; orange bars are below. Clicking a bar drills into that project's breakdown — how much you quoted, how much you've invoiced, how much the materials actually cost, and what's left.

This is where you catch the "I thought this job was making money" problem. If the Cedar loft is showing 31% margin and the Acorn office fit-out is showing 18%, you know where to focus your attention — and where to tighten your estimates on future jobs.

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Step 3

Understand work in progress (WIP)

WIP is accounting-speak for: *"work you've done but haven't been paid for yet."* If you've completed 60% of a £50k job but only invoiced the 20% deposit, your WIP on that job is £20k — the difference between work delivered and cash received.

BuiltUp calculates WIP by comparing:

  • Scope progress — how many scope items are marked complete
  • Invoices sent — how much has actually been billed

The WIP number is what your accountant wants at month-end to work out your real revenue for the period. BuiltUp generates a WIP Report PDF you can download and hand over.

info
WIP is a cashflow signal
High WIP means you're doing work faster than you're invoicing — you need to send more interim invoices or tighten your milestone schedule. Low or negative WIP means you've been paid ahead of delivery, which is great for cashflow but check that your deposit structure isn't scaring clients.
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Step 4

Download the WIP PDF monthly

Click Download WIP PDF in the top right of the Financials page. BuiltUp generates a month-end snapshot with:

  • Per-project WIP value
  • Revenue recognised vs. invoiced
  • Labor cost estimates for the period
  • Gross margin by project
  • Summary table ready for your accountant

Send it to your bookkeeper on the first of every month and they'll love you. This alone can save your accountant 2-4 hours per month of chasing you for numbers.

5
Step 5

Filter by date range and project type

The top of the Financials page has filters for:

  • Date range — month, quarter, year, custom
  • Project type — residential, commercial, or custom tags
  • Status — include completed jobs or only active

Common views to save as bookmarks:

  • This month, all projects — for your monthly review
  • Last 12 months, completed — for year-on-year growth
  • This quarter, commercial — if commercial is a growth area for you

Financial reports are the feature that turns BuiltUp from a quoting tool into a management tool. The more jobs you run through it, the more valuable this page becomes — and the better your decisions get about what to quote, what to avoid, and where to grow.

Next up

Integrations: Xero, QuickBooks, Stripe

Connect BuiltUp to the tools you already use — Xero or QuickBooks for accounting, Stripe for online payments, and the BuiltClip browser extension for material sourcing. This guide walks through the setup for each one.

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