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Projects are the operational heart of Contractor Co-Pilot. Once a client says yes, you convert your estimate into a project and everything — scope, budget, documents, schedule, and field time — lives in one place until the job is closed out.

What a project contains

Scope & budget

The estimate or proposal that won the work becomes your baseline budget. Track actual costs against it as the job progresses.

Timeline

Set start and end dates, define phases and milestones, and view the full schedule in a Gantt-style timeline.

Jobsite

Address, access notes, gate codes, site contacts, and photos so your crew always has what they need before they arrive.

Documents

Blueprints, permits, contracts, change orders, and progress photos — all attached directly to the project.

Creating a project

When a client accepts a proposal, Contractor Co-Pilot prompts you to create a project automatically. Client details, scope, and budget carry over so you don’t re-enter anything.
1

Open the accepted proposal

Go to Sales > Proposals and find the proposal marked Accepted.
2

Click Create project

Select Create Project in the proposal header. The project form pre-fills with client info, scope line items, and pricing from the proposal.
3

Set the jobsite and dates

Confirm or update the jobsite address, then set your planned start and end dates.
4

Save the project

Click Create Project. The project opens immediately and your estimate becomes the baseline budget.

Project status

Use status to track where every job stands. You can update a project’s status from the project header at any time.

Tasks and assignments

Break work down into tasks within each project. Assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and mark them complete as work progresses. Tasks link to timeline items so your schedule stays in sync.
Assign tasks from the mobile app so field crew can see what’s on their list when they clock in.

Budget tracking

Your project budget comes from the estimate that won the work. As costs come in — materials, labor time entries, equipment — they post as actuals and you can see budget remaining by category at any time.
  • Budget vs. actual — Compare estimated and real costs side by side
  • Category breakdowns — See spend by labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment
  • Alerts — Get notified when a cost category is approaching its budget limit
  • Cost reports — Export a summary for your accountant or the client
Manually editing a budget line item overrides the estimate value. If you re-import the estimate later, review any overridden lines before saving.

Change orders

When scope changes, create a change order directly on the project. Change orders adjust the contract value and add new line items to the budget without affecting the original estimate.
  1. Open the project and go to Change Orders
  2. Click New Change Order
  3. Add the scope change description and pricing
  4. Send to the client for approval — they can sign it through the client portal

Team members

Add the people working on a project so they can access it from the mobile app, log time, and receive task assignments. Go to Project > Team and add members by name or email.

Field ops and time tracking

Field crew clock in and out against a project from the Contractor Co-Pilot mobile app. Time entries flow into the project’s actual labor costs automatically, so your budget stays current without any manual data entry.
Geolocation can be enabled per organization so you can verify clock-ins happened at the jobsite. Go to Settings > Field Ops to configure this.
Self-approval is blocked at the API level — a manager or admin must approve time entries before they post to actual costs.

Documents

Attach files to a project from the Documents tab. Supported types include PDFs, images, spreadsheets, and CAD files. Documents are versioned so you always have the history of what changed.
  • Blueprints and plans
  • Permits and approvals
  • Contracts and change orders
  • Progress photos
  • Specifications and submittals

Next steps

Timeline

Plan phases, milestones, and dependencies on a Gantt-style timeline.

Jobsites

Store access notes, gate codes, and site photos for your crew.

Invoices

Bill clients for project work with progress billing or lump sum invoices.

Document to Project

Create a project from uploaded blueprints or contract documents.
Last modified on May 5, 2026