Construction project management · South Africa
onSite is project management software for South African residential builders. It keeps the QS budget, every supplier quote and invoice, your client's bills and your site team's photos in one place — from the first slab to handover.
onSite is a build-phase project management app for builders who run residential new builds and renovations in South Africa. The office manages the budget, suppliers and client billing on a desktop; the site team works from a phone; and the homeowner gets their own portal to follow progress and pay.
It is the sister product to SnagIT: onSite covers the build up to handover, SnagIT covers the house afterwards.
Why builders switch
The QS lives in a spreadsheet, the invoices live in someone's inbox, and what happened on site lives in a WhatsApp group. onSite puts them on the same page.
Are we still inside budget on electrical?
Every supplier invoice is placed on a QS line, so spent, on order and left to spend are always current — per line, per section, per job.
Did we ever bill the client for that?
The To do list flags every supplier invoice not yet billed and every cost not on a budget line, so nothing quietly comes out of your margin.
What's actually happening at my house?
Your client sees photos, milestones and bills in their own portal — so the Sunday-night phone call becomes a notification.
How it works
onSite isn't one app with menus hidden by role. The office, the site and the client each get their own surface, sized for the device they actually use.
Owner, admin and PM. Five menu items per project — To do, Site, Documents, Client, Budget.
A to-do list and Photo, Speak, Order materials. No tables, no totals, no QS. Site staff can't open the office screens at all.
Progress, photos, bills and the spec book — and never your supplier costs.
The money record
Every rand on the job follows the same path, so the budget, what you've billed and what's in the bank always reconcile.
Import the bill of quantities from Excel. Lines can be firm, provisional or an allowance, grouped into sections and categories.
Supplier quotes sit side by side, with delivery included or not clearly flagged. Accept one and it becomes an order against the QS line.
Invoices arrive by email, upload or a photo from site. AI suggests the budget line; you confirm. Credit notes net off automatically.
Raise a bill from a pro forma or an invoice — never from a quote. Markup and 15% VAT are worked out for you.
The client pays your account as usual, uploads proof of payment in their portal, and the office confirms it.
Billed less cost, split into markup earned, your own fees, costs passed through, and costs you haven't billed yet.
| Charging mode | What the client sees | Who they pay |
|---|---|---|
| Markup in the price | Your bill only, with your bank details. Supplier prices stay private. | You |
| Open book + fee | The supplier document, plus one bill from you that includes a builder's fee line. | You |
| Client pays suppliers direct | The supplier paperwork, so they can pay it themselves. | The supplier |
Features
Open a project and the first thing you see is everything waiting on someone: payments to confirm, deliveries to match, invoices not billed, finishes still to choose. It's the one place with a count on it.
Quotes, pro formas, invoices and credit notes go in through one form, and each supplier line is placed on a budget line. The list tells you what's still to bill.
Every finish in the house, room by room, from 25 South African room templates — kitchen, scullery, en-suite, patio and braai, flatlet. The client answers with a photo off their phone and locks a choice when it's final.
Milestones from site establishment to snagging and handover. Move one forward and the client sees it in their portal the same minute — and there's a Gantt chart when you need one.
Description and cost price required; any column order. Download the template in the app.
Log extra work the moment the client asks. An approved variation raises the budget on the lines it names.
Set a contingency per job and draw it down against the lines that overrun.
Every sheet and revision. Site sees the current set only, with a warning when a sheet isn't for construction.
Speak the notes; onSite prints them in English and Xitsonga for the team.
Site asks, the office orders. A request never moves your committed cost until it's an order.
Site photographs what arrived; the office matches it to the order.
Add onSite to your home screen and get alerts on iPhone and Android, no app store.
For your client
Your client is invited to their own portal — on their phone or laptop, no app to install. It shows them what they need and nothing that's yours.
Your numbers stay yours
Most tools keep one document and hide columns from the client. onSite keeps your real costs and the client's bill as separate, linked records — and the client's account has no database access to the cost side at all. It isn't hidden on the screen; it isn't there to find.
Unless you choose open-book charging, in which case the client sees exactly what you decide to share.
Compared
| Spreadsheet + inbox + WhatsApp | onSite | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget vs QS | Updated when someone remembers | Every invoice placed on a QS line as it's filed |
| Unbilled costs | Found at final account, if at all | Flagged on the To do list the day they arrive |
| Supplier quotes | Scattered across email threads | Side by side, with delivery terms shown |
| Client updates | Phone calls and voice notes | A portal with photos, progress and bills |
| Proof of payment | Screenshots in a chat | Attached to the bill, confirmed by the office |
| Site photos | Lost in a group chat | Filed to the job, with the date |
| Finishes | A PDF that's out of date | A spec book the client fills in and locks |
| Margin | Worked out after the job | Live, split by where it came from |
FAQ
See it on a real job
We'll walk you through a full demo build — the office, the site app and the client portal — and answer the questions about how you run your jobs.
