Who this is for: Managers
💼 Why this matters
A job that closes without its actuals logged is a job you can’t learn from. You won the estimate — but did the job make what you thought it would? The only way to know is to track what the job actually cost as it happens. Status keeps the pipeline accurate. Photos document the work. Actuals tell you whether the math held.
Every job in PriceRight Pro has a set of tabs across the top: Details, Estimate, Trade Calc, Changes, Actuals, Expenses, Invoices, and Crew. This article covers the tracking side of a job — updating status, documenting site photos, and logging what the job actually cost in the Actuals and Expenses tabs.
Job Status #
The Status picker is in the Details tab. Four options are available:
- Estimating — The default when a job is created. The estimate is being built and the client hasn’t committed yet.
- Active — Work is underway. Move the job here when the deposit is received and the job kicks off.
- Invoiced — The job is complete and a final invoice has been sent. Set this when you’re waiting on the last payment.
- Complete — Fully closed. All payments collected, work delivered, records final.
Keeping status current is what makes your job pipeline meaningful. A list full of “Estimating” jobs that are actually active — or won and sitting idle — tells you nothing. Update status as each job moves so your pipeline reflects what’s actually happening.
Outcome — Won / Lost tracking #
The Outcome section in the Details tab tracks the result of every estimate you send. Tap one of three pill buttons:
- Open — The default. Client hasn’t decided yet.
- Won — You got the job. A “Job won — great work!” confirmation appears and an optional notes field lets you capture anything worth remembering about how this one closed.
- Lost — You didn’t get it. A reason chip grid appears — tap one: Price too high, Competitor chosen, Budget cut, No response, Scope changed, Client postponed, or Other. Add optional notes to capture any context.
Tag every quote after the decision — win or loss. Over time this data surfaces in your Business Metrics Dashboard, showing which prices win, where you’re losing, and what the most common reasons are across all your jobs.
Job Photos [Standard] #
The Job Photos section appears in the Details tab for General Contractor, Pressure Washing, Landscaping, and Painting jobs. Two buttons are available:
- Take Photo — Opens the camera directly. Capture the photo and it’s attached to the job immediately.
- View Photos (N) — Opens the job’s photo gallery showing all photos taken, with the count displayed in the button label. Tap any photo to view it full-screen or add a caption.
Job photos are attached to the job record and stored in iCloud. They don’t appear on the client-facing estimate PDF — they’re for your documentation. Take before photos before you start and after photos when the work is done. If a client questions the scope or condition of a site, your dated, job-linked photos are the record.
ℹ️ Note: Job Photos requires a Standard subscription. On Free tier the section is visible but locked. Job Photos are only available for General Contractor, Pressure Washing, Landscaping, and Painting jobs — the four verticals where site documentation is most commonly needed.
Actuals tab — what the job actually cost #
The Actuals tab is where you record what the job actually cost as the work happens. Every line item you log here can be compared against what you estimated — showing your real margin on the job when it’s done.
Actuals are organized into five categories:
- Labor — Hours worked and the cost of that labor. Log this as crew works on the job, or enter a lump sum after the fact.
- Materials — What you bought for the job: lumber, paint, pipe, landscaping materials, chemicals — anything that went into the work.
- Subcontractor — What you paid any subs or trade partners on this job.
- Equipment — Rentals, machine time, or equipment costs specific to this job.
- Permit — Any permits pulled for this job and what they cost.
For verticals where the estimate view populates actuals automatically — such as Pressure Washing — estimated line items are pre-seeded as starting points. Enter the real amount next to each one as it becomes known. For other verticals, add each actual manually using the + button in the tab.
💡 Tip: Log actuals in real time — not at the end of the job. A materials receipt entered the same day you buy the material takes 20 seconds. The same information reconstructed two weeks later from memory takes much longer and is never fully accurate. The habit is the system.
Expenses tab — per-job costs and billable expenses #
The Expenses tab shows all expenses logged to this job — fuel receipts, supply runs, materials purchased on a card, anything you’ve attached to this job from the expense tracker. Every expense linked to a job feeds both the job’s cost record and your year-end tax deduction log simultaneously.
When logging an expense, toggle Billable on if the cost is something you’re passing through to the client. Billable expenses sync into the estimate automatically — the next time you open the estimate on this job, those costs appear as line items ready to invoice. Turn the toggle off for internal costs that don’t get passed to the client.
To link an existing expense to this job: open the Expense Tracker from the home screen, tap the expense, and assign it to the job from the job field. Or log new expenses directly from the Expenses tab within the job — they’re attached to the job from the moment they’re created.
📱 In Your Day: You wrap up a long day on a GC job — snap a quick “end of day” photo from the Details tab, log the subcontractor invoice that arrived in the Actuals tab, then mark the supply run from this morning as billable in the Expenses tab. Three taps. The job record is current.
🚀 Smart Business Tip
When a job closes and its actuals are fully logged, you’ll know your real margin — not the estimated margin, the real one. Do this consistently across 10 or 20 jobs and a pattern emerges: which job types are actually most profitable, which take longer than you estimate, where the materials cost always runs over. That pattern is your pricing feedback loop. It’s how you stop repeating the same margin mistakes and start pricing for what the work actually costs.
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