Sage Intacct Construction vs Planyard

This page compares Planyard with Sage Intacct Construction so you can choose the right fit for your team in the UK and Ireland. We look at scope, user experience, rollout time, UK workflows (valuations, retentions, CIS), reporting, and pricing clarity.

Context: Sage Intacct Construction is a cloud-native accounting/financial management platform tailored for construction, launched in the UK in February 2025.

On this page

  • What each product covers and where it stops
  • Reviews at a glance
  • Side-by-side summary
  • Detailed feature comparison (valuations, retentions, CVR, variations, POs, WIP, consolidations)
  • Implementation timelines and pricing transparency
  • Who should choose what
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What they do (scope at a glance)

  • Sage Intacct Construction — Cloud-native construction financials: general ledger, AP/AR, job costing, WIP, revenue recognition, retention billing, multi-entity/multi-currency, dashboards, and an open API. Project operations (RFQs, site delivery, detailed PM) typically sits in Sage Construction Management or other tools via integration.
  • Planyard — Commercial control next to your ledger: budgets vs actuals, real-time CVR and forecasting, purchase orders and commitments, subcontractor/client valuations and certificates, retention schedules, variations/change control, approvals and audit trail, with clean sync to Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Sage Accounting.

Reviews at a glance

Public ratings from Capterra (UK listing for Planyard; global listing for Sage Intacct).

Programme Rating Summary
Planyard 4.6 / 5.0 ✔ Praised for ease of use, fast setup, and moving off error-prone spreadsheets; clean sync with Xero/Sage/QuickBooks.
Sage Intacct 4.3 / 5.0 ✖ Strong financials and reporting; project operations often rely on connected tools (e.g., Sage Construction Management, Procore).

Quotes used below are taken from public Capterra and vendor sources.

Quick summary

Here is the short version to help you decide quickly.

  • Planyard. All-in-one commercial control next to your ledger: budgets, CVR/forecasting, POs, valuations/certificates, retentions, variations, with approvals and audit trail. Transparent per-user pricing and a free trial.
  • Sage Intacct Construction. Financials-first platform for construction with job costing, WIP and revenue recognition, retention billing, consolidations, dashboards, and open API. For project operations you’ll usually add Sage Construction Management or other tools. UK launch Feb 2025; pricing is by quote (with Sage Intacct Essentials starting from £1,000/month as a separate plan).

Side-by-side comparison

Aspect Planyard Sage Intacct Construction
Time to implement ✔ Days to pilot a live job ✔ Weeks for core financials; add time for partner-led setup and any project ops integrations
Scope ✔ Budgets, CVR, forecasting, POs, valuations/certificates, retentions, variations ✔ Financials (GL, AP/AR, job costing, WIP, retention billing, revenue recognition); project ops via Sage Construction Management or 3rd-party tools
User experience ✔ Intuitive for QS, commercial, PM, and finance ✔ Finance-first UX and dashboards; ops users typically work in connected tools
Reporting ✔ Real-time CVR/profit & cash forecasting in app ✔ Robust dashboards/reports; WIP schedules, consolidations; custom design often needed
Accounting fit ✔ Syncs approved costs to Xero, QBO, Sage Accounting; GL stays clean ✔ Native ledger with construction extensions; broad API and marketplace integrations
Pricing ✔ Public per-user plans + free trial ✖ By quote for Construction; Sage Intacct Essentials from £1,000/month (separate plan).
Best for Firms replacing spreadsheets with full commercial control in one place Companies that want finance, WIP and consolidations in Sage, with project ops handled by integrated tools

Financials-first or focused stack

If you want your financials centred in Sage with deep reporting (WIP, revenue recognition, consolidations), Sage Intacct Construction is a strong option. If your finance team prefers Xero/QuickBooks/Sage Accounting as the ledger and you need full commercial control without extra tools, Planyard + your ledger delivers the same value or better because each tool does what it does best.

Why teams pick Planyard

“Live CVR without rebuilding spreadsheets.”

  • All-in-one. Covers valuations/retentions plus budgets, CVR/forecasting, POs and variations in one tool.
  • Fast rollout. Pilot in days; roll out in weeks without a heavy IT project.
  • Works with your ledger. Syncs only approved costs to Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage Accounting so the GL stays clean.
  • Transparent pricing. Public per-user plans and a free trial.
  • UK workflows. Valuations, retention schedules and CIS handled together with your accounting system.

Why teams pick Sage Intacct Construction

  • Construction financials depth. Job costing, WIP and revenue recognition, retention billing, dashboards.
  • Multi-entity & consolidation. Group-level financials, currency and entity controls.
  • Open ecosystem. Integrates with project ops tools (e.g., Sage Construction Management, Procore) via API/marketplace.
  • UK availability. Local launch Feb 2025 from Sage.

Planyard and Sage Intacct Construction features side-by-side

Feature Planyard Sage Intacct Construction
Budgets vs actuals (live) ✔ Live view of spend, commitments and EAC ✔ Job costing in finance; project ops budgets typically via connected tools
CVR and forecasting ✔ Real-time CVR & cash forecasting in app ✔ WIP schedules & dashboards; CVR style outputs achievable via reports
Commitments & purchase orders ✔ Raise/approve POs and subcontracts; sync only approved costs ✔ Financial commitments tracked; operational POs often handled in project tools
Subcontractor valuations ✔ Collect and approve valuations; budget updates on approval ✔ Retention billing and certification supported in finance workflows
Client valuations/certificates ✔ Generate valuations and certificates; forecast stays in sync ✔ Billing & recognition inside finance; project-side formats via connected tools
Retentions tracking & release ✔ Retention schedules across contracts ✔ Retention billing and balances in financials
Variations / change control ✔ Log and approve client/subcontract variations with impact on forecast ✔ Change orders reflected in job costing; detailed ops flows in project tools
CIS (UK) ✔ With accounting integrations ✔ Managed in Sage financials
Multi-company / multi-currency ✔ Supported ✔ Enterprise-grade, with consolidations
WIP & revenue recognition ✔ Project-level EAC & margin forecasting ✔ Native WIP schedules and revenue recognition automation
Approvals and audit trail ✔ User-level approvals & logs across budgets, POs, valuations and invoices ✔ Finance approvals, Smart Events/Rules, audit trail
Integrations & API ✔ Xero, QBO, Sage Accounting; API ✔ Open API; marketplace incl. Sage Construction Management & Procore

Note: Intacct focuses on financials. Many buyers add Sage Construction Management or other project tools for site/ops workflows.

Features in detail

See how they handle forecasting, valuations, retentions, POs, WIP and consolidations.

Forecasting, WIP and CVR

Planyard shows real-time CVR and cash forecasting that update as orders, invoices and variations are approved—no spreadsheet rebuilds.

Sage Intacct Construction provides WIP schedules, revenue recognition and dashboards; CVR-style insights can be produced via reports and dashboards.

Commitments and purchase orders

Planyard lets QS/PMs raise and approve POs and subcontracts in the app; only approved costs sync to Xero, QBO or Sage Accounting so the GL stays clean.

Sage Intacct Construction tracks commitments and approvals in finance; detailed operational POs often sit in connected project tools (e.g., Sage Construction Management).

Upload your project budget and follow the financial progress in real-time

No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.

Valuations, certificates and retentions

Planyard collects subcontractor valuations, generates client valuations/certificates and tracks retentions; approvals update the budget and forecast automatically.

Sage Intacct Construction supports retention billing and certification inside finance; project-side formats and workflows can be handled in connected tools if needed.

CIS and compliance

Planyard handles CIS together with your accounting system so deductions and verifications are consistent and auditable.

Sage Intacct Construction manages UK finance requirements in the ledger; CIS can be managed in Sage and/or connected systems depending on your setup.

Implementation timelines

What to expect before you go live.

Product Typical duration Typical steps
Planyard ✔ A few days to a week
  1. Connect accounting and import budgets
  2. Pilot one live project during the first week
  3. Roll out to more jobs once the team is confident
Sage Intacct Construction ✔ Weeks for core financials; months for complex multi-entity + integrations
  1. Partner discovery and configuration
  2. Data migration and training
  3. Reports/dashboards and any project ops integrations

Actual timelines vary by scope, data quality and internal capacity.

Who should choose what

  • Choose Planyard if you want one tool to handle forecasting, CVR, variations, subcontractor valuations, retentions and client valuations with clean ledger integration—replacing multiple spreadsheets and point solutions.
  • Choose Sage Intacct Construction if you want finance, WIP and consolidations centred in Sage, and you’re happy to run project operations in Sage Construction Management or other integrated tools.

In one paragraph

Planyard is the easy, quick-to-roll-out choice for full commercial control next to your ledger. Sage Intacct Construction is a strong finance platform with construction-specific financials (WIP, retention billing, rev rec, consolidations) that often pairs with project ops tools. If you want everything commercial in one place without extra integrations, pick Planyard; if you want financials-first with broad integrations, pick Intacct.

Sources and last updated. Sage UK/US product pages and marketplace; Sage press release (UK launch); Capterra listings for Planyard and Sage Intacct; Planyard site (pricing/integrations). Last reviewed 1 October 2025.