Construction Purchase Order Software

Managing purchase orders, budget commitments, and payment summaries across spreadsheets leads to time-consuming back-and-forth and double-checking. Planyard standardizes the process, keeping everything up-to-date without double data entry.

Planyard construction budgeting software showing the budget overview screen with real-time updates on project costs, purchase orders, and invoices.

How purchase orders work in construction

A purchase order is a request to buy products or services from a supplier or subcontractor. It states what is being ordered, how much of it, and the agreed price. On most sites it is still sent as an email.

Project costs come from several places: overheads, contracts and material purchases. A large share also comes from one-off purchases that different people on site request from vendors. Each of them is focused on getting the parts in on time, and the project manager has limited sight of what has been committed.

Why one system for every order matters

Sending orders by email is quick, but the orders end up scattered across several inboxes. The project manager cannot see when an order was issued, who issued it or what it will cost until the invoice arrives. At that point it is hard to check whether the company actually bought what it is being asked to pay for.

Issuing the order through purchase order software takes the same effort. You create the order, enter the items and send it to the supplier’s email. The difference is that the order is now visible to the project manager the moment it is sent, with the date, the person who raised it and the expected cost. Payments due in the coming weeks can be predicted from the orders already placed.

Set a threshold for when an order is required

Running every small purchase through a formal process is not worth the effort, because small items barely move the total cost. The usual rule is a value limit: every purchase above a set amount, for example $1,000, must go through a purchase order.

Once the limit is agreed, decide where the orders will live. That can be a shared Excel file or, for easier use, purchase order software. Then introduce the rule to everyone who buys for the project and make clear that it applies to them.

Match invoices to purchase orders

When a supplier’s invoice arrives, it is checked against the order it belongs to. The project manager compares the items and amounts on the invoice with what was ordered. If the invoice asks for more than was agreed, it shows up before the invoice reaches accounting. Nothing has to be typed in again, since the order already holds the planned quantities and prices.

Simple and Efficient Purchase Order Creating

Planyard’s intuitive purchase order feature makes issuing orders as simple as sending an email, requiring no prior training. Your entire team—project managers, quantity surveyors, and site engineers—can quickly be set up with the appropriate permissions to raise purchase orders.

Planyard also automatically adds standardized terms, such as invoice submission details and purchase order reference numbers, directly to the purchase order PDF for consistency and accuracy.

Track the Committed Costs Against the Budget

Once an order is placed, Planyard updates the project budget and flags when committed costs exceed the budget, allowing you to spot risks early and prevent overspending.

If your budget is structured by phase, you can track profitability from the start. By your first cost control meeting, you’ll already know how the initial phases are performing, even before invoices arrive.

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

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

Purchase Order Numbers Make the Invoicing Process Easy

Purchase order numbers simplify the management of purchase invoices. Planyard automatically collects invoices from your accounts payable email. If an invoice includes a purchase order number, Planyard’s OCR extracts key data and matches it with the correct purchase order—eliminating manual sorting and matching.

When it’s time to process the invoice, all relevant information is already extracted, and previous payments are clearly visualized, making the entire process faster and more accurate.

Avoid Being Overbilled

To process the invoice, the project manager reviews previous payments and remaining balances linked to the corresponding purchase order, ensuring the invoiced amounts match what was ordered.

Once approved, Planyard automatically updates the project budget and purchase order payment summary. The cost is securely stored within Planyard and can be seamlessly synced with accounting systems such as Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB, Sage, or others—ready for processing.

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

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

No More Unexpected Project Late-Stage Invoices, Messing up the Margins

All your project purchase orders are now in one list, giving you a clear overview of the total value, payments made, and outstanding balances.

At the end of the project, easily verify that all bills are paid and orders are closed. With everything in order, you can confidently take a break, knowing you’ve met the project’s financial targets.

Customers testimonials

See how Planyard helps businesses like yours succeed - read their stories in our blog.

"Planyard's integration with Xero has streamlined our project financials, providing clear insights and saving us valuable time. It's easy to use and keeps all commitments organized for seamless financial tracking."

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Sharon Brown, Financial Controller
Sharon Brown Financial Controller  ·  Empower Renewables  ·  Dublin, Ireland

"Planyard is basically a live CVR and saves time by making Excel unnecessary. Once a project’s set up, I can rely on Planyard to stay organized without spreadsheets."

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Claire Hill, Quantity Surveyor
Claire Hill Quantity Surveyor  ·  Brown & Bancroft Interiors  ·  Bolton, United Kingdom

"If there’s some problem with the budget, it just tells you what you need to fix and you’ll be fine. It really just kind of thinks a step ahead for you."

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Jordan Cohen, Project Director & Partner
Jordan Cohen Project Director & Partner  ·  TITN Development  ·  Florida, United States

"Planyard saves us 3-4 days per project by simplifying financial tracking and cutting out double data entry. It’s user-friendly and lets us focus on our main tasks."

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Jason Escobar, Project Manager
Jason Escobar Project Manager  ·  The Keane Group  ·  Queensland, Australia

"Planyard is exactly what I’m after as a business owner: a good-value system that keeps everything in one place, saves me money and makes sure I’m not losing any money on projects. As a businessman, that’s a no-brainer."

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Lee Covington, Owner
Lee Covington Owner  ·  E&N Group Ltd  ·  London, United Kingdom

"I’m confident that we can manage multiple projects effectively. We’re currently running three fairly large ones, and the system makes it very clear and easy to manage all of them at once."

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Graham Eastwood, Office Manager
Graham Eastwood Office Manager  ·  Karringtons Ltd  ·  Kent, United Kingdom

"I chose Planyard because it stood out as the most straightforward and intuitive option on the market. I really wanted a tool that would simplify our existing processes and make everything more efficient, rather than switching to a system that was far too complicated for us to use on a daily basis."

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Grant Collins, Quantity Surveyor
Grant Collins Quantity Surveyor  ·  Skyler Contracting  ·  Kent, United Kingdom

"Planyard has completely replaced my CVR process. Cost Value Reconciliation is essentially about tracking your budget against your actual spend to see exactly what remains, and that functionality is the absolute essence of the central core of Planyard."

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Ian Holford, Managing Director
Ian Holford Managing Director  ·  Higgihaus Developments  ·  Bristol, United Kingdom

"For me Planyard is essentially the go to software for SMBs. There are other software packages out there that are a large investment upfront with a significant monthly cost. These are all potential solutions once you get to a very large business but they are not a solution for SMBs."

Paul Howarth, Experienced FD/Consultant
Paul Howarth Experienced FD/Consultant  ·  Live Management Accounts

"Timewise, on a single project, I'd probably save 6 to 8 hours—essentially a full day every month. When it comes to processing monthly payments, it saves me a solid day, perhaps even a day and a half, just in sorting through the invoices. Saving a day and a half of my time means the system pays for itself time and time again."

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Paul Treweek, Quantity Surveyor & Estimator
Paul Treweek Quantity Surveyor & Estimator  ·  DPTQS Ltd  ·  Cornwall, United Kingdom

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