Introduction

This guide explains, step by step, how to run a construction company in Odoo with the Construction apps: from the first estimate to the final payment certificate. No prior Odoo experience is needed.

HOW TO READ THIS GUIDE

Each chapter covers one menu of the Construction app. Chapters start with what it is for, then give numbered steps with a screenshot for each important screen. The red frames in the screenshots show where to click. Click any screenshot to enlarge it.

The big picture

A construction project in Odoo follows the life of a real job. Every chapter of this guide is one stage of that life:

Cost Database→Estimate→Project→Contract→Budget & Schedule→Site work→Payment Certificates→Handover

1. Price the work. The Cost Database holds your resources (labour, materials, plant) and the work items built from them. An Estimate uses them to price the client's bill of quantities (BOQ).
2. Win the job. When the estimate is won, it becomes a Construction Project and a client Contract with the same BOQ.
3. Plan and control. The project gets a Schedule (work breakdown, baseline, S-curve) and a Budget by cost code.
4. Build. On site, the team writes Daily Site Reports, orders Materials, runs Plant, manages Subcontractors, Documents, Quality and Safety.
5. Get paid. Every month the quantity surveyor measures the work done and issues a Payment Certificate, which becomes an invoice. Changes to the scope go through Variations.

Logging in and opening the app

1. Open Odoo in your web browser and sign in with your login and password.

2. On the home screen, click the Construction icon. Field staff can also use the Site App icon, which is made for phones and tablets (see Mobile Site App).

   

   The Odoo home screen. The Construction app is framed in red.

3. The Construction app opens. Its menus are in the top bar: Dashboard, Projects, Estimating, Cost Database and so on. When the window is narrow, the last menus are grouped under the + button.

   

   The menus of the Construction app.

The screens you will use

Every menu opens the same kind of screens. Once you know them, you know how to use every part of the app.

The list

A menu first shows the list of its records (for example all the estimates). From the list you can:

• click New to create a record;
• click a line to open that record;
• type in the search bar to find records, for example a project name or a reference.

A list: the New button and the search bar are framed.

Search, filter and group

Click the small arrow at the right end of the search bar to open the Filters (for example Running contracts only), Group By (for example by project) and Favorites (save a search you use often).

Filters, Group By and Favorites.

The form

Opening a record shows its form. A form has four parts:

• Action buttons at the top left (for example Submit, Approve). Only the buttons allowed at the current stage are shown.
• Status bar at the top right. It shows the stage of the record, for example Draft → Submitted → Won.
• Smart buttons above the form: they count and open the related records (BOQ items, contract, project...).
• Tabs in the lower half (for example Bill of Quantities, Markups) and the chatter on the right, where Odoo logs every change and where you can send messages, log notes and attach files.

An estimate form: the status bar and the chatter are framed.

SAVING

Odoo saves automatically when you leave a record. To save immediately, click the cloud icon next to the record name; to undo your changes, click the × icon next to it.

Who does what: user roles

Each user gets one or more construction roles in SettingsUsers & CompaniesUsers, section Construction. The role decides which menus and buttons the user sees.

Area	Roles (from basic to full rights)	Typical tasks
Construction	Team Member, Project Manager, Construction Director, Administrator	See the projects you belong to; create projects, manage teams and approvals
Estimation	Estimator, Estimation Manager	Cost database, estimates, tenders
Commercial	Quantity Surveyor, Commercial Manager	Contracts, payment certificates, variations, subcontracts, budgets
Planning	Planner, Planning Manager	Schedule, baselines, progress
Site Operations	Site Supervisor / Foreman, Site Engineer, Site Manager	Daily reports, crews, material requests
Materials	Storekeeper, Procurement Officer, Procurement Manager	Site stores, issues, purchases
Plant & Equipment	Plant Operator, Plant Manager	Plant logs, allocations, certificates
Quality	QA/QC Inspector, QA/QC Manager	Inspections, NCRs, snags, material tests
HSE	HSE Officer, HSE Manager	Incidents, observations, permits, inductions, PPE
Document Control	Document User, Document Controller	Drawings, RFIs, submittals, transmittals, correspondence

TIP

Users only see the projects of which they are a team member. Adding someone to the project team is explained in Teams, Roles & Approvals.

The examples in this guide

The screenshots come from a demonstration database. The main example projects are:

• [ANV] Al Noor Villas - Phase 1: a villa project for the client Al Noor Developments, already under construction, with a running contract and certificates;
• [CRT] Corniche Residential Tower: a tower project at an early stage.

Your own data will be different, but the screens and the steps are the same.

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Next: set up the app

Settings, cost codes and classifications to define once.

🏗

Create your first project

Jump straight to construction projects.