Define project cost categories, source records, timing, and exclusions.
Finance and profitability / Job costing
Solar job costing for materials, labor, and expenses
Build a cost model that finance can trace and operations can use without confusing commitments, standards, and posted actuals.
Record
01Project cost baseline
02Stock valuation entry
03Purchase commitment
04Timesheet
Current reviewEstablish the cost baseline
Configured during assessment- 01Establish the cost baselineCurrent decision
- 02Capture commitments and allocationsNext controlled handoff
- 03Receive approved actual-cost recordsNext controlled handoff
- 04Review labor and material varianceNext controlled handoff
Why this workflow breaks
Solar project costs arrive through stock, purchasing, subcontractors, timesheets, payroll, expenses, permits, travel, and rework at different times. Mixing commitments, standard cost, and posted actuals produces margin figures nobody can reconcile.
Solar1 starts by documenting the decisions and failure paths. Configuration follows only after the operating boundary is understood.
Workflow sequence
Keep the handoff visible from first review to accepted outcome.
- 01Establish the cost baseline
- 02Capture commitments and allocations
- 03Receive approved actual-cost records
- 04Review labor and material variance
- 05Reconcile exceptions for closeout
What to configure
Specific controls, qualified by implementation.
Map committed, allocated, accrued, and posted values without merging their meanings.
Configure labor allocation and reconciliation under finance-approved rules.
Drill cost variances back to the operational records that created them.
Assessment output
A shared definition of the records, owners, and acceptance checks.
Records in scope
- Project cost baseline
- Stock valuation entry
- Purchase commitment
- Timesheet
- Expense record
Roles in the decision
- Project accountant
- Project manager
- Payroll or finance reviewer
Checks before rollout
- Document the accounting source for every cost category.
- Define labor-cost and payroll reconciliation.
- Test returns, credits, rework, and cross-project corrections.
Questions to settle
Questions to settle before configuring job costing.
Which costs belong to a solar job?+
The policy may include approved material, labor, subcontractor, permit, utility, travel, expense, rework, and warranty categories with clear sources.
Is a purchase order an actual cost?+
It is typically a commitment rather than a posted actual; finance should define how each status appears in project views.
Can field time feed project cost?+
Approved project allocation can contribute after the team defines activity rates, corrections, payroll reconciliation, and double-count controls.
Next step