Excavation software for hours, loads and builders who pay late.
You know the machine hours and the load count. Getting them onto an invoice and then getting the builder to pay it is the hard part. Redline drafts the invoice from one message and tells you who's overdue.
A foundation dig, billed from the cab
Invoice drafted for Bryant Homes: $5,295, "Foundation dig: excavator 14 hrs, skid steer 6 hrs, 9 loads haul-off, mobilization, 3 hrs rock hammering". That's $165, $115, $140 a load, $450 and $195 an hour from your rates. Due in 14 days. Approve it?
Two open: Castle Builders, $8,420, 9 days past due. Dana Whitfield, $1,150, sent Friday.
Invoices and overdue alerts are on Solo and up.
Built for hours, loads and slow payers
Hours and loads into an invoice
Say the machine hours, the loads, the tons of stone and the mobilization, and Redline works out the total with your rates and lists them in the invoice description. You keep the count; Redline does the paperwork. See invoicing.
Builders who pay slow
With chasing on, unpaid invoices get flagged at day 3, 7 and 14 and Redline tells you who to call. It doesn't send reminders to the builder on its own. See overdue invoice alerts.
Locate tickets on the job
Put the locate ticket number and its expiration in the job notes, and set a reminder before it runs out so you're not digging on a dead ticket.
Deposits for homeowner jobs
A homeowner's driveway base or pond dig can carry a deposit percentage on the quote. Bill it on its own invoice with a card pay link before you mobilize (Solo and up).
Fuel and rentals against the job
Log diesel, a rented attachment or dump fees as expenses on the job, and Reports shows profit per job after them. See expenses and reports.
Small outfit, big machines
A small excavation company is an owner who runs the excavator, one or two operators and a laborer, working for builders, general contractors and the occasional homeowner. The work is billed by the machine hour, the load or the yard, plus mobilization, and it changes the minute you hit ledge or find an old foundation nobody mentioned.
The paperwork lives in a notebook on the dash: hours per machine, loads per day, standby time while the concrete truck was late. At the end of the job it all has to turn into an invoice, usually on a Saturday. Redline makes that one message from the cab. The extra hours for rock and the standby time are named in the invoice description, so the builder sees why the number moved.
Then there's getting paid. Builders pay on their own schedule, and a small outfit can carry a lot of money in open invoices. Redline keeps the list of who owes you and how late, and the Redline RPMs on Home show money sitting in done-but-not-invoiced and overdue, so nothing slips while you're running the machine.
Straight answers for excavation contractors
Redline does
- Invoice machine hours, loads and mobilization by chat (Solo and up)
- Flag overdue invoices at day 3, 7 and 14 (Solo and up)
- Keep locate ticket numbers and reminders on the job
- Quote homeowner jobs with a deposit
- Show profit per job after fuel and rentals you logged (Solo and up)
Redline doesn't
- Log machine hours or track equipment by GPS
- Keep load tickets or scale tickets as records
- Do progress billing, AIA forms or retainage
- File locate tickets or permits for you
- Send payment reminders to customers on its own
Questions contractors ask
Can Redline track my machine hours?
No. There's no hour meter, time tracking or equipment log. You give Redline the hours from your notebook or the machine, and it puts them on the invoice.
Can I bill a builder in phases?
You can send a separate invoice for each phase, like the dig, the backfill and the final grade. Redline doesn't do AIA-style progress billing or hold retainage.
Can builders pay by check?
Redline's pay link takes cards only. A builder who pays by check pays you outside the pay link, the way they do now.
Which plan fits an owner and two operators?
If the operators need the app for their day, Team at $129 a month has 3 seats with you included. If they don't, Solo at $29 covers the invoicing. See pricing.
Free excavation paperwork and tools
Keep reading
- Overdue invoice alertsUnpaid invoices flagged at day 3, 7 and 14, with a push telling you who to call.
- Concrete softwareQuote flatwork by the foot and the yard, check the forecast before a pour and take a deposit.
- Septic softwareTank notes that outlast your memory, next pump-outs booked ahead, invoices from the truck.
- General contractor invoicing softwareDeposit, milestone draws and change orders billed by chat, each draw tracked.
- Job profit calculatorSee what a job really makes after materials, labor and overhead.
Run your business by chat.
Redline is free to start. Tell it about the job and it handles the quote, the schedule, the invoice and the follow-up.