How to use Reconstro, A to Z

1.1 The home dashboard

Step by step

1. Sign in — you land on Home.
2. Read Projects by status (Active / Completed / Cancelled) for a one-glance health check.
3. Scan Recent activity to see the newest events across all your projects.
4. Use the quick actions at the top — New project, New estimate, Add currency — to start work without hunting through menus.
5. A short guided tour opens on first login; reopen it any time from the "Get started" card.

reconstro.com/app

Short version: How to create a project

2.1 Businesses

Step by step

1. Open Organization → Businesses.
2. Your default Main office is already there. Open it, or press + Office to add another.
3. Fill in name, type (Company / Office / Individual), address and contact details.
4. Under Used for, choose where it appears: Projects, Quotation (letterhead on offers), and Showcase (public storefront).
5. Save. It's now selectable when you create a project or an estimate.

The three "Used for" switches — explained

You fill in a business's details once, then flip three independent switches to decide where it may appear. Turn on any combination.

reconstro.com/app/businesses

Short version: Manage businesses

2.2 Zones

Step by step

1. Open a business under Organization → Businesses — one that's turned on for Projects (zones only live under a project-running business).
2. In the Zones card press + Add zone, give it a name such as "Waterfront", and save.
3. Optional: draw the zone's outline on the map. Reconstro then centres a project's address map there and gently warns if an address falls outside the zone — a helpful nudge, never a hard block.
4. When you create a project, choose its Zone. From then on every project is tagged by area.
5. Later, filter and group projects by zone — for example "show everything in Waterfront".

reconstro.com/app/businesses

Short version: Manage zones

2.3 Storefront (public on Discover)

Step by step

1. Open a business and find the Storefront card.
2. Turn on Public on Discover, then press View public storefront to see it as visitors do.
3. Add Posts (products and portfolio work), request Verification, and read your Reviews.

reconstro.com/app/discover

2.4 Staff & permissions

Step by step

1. Open Organization → Staff and press + Add staff.
2. Enter their details and tick the permissions they should have.
3. Reconstro creates the login and shows you a secure hand-off (copy / WhatsApp / email) to send them.
4. Toggle a staff member active or inactive at any time.

reconstro.com/app/staff

Short version: Add staff

2.5 Project owners

Step by step

1. Open Contacts → Project owners and press Add.
2. Enter name, phone, email and address, then save.
3. The project owner is now selectable as the owner of a project.

reconstro.com/app/clients

Short version: Add a project owner

2.6 Suppliers

Step by step

1. Open Contacts → Suppliers and press Add.
2. Enter the supplier's details (and optionally link them to their public storefront).
3. Save — the supplier is now selectable when you record a purchase.

reconstro.com/app/suppliers

Short version: Add a supplier

2.7 Currencies & exchange rates

Step by step

1. Open Currencies and press + Add currency to activate the ones you use (e.g. GBP, EUR, USD).
2. Open Exchange rates → Manage and set the rate for each non-default currency.
3. Those currencies are now selectable on projects and transactions.

reconstro.com/app/currencies

Short version: Add a currency

2.8 Project types & cash-out types

Step by step

1. Open Project setup in the sidebar.
2. Under Project types and Cash-out types, add or edit the entries you need.
3. They now appear as options when creating projects and recording money out.

reconstro.com/app/project-setup

3.1 What a project is

3.2 Create a project

Step by step

1. Press New project (on Home or in Projects).
2. Enter a title, choose the business and project type, and optionally a zone.
3. Pick the base currency and (optionally) additional currencies.
4. Set start/end dates, the project owner (owner), and whether it's New build or Renovation.
5. Save — the project is created and opens on its overview.

reconstro.com/app/projects/new

Short version: How to create a project

3.3 Activate a project

Step by step

1. On a new project you'll see an Activate prompt.
2. Choose a plan and complete the secure payment (or use your free first project / bundle allowance).
3. Once active, an expiry card on the project shows how long it's covered, with a Renew option.

reconstro.com/app/projects/plans

3.4 The project overview

Step by step

1. Open Projects → All projects and select a project.
2. Read the summary cards, then use the tabs to move between Money, Stages, Tasks, Activity, Documents and more.

reconstro.com/app/projects

reconstro.com/app/projects/manage

3.5 Stages

Step by step

1. Open the project's Stages.
2. Add stages, rename or reorder them to match your build sequence.
3. Set the current stage so new tasks and activity default to it.

reconstro.com/app/projects/stages

3.6 Activities

Step by step

1. Open the project's Activity and press add.
2. Write what happened, pick the stage, and attach site photos.
3. Once saved, you see it in the project and in the company-wide activity feed.

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.7 Tasks

Step by step

1. Open the project's Tasks and press add.
2. Give it a title, assign one or more staff, set priority, dates and stage.
3. Track it as the status moves; discuss it in the task's comments.

reconstro.com/app/projects/tasks

Short version: Tasks and reminders

3.8 Notes

Step by step

1. Open the project and find Notes.
2. Write the note, pick the stage, and save.

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.9 Money & the ledger

Step by step

1. Open the project's Money / ledger tab.
2. Press + Transaction and pick the kind (see 3.10–3.13 below).
3. Filter by kind, stage or supplier; export the ledger to Excel any time.

reconstro.com/app/projects

Short version: Track money on a project

3.10 Money in — cash-in

Step by step

1. In the project ledger press + Transaction → Cash in.
2. Enter the amount and currency, the date, the project owner and a note (e.g. "Milestone — foundation").
3. Save — it appears green in the project's details and lifts the project's cash position.

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.11 Money out — cash-out

Step by step

1. Press + Transaction → Cash out.
2. Enter the amount, date, a cash-out type (e.g. Fuel & transport) and a note.
3. Save — it appears red in the project's details.

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.12 Purchases from suppliers

Step by step

1. On the money page press + Add cash out, then choose a Supplier — that turns the cash-out into a purchase.
2. Enter the amount, then choose Paid now: Paid in full, Part-paid, or On credit.
3. Optionally attach the receipt — a photo, a PDF or an e-invoice file (XML) — and link a project item.
4. Save — any unpaid balance is tracked and settled later with a payment (3.13).

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.13 Supplier payments

Step by step

1. Open the supplier under Contacts → Suppliers and record a payment against their outstanding balance.
2. Enter the amount you're paying and the date.
3. Save — the supplier's outstanding balance drops accordingly.

reconstro.com/app/suppliers

3.14 Budget vs. actual

Step by step

1. Set the project's financial terms (Fixed budget or Cost-plus) when you create it or in its details.
2. Open Budget vs. actual to see planned vs spent, with a clear on-track / over indicator.

reconstro.com/app/projects/reports/budget

3.15 Reminders

Step by step

1. Open the project's Reminders and add one.
2. Set the title, due date/time and lead time, then save — you'll be notified in time.

reconstro.com/app/projects

Short version: Tasks and reminders

3.16 Documents

Step by step

1. Open the project's Documents.
2. Upload files, then open or download them any time.

reconstro.com/app/projects

3.17 Team on the project

Step by step

1. Open the project and find its team / assignments.
2. Add staff to the project; they can now be assigned its tasks.

reconstro.com/app/projects/team

3.18 Project reports & export

Step by step

1. Open Reports (or the export buttons on the project).
2. Choose the report and press export — a formatted .xlsx downloads.

reconstro.com/app/projects/reports

3.19 Your deal — contract terms

Step by step

1. Open the project, go to the Manage tab and find Contract terms. On the phone it is the Finance section of the project.
2. Press Set terms.
3. Choose how you are paid — Fixed price or Cost-plus.
4. Fixed price: type the Agreed price. Cost-plus: type a Fee percentage, a Fixed fee, or both.
5. Cost-plus only: if the project owner agreed a ceiling, type it in Maximum price (optional). Leave it empty if you did not agree one — you can add one later with Edit terms.
6. Press Save terms.

When the project owner agrees a maximum. Some cost-plus deals add a ceiling — cost plus 10%, but never more than 50,000. The industry calls it a guaranteed maximum price. Most cost-plus jobs have none, and that is normal, not something missing. Read this part twice: the maximum covers what you spend and your fee together, never your spending on its own.

Two things to know before you type one. A maximum is cost-plus only, and it cannot be less than a fixed fee you also charge — the app will not accept that. A fixed-price job needs no maximum, because the agreed price already is one. A fixed fee counts against the maximum in full from the first day, before you have spent anything — which is exactly why the maximum can never be smaller than it.

3.20 Your fee — earned, received, owed

Step by step

1. Record what you spend as normal. Your fee builds itself from those entries — you never type it anywhere.
2. Open Reports → Financial on the web, or Budget vs actual on the phone, and read the My fee card.
3. When the project owner pays, record the money in and answer the one question the form asks: My fee or For the job.

The one step that can quietly go wrong. On a cost-plus job a single payment is two different things wearing one shape. Say you spent 20,000, your fee is 3,000, and the project owner sends 23,000. If you tick My fee on the whole 23,000, the app will believe you earned 23,000 of fee when you really earned 3,000.

When the project owner pays your fee early. Some project owners advance part of the fee to get started. Nothing is wrong — the card simply changes what it calls the number.

When the deal has a maximum. If the project owner agreed a ceiling, a bar and two lines appear inside the Money for the job card, under the box that answers it. They answer one question: how close am I to the number the project owner agreed? The bar measures your spending and your fee together, so it moves every time you record spending — your fee is worked out from that spending, not recorded against the maximum separately. Say the maximum is 10,000 and your fee is 10%.

Over the maximum? Allowed, and never blocked. Reconstro never stops you recording work you actually did. The bar turns amber and the page says how far past the number you are — which is the moment to talk to the project owner, not the moment to stop recording.

3.21 Claims — asking to be paid

Step by step

1. Open the project and go to Fee requests — it sits under Contract and budget, just above Statement.
2. Press Ask for your fee. The amount is filled in with what you have not yet asked for — change it freely.
3. Add a Due date if you agreed payment terms. This is what lets the app tell you later that the project owner is late.
4. Press Ask for your fee.
5. When the money arrives, record it and pick the claim under Which claim does this pay? — that link is what closes the claim.

When the project owner pays only part of it. You claimed 23,000 and they send 12,000. Nothing needs correcting — record what arrived and the list does the arithmetic.

When one payment covers two claims. Claim A is owed 21,850 and claim B is owed 32,775. The project owner sends 40,000 in a single transfer. Record it as two entries, not one — the link is what closes a claim, so a single lump would leave A looking unpaid for ever.

3.22 Retention — money held back

Why it exists: once you have been paid in full, the project owner has nothing left to make you come back and fix a leaking pipe. So they hold a slice until the fault period ends. If something breaks, they use it. If nothing breaks, you get all of it. It is not a penalty, not late money, and not lost.

Step by step

1. On Contract terms, type your Retention percentage — and a limit, if your contract caps how much may be held at once.
2. Raise claims as normal. Every claim now shows three lines: what you asked for, what is held back, and what the project owner actually pays now.
3. Watch Held on the My fee card. That is your money, parked.
4. At handover press Release retention and enter the amount — usually half. Release the rest when the fault period ends.

What a claim looks like with retention. On a cost-plus job you spent 20,000 and your fee is 3,000, so you are asking for 23,000. Retention is 5%.

Retention comes off everything, not just your fee. That is worth reading twice. 5% of the whole 23,000 is 1,150. Five per cent of the 3,000 fee would be 150 — and believing the smaller number means finishing the job convinced you have been paid 1,000 that is still being held.

The limit. A limit caps the total held at once, not each payment. Once the project owner reaches it, later claims come to you in full.

Getting it back. Release half at handover and the rest when the fault period ends. Over the whole job you asked for 121,500 and received 121,500 — the last 5,000 simply arrived a year after the first claim.

3.23 Variations — when the agreed price changes

Why it works this way: your contract has two numbers, not one. What you originally agreed, and what is owed today. Typing over the first destroys the record of what you signed — and every claim you have already sent was worked out from it. A variation keeps both numbers, side by side.

Step by step

1. Open the project's Financial report, find the Variations card and press Add a variation.
2. Describe what changed, in your own words.
3. Choose Adds or Removes, then type the amount as an ordinary positive number. The app puts the sign on for you.
4. Add extra days if the change moves the programme. This is recorded on the variation as an agreed fact; it does not move your project dates.
5. Press Save variation. The contract sum updates at once, and so does what is left to claim.

Taking work out. Choose Removes. The amount comes off the contract sum and the row shows in red with a minus in front. A deduction is a normal, agreed outcome — not a mistake.

A change that costs nothing. Leave the amount at zero. A swapped tile colour, or a delay the project owner caused, is still worth recording: the description and the extra days are what carry the value.

Getting one wrong. There is no edit. Press Void, give a reason, and record the right one instead. The wrong one stays on the record with your reason, and its number is never handed to another change — exactly like a cancelled invoice.

Claims you have already sent are never rewritten. A variation changes what you claim from now on. Anything already claimed keeps the figures it was claimed at, which is what lets an old claim still make sense a year later.

Cost-plus jobs have no variations. There is no fixed price for one to change — the project owner pays the actual cost plus your fee, so extra work simply flows through the cost.

3.24 The statement — a whole job, line by line

Why it is one table and not two: a project has two money stories running at the same time. Cash — what moved, and what is left. And the project owner account — what you asked for, and how much has come back. Read apart, each is half a truth. A healthy bank balance can sit on top of work you never billed.

Step by step

1. Open the project and go to Certificates.
2. Switch to the Statement tab.
3. Read the top line — newest first, so that is where the job stands today.
4. Read downwards to see how it got there. Every line shows the position as at that moment, not just what changed.
5. Tap any certificate line to open it and see exactly which payments have been received against it.

The six figures

Every line of the statement carries all six. The short name is the column heading you will see in the worked example below; the grey word beside it is what the app prints on screen.

A real job, line by line. Fixed price 80,000. Every column is filled on every row, so you can read any single line and know exactly where the job stood at that moment. The app lists newest first, so on screen you read this table upwards.

Read line 8. You are holding 6,500, you have asked for 15,000 so far, the project owner still owes 1,000 of it, and 8,000 of what you hold was never asked for at all. Four different facts, none of which you could work out from any of the others.

A certificate moves no money. Look at lines 2 and 5 — Out and In are both empty and Hand does not budge. Only Certified and Owed change. That is the whole difference between asking and being paid, and it is why the two stories sit side by side.

Lines 7 and 8 are money with no paperwork behind it. A deposit, or a project owner paying ahead. Record it as cash in and leave the certificate box empty. Hand goes up because the money is real — but Owed does not move, because none of it was against Certificate 2. It lands in Adv instead, and stays there until you certify that work and link the payment to it.

Left to certify is the last piece: 80,000 agreed, 15,000 certified, so 65,000 of the job is still to ask for. If you have added variations, it counts against the new agreed price, not the original one.

Overpaying is refused, not absorbed. If the project owner owes 1,000 and you try to record 3,000 against that certificate, the app will not let you: a certificate cannot report money it never asked for. Record the 1,000 against it and the other 2,000 as an advance, and the statement stays true.

3.25 One payment, several certificates

What actually gets recorded. One line per certificate, plus one for anything left over — so a 12,000 payment across two certificates with 2,000 spare shows as three lines in the activity feed. They are written together, all or nothing: you can never end up with half a payment recorded. Each line carries its own certificate, which is what lets the app say exactly how much has been received against each document.

Step by step

1. Open Cash in on the project. Before you type anything, the form tells you how much the project owner still owes and across how many certificates.
2. Type what actually arrived — the figure on your bank statement, not a tidier one.
3. Press Settle all. The app spreads the money across the certificates for you, oldest debt first.
4. Read the rows. Change any figure by hand if the project owner meant something different; each row is capped at what that certificate has left.
5. Check Left over, then press Save transaction.

If the project owner owes exactly what they paid, press Settle all on an empty form — it fills the amount for you and there is nothing left over.

A worked example. Certificate 2 was for 9,000 and 8,000 has already been received, so only 1,000 is left on it. Certificate 3 is for 9,000 with nothing received. The project owner sends 12,000.

Oldest first, and that is deliberate. A project owner clearing their account is paying off what they have owed longest. The list shows certificates newest-first because that is what you look for; the money goes at them oldest-first because that is what the project owner is doing.

The 2,000 does not reduce what they owe. After this payment the project owner owes nothing on certificates — both are settled — and you are holding 2,000 that was never asked for. It sits in Held in advance on the statement until you certify that work and point the money at it. See 3.24.

You cannot over-allocate. Putting more against a certificate than it has left is refused, and so is allocating more than arrived: a certificate must never report money it did not receive. Allocating LESS is fine — the remainder is simply held.

Where the invoice goes. Attach the project owner's invoice or transfer slip as normal — it is filed against the first line of the split, the one paying the oldest certificate. One bank event has one piece of paper behind it, so it is stored once rather than copied onto every line. In the example below, look on the 1,000 line.

Correcting one later. A split is recorded as one entry, so it is edited as one. Re-slicing an existing receipt is not offered — if the split was wrong, void it and record it again the way it really landed.

3.26 Invoices — a numbered PDF for the project owner

Step by step

1. Open the project and go to Certificates — or Fee requests on a cost-plus job.
2. Open the certificate, or find the fee request in its list, and press Create invoice.
3. Check the Invoice date and the Due date. On a project that uses VAT, pick the VAT rate. Add a note if you like.
4. Press Create invoice, then Download PDF, and send the file to the project owner.

When the money arrives. Record it as cash in and pick the certificate or the fee request it pays. On a project that uses VAT the entry takes the invoice's rate, so the invoice and the money agree.

Who can: the account owner, or a team member with View financial reports.

Short version: Track money on a project

4.1 Estimates & quotations

Before you win a job you need a price. An estimate is where you build that price from line items; a quotation is that same estimate dressed as a branded offer — on your business letterhead, addressed to the project owner, and exported to Excel to send.

①  Build a cost estimate

Step by step

1. Open Estimate → Estimates and press + New estimate.
2. Give it a title and a base currency (every line and total is priced in it), plus an optional reference or note, then Create.
3. Add line items — type them in, Add products from your catalogue, use Measure to work out a quantity, or Paste rows from a spreadsheet. Each line is quantity × rate in a unit (m², m³, sheet, unit…).
4. Open Edit adjustments for markup, contingency, discount and tax — the cost breakdown (subtotal → grand total) updates live.

reconstro.com/app/estimates

reconstro.com/app/estimates

②  Turn it into a Quotation — the branded offer

Step by step

1. On the estimate, fill in Business & offer — pick which of your businesses is the letterhead (its Used for → Quotation must be on), the project owner under To, and the offer date.
2. Check the line items and the cost breakdown: Subtotal → Markup → Tax → Grand total, all in your currency.
3. Press Finalize to lock the quotation (Draft → Final) so the figures can't drift.
4. Press Export to Excel to download the branded offer, and send it to your project owner.

reconstro.com/app/estimates

Short version: Estimate a project's cost

4.2 Messages & notifications

Two ways Reconstro keeps you in the loop: Messages for talking to people, and Notifications for everything the app wants to tell you.

①  Messages — talk to your team, project owners and suppliers

Step by step

1. Open Messages in the sidebar. The left pane lists your conversations; pick one to read it.
2. Press + for a New conversation, then choose Team, Project owner or Supplier — see the table below — and press Start conversation.
3. Type in the box and press Send message. Enter sends, Shift + Enter starts a new line.
4. Scroll up and press Load earlier messages to read back through the history.

Who you can message

reconstro.com/app/chat

②  Notifications — what needs your attention

Step by step

1. Click the bell in the top bar for a quick look, then View all notifications — or open Notifications in the sidebar.
2. Turn on Unread only to hide what you've already seen.
3. Click any row to jump straight to the project, task or transaction it refers to — it's marked as read at the same time.
4. Press Mark all as read to clear the badge in one go.
5. Keep scrolling to load older notifications.

reconstro.com/app/notifications

4.3 Showcase & Discover

Showcase is Reconstro's built-in marketplace — a public place to show what you sell and the work you've built, and to find other businesses. It has two sides: Discover (browse everyone) and My Showcase (your own storefronts). Any business you switch on for Showcase becomes a public storefront here.

①  Discover — the marketplace

Step by step

1. Open Showcase → Discover in the sidebar.
2. Search the marketplace, or narrow it by Country and Category — the result count updates as you filter.
3. Open any card to see the full product or work, its photos, and the business behind it.
4. Leave a comment, or open that business's storefront to see everything they've published and their star reviews.

reconstro.com/app/discover

②  My Showcase — your storefront

Step by step

1. Open Showcase → My Showcase. You'll see a storefront for each Showcase-enabled business — or press New storefront to turn one on.
2. Open a storefront (e.g. Main office) to manage it.
3. Add a post: choose Product (something you sell, with a price) or Work (a finished project for your portfolio), then add photos and details.
4. Your posts now appear on Discover. Check back for comments and star reviews, and request a verified badge to build trust.

reconstro.com/app/showcase

Short version: Set up your Showcase

4.4 Reports, plans & billing

Three tools grouped under Projects in the sidebar: Reports (how every project is doing), Plans (activate & renew projects), and Billing (what you've paid).

①  Reports — across every project

Step by step

1. Open Projects → Reports and pick a project.
2. Switch between the tabs — Stage breakdown, Financial, Budget vs actual, Expenses, Payments.
3. Expand a stage's cash-out by item to see exactly what the money bought.
4. Print or Export the report to send it on.

reconstro.com/app/projects/reports

reconstro.com/app/projects/reports

②  Plans — activate your projects

Step by step

1. Open Projects → Plans — the badge shows how many projects are ready to activate.
2. Buy a bundle to activate several projects in one purchase, or activate a single project from its own page (see Activate a project).
3. Each activated project becomes its own subscription; past purchases sit in Purchase history.

reconstro.com/app/plans

③  Billing — your receipts

Step by step

1. Open Projects → Billing.
2. See your Total paid and how many receipts you have.
3. Read each receipt — project, subscription period and paid date.

reconstro.com/app/billing

4.5 Export for accountant

Step by step

1. Open Workspace → Overview in the sidebar and press Export for accountant in the Accountant card. On the phone it is under You → Workspace.
2. Choose the Business. You are asked only when you have more than one.
3. Choose the Period: Last month, This month, Last quarter, This quarter, This year, Last year or Custom. One export covers at most one year.
4. Choose the Layout: Universal works with any accounting software; a layout you saved matches your accountant's own file.
5. Look at In this pack: how many Entries, Invoices and Receipts it holds, how big the receipts are, and anything To check — costs without a receipt, receipts with more than one VAT rate, and supplier payments not on a project.
6. Press Download pack and send the zip file to your accountant.

What is in the zip file

Your accountant's own layout

1. Under Layout, press Custom layout.
2. Type the Layout name and choose the Sample file — a CSV or Excel file from your accountant. Only its column names and first row are read; the file is not kept.
3. Under Match the columns, check what fills each column. A column shown in amber was not matched: choose a field for it, or Leave empty.
4. Choose the Entries in this file and the File settings: the separator, the decimal mark, how a date is written, and an optional first line. When a column is filled from Account code or Tax code, give each cost type and each VAT rate its code under Codes.
5. Press Save layout. The layout is now a choice under Layout, next to Universal; choose it and press Edit layout to change or delete it.

Who can export: the account owner, or a team member with both Manage projects and View financial reports.

Short version: Track money on a project

4.6 Settings

Step by step

1. Open Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.
2. Profile — press Change photo to upload a picture (JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP; Reconstro resizes it for you), edit your Full name and Phone, then press Save. Your email (or staff code) and your Role are shown here too, read-only.
3. Security — press Change password. You may be asked to sign in again afterwards.
4. Preferences — turn Dark Mode on or off, pick your Language, and set the Font size (with a reset button to go back to normal).
5. Help & support — opens the searchable help articles, an FAQ, and a button to email support.

reconstro.com/app/settings

Short version: Make the app your own