CONTROLQORE FOR IRRIGATION CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't report cost per linear foot of mainline, separate a bored crossing from open trench, or tell you what the reroute cost when the field conditions changed. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for irrigation contractors uses cost codes by install phase, meaning mobilization, sleeving, mainline trenching, lateral trenching, bored crossings, zone valves and wire, heads, controller and electrical tie-in, testing, and closeout, to track cost per linear foot against the rate the bid carried. Bored crossings post apart from open trench so the two rates never blend into one average. Scope boundaries with the landscape, sitework, and electrical trades are documented in writing before trenching starts, and field changes are logged the day they happen. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
Irrigation contractors at $1M to $5M net 5.5 percent before taxes in the SPM benchmark set, rising to 8 percent by $25M to $50M, against a CFOS target of 10 percent. Install work is where that thin net gets decided, because irrigation install usually rides inside a landscape or sitework package and inherits the package's boundary problems with it: who sleeves under the hardscape, who pays for the mainline reroute the excavator caused, and where irrigation wire stops and electrical scope starts. The seam leaks toward whoever documented least. Cost per linear foot by phase is what turns a boundary argument into a priced change order instead of an absorbed cost.
THE NUMBERS GENERIC SOFTWARE MISSES.
WHAT IT IS.
ControlQore is a job costing and WIP platform for contractors that tracks cost by job and cost code, so an irrigation subcontractor can read cost per linear foot by install phase while the trencher is still on the site.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
One Job Total, No Cost Per Linear Foot
QuickBooks job tracking reports what the job cost. It can't report what mainline trenching ran per linear foot against the rate in the bid, or what the lateral rate ran on the same job, and those are the two numbers an irrigation bid is built out of. Pipe, heads, valves, and controllers post to one material line, and every crew hour posts to one labor line. At closeout the job was fine or it wasn't, and the per-foot rate carries into the next bid unchanged because nothing tested it.
Bored Crossings Blended Into the Trench Rate
Open trench and bored crossings are different work at different rates, and the bore is the one that moves when field conditions do. Blended into a single trenching code, a job with four crossings reads as an expensive trench rate rather than as crossings that cost more than the bid carried for them. The next bid then prices crossings off a blended average, which is wrong in both directions depending on how many crossings the next site has.
The Package Seam Nobody Documented
Irrigation install frequently rides inside a landscape or sitework package, which brings the package trades' scope seams along with it. Who sleeves under the hardscape. Who pays when the mainline gets rerouted around what the excavator found. Where the controller wire stops being irrigation scope and becomes electrical scope. When those boundaries aren't in writing before trenching, the seam leaks toward whoever documented least, and with no cost code on the disputed work there's no number to bring to the conversation.
Milestone Billing Inside Somebody Else's Schedule
Install billing often sits as a milestone inside a package schedule of values rather than as a line the irrigation sub controls. Work completed ahead of that milestone is underbilled until the package catches up, which means the sub is financing a phase that's already finished. Without a WIP schedule reading cost against billing job by job, an underbilled position stays invisible until somebody wonders why the bank balance doesn't agree with the month the P&L reported.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for irrigation clients by install phase: mobilization, sleeving, mainline trenching, lateral trenching, bored crossings, zone valves and wire, heads, controller and electrical tie-in, testing, and closeout. Labor, material, and equipment post to the phase that consumed them. Cost per linear foot is calculated from those codes weekly and compared to the rate the bid carried for that phase. Variance over 10 percent triggers a review while the trencher is still on the site.
Crossings get their own code and sleeving gets its own code, so neither one hides inside the open trench rate. That gives you three per-foot rates instead of one average: what open trench costs on this soil, what a bored crossing costs under this drive, and what sleeving costs when it's yours to do. Those three rates are what the next proposal gets priced from, and they're also what a scope argument about sleeving gets settled with.
SPM reviews the subcontract and the package documents before signing and pushes the three classic boundaries into writing: sleeving responsibility under hardscape, who owns a mainline reroute caused by field conditions, and where irrigation wire ends and the electrical sub's scope begins. Field changes then get logged in ControlQore the day they happen, with a cost code behind them. The review takes one meeting, and it's the difference between a change order and a donation.
Pipe, heads, valves, and controllers are bought on resin and electronics markets that move on their own schedule, not on your bid's schedule. Posting material to the phase that consumed it, against the estimated material for that phase, makes the movement readable while the job is running rather than at closeout. Added scope on the controller side, meaning smart controllers and flow sensing an owner asks for late, gets priced as a change order rather than swallowed into the original material budget.
The WIP schedule for irrigation clients is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job. Underbilled positions, meaning work performed but not yet billed, are visible immediately and trigger a corrected pay app, which is the whole point on package work where your milestone depends on somebody else's progress. Overbilled positions flag jobs where billing has outrun the installed work. You see both before either one becomes a cash problem.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SOFTWARE INVOICE.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. ControlQore comes with Strategic, and it never appears as its own line item on an SPM invoice. Which tier you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk.
Pricing
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually |
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions rather than a report.
Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the job costing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
