Exporting and sharing

Producing a report is easy. Deciding what goes on it, and to whom, is the part worth thinking about.

PDF or spreadsheet

Going to	Use	Why
A client	PDF	Fixed, readable, not invited to be taken apart
A lender or certifier	PDF	They want a document, not data
A subcontractor	PDF, or a spreadsheet if they asked	Depends what they will do with it
Your own office	Spreadsheet	You want to sort, filter and total it
Your accountant	Spreadsheet	Same

The default for anything leaving the business is PDF. A spreadsheet carries whatever columns were on screen, including ones you did not think about, and it invites recalculation.

What each audience should see

The client

Show	Never show
The price they are paying	Your cost
What is included	Your margin or markup
Variations, with values	Which subcontractor is doing what
Progress against the contract	What you are paying subcontractors
The specification	Internal notes

Read the report before it goes, every time

The most expensive mistake available in this system is a client report that shows cost and margin next to the price. It is one glance, and it is worth making that glance a habit rather than something you do when you remember.

The risk is highest the first time you send a report you have not sent before, and the second time — when it feels familiar but you have not actually checked this version of it.

A subcontractor

Their trade’s scope and quantities. Not the rest of the bill, not what you allowed for their work, and not what their competitors quoted.

Filter to the cost center before producing it.

Your office

Everything. Cost, committed, actual, margin, variance by trade.

Internal notes stay internal

BOQ items carry three note fields, and they go to different places:

Field	Goes
Note	Visible in the bill
Internal Note	Never printed on anything that leaves the office
Purchase Order Note	Printed on the supplier’s order

Use Internal Note for anything you would not want read aloud — “check this rate, looks light”, “only use this supplier if the other one is booked”. It is the field designed for exactly that.

Filing what you send

Attach the reports you issue to the project in Documents — the submitted estimate, each progress claim, the signed selections schedule, the handover defect list.

Two reasons. You have a record of exactly what was issued and when. And anyone picking the job up later finds the history in one place rather than in a mailbox.

Naming exports

Name a file so it is identifiable a year later, out of context:

Weak	Better
report.pdf	2026-041 Hendricks — Estimate Summary Rev A.pdf
claim.pdf	2026-041 Hendricks — Progress Claim 03 Frame.pdf
defects.xlsx	2026-041 Hendricks — Defect List 14 Nov.xlsx

Job number, job name, what it is, and which one. It costs a few seconds and saves opening six files to find the right one.