Interface365 for Construction
A setup guide for residential builders, commercial GCs, remodelers, and specialty trades. Long sales cycles, bid-driven work, change orders, and the unique double-cycle of winning the bid then delivering the project.
See the live walkthrough Watch a single $720K kitchen + addition project flow end-to-end through Interface365 — from architect referral through site visit, $850K estimate, $130K value-engineering trade, contract, framing, mid-build change order, and substantial completion. 15 steps →1. Component utility matrix
Decide fast: do you need everything Interface365 ships with for your kind of construction firm? The honest breakdown — what's critical, what's nice-to-have, and what you can safely skip.
| Component | Useful? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pipelines (sales + projects) | ✓ Critical | Bid pipeline + active project tracking are different motions. Two pipelines, both essential. See walkthrough · Step 7 + Step 13. |
| Projects module | ✓ Critical | Active projects need their own entity — change orders, draws, subs, timelines all map cleanly. The bid pipeline ends at "Won"; the project pipeline starts where the build does. |
| Custom fields | ✓ Critical | Project type, sqft, permits, materials grade, contract value, draw schedule — non-negotiable construction data. |
| Quotes / line items | ✓ Critical | Estimates and change orders are line-item-driven. Native quotes save hours per estimate. See walkthrough · Step 9. |
| Tasks | ✓ Critical | Permit follow-ups, sub coordination, inspection scheduling, draw triggers — small tasks drive the work. |
| Tags | ✓ Important | Repeat client, architect referral, public works — drive different sales motions and reciprocity tracking. |
| Activity types | ✓ Important | Site visit, pre-bid, change order, closeout — distinct events with distinct templates. |
| Forecasting | ✓ Important | Cashflow planning is everything in construction. Weighted forecast drives sub commitments + materials lead-time decisions. |
| Saved views | ✓ Important | "Stagnant estimates > 7 days", "Active builds with permit issues", "Change orders pending signature" — operational essentials. Stagnant-estimate recovery alone pays for the CRM. See walkthrough · Step 10. |
| Webhooks / API | ~ Useful | Outbound webhooks pair Interface365 events with QuickBooks (invoicing), BuildingConnected / Procore (plan rooms), Slack (site updates). |
| Multi-currency | ✗ Skip | Domestic construction work — single currency unless you're cross-border. |
| Teams & permissions | ✓ Important | Estimators see bids, PMs see active projects, owners see all — visibility tiers matter. |
Sections 2–8 below explain the configuration. Section 9 covers commission management for estimators + PMs. Section 10 explains how Interface365 fits alongside QuickBooks, Procore, BuildingConnected, and your existing tools.
2. Overview
Construction sales has features no other industry shares quite the same way:
- Bid-driven sales motion. You aren't selling a fixed product — you're submitting a bid against detailed specs. Many bids never materialize.
- Months-long cycles. A commercial bid might sit dormant for 3 months between submission and award. Pipeline aging matters more than for any other industry.
- The deal continues post-signature. Change orders, draw schedules, subcontractor coordination, punch lists — winning the contract is the start of the work.
- Margin lives in the details. 5% on a $500K project is meaningful. Tracking estimated vs actual cost requires structured data.
3. Recommended pipeline (residential)
For custom builders and remodelers selling to homeowners:
| Stage | Probability | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| New Inquiry | 5% | Homeowner inquired (web, referral, Houzz). Not yet contacted. |
| Site Visit Scheduled | 15% | Walkthrough booked. |
| Site Visit Complete | 25% | You've seen the project. Estimate in progress. |
| Estimate Drafted | 40% | Internal estimate complete, awaiting review. |
| Estimate Sent | 55% | Bid delivered to homeowner. |
| Negotiation | 70% | Scope/price discussions in progress. |
| Contract Signed | 90% | Agreement signed, deposit incoming. |
| Won — Project Active (Won) | 100% | Work has started. Move to project pipeline. |
| Lost (Lost) | 0% | Lost — log reason (price, timing, competitor). |
4. Recommended pipeline (commercial)
For commercial GCs and specialty subs working bid-driven projects:
| Stage | Probability | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Project Identified | 5% | Spotted via plan rooms, owner outreach, or partner intel. |
| Plans Reviewed | 10% | Drawings + specs reviewed internally. |
| Pre-bid Meeting | 20% | Walkthrough or pre-bid attended. |
| Bid In Progress | 30% | Estimating actively working. |
| Bid Submitted | 40% | Numbers delivered. Awaiting decision. |
| Shortlisted | 55% | Made the cut. Final negotiations or interviews scheduled. |
| Awarded | 85% | Letter of intent received. Contract drafting. |
| Contract Signed (Won) | 100% | Bonded, mobilized, ready to break ground. |
| Lost (Lost) | 0% | Did not win — log who won and price gap. |
5. Custom fields cheatsheet
On the deal record (residential)
| Field name | Type | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
project_type | Dropdown (Kitchen, Bath, Addition, New Build, Whole-home, Outdoor) | Filters reports, drives templates and pricing. |
estimated_sqft | Number | Per-sqft analytics for bidding accuracy. |
estimated_value | Currency | Initial budget given to client. |
final_contract_value | Currency | Signed contract amount. |
materials_grade | Dropdown (Standard, Premium, Luxury) | Drives margin and supplier selection. |
start_date | Date | Construction start. |
completion_date | Date | Substantial completion target. |
project_address | Text | Job site address. |
permit_status | Dropdown (Not started, Submitted, Issued, Closed) | Critical scheduling dependency. |
On the deal record (commercial)
| Field name | Type | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
project_value | Currency | Total contract value. |
bid_due_date | Date | Hard deadline. |
general_contractor | Text | If you're a sub — who's the GC? |
bond_required | Checkbox | Performance/payment bond required (yes/no). |
prevailing_wage | Checkbox | Davis-Bacon / public-works wage requirements. |
project_classification | Dropdown (New construction, Renovation, TI, Tenant Build-out) | Drives estimating templates. |
bid_strategy | Dropdown (Aggressive, Standard, Premium) | Internal pricing posture for the bid. |
plan_room_link | URL | Link to BuildingConnected, Procore, or similar. |
6. Activity types
Construction-specific activity types under Settings → Activity Types:
- Site visit — initial walkthrough
- Pre-bid walkthrough — commercial pre-bid meeting
- Estimate review — internal estimating session
- Owner meeting — homeowner / project owner
- Subcontractor call — coordination with subs
- Change order discussion — scope/price changes mid-project
- Punch list walkthrough — final completion review
- Closeout — handover and warranty
7. Lead statuses + tags
Lead statuses for pre-pipeline qualification:
- New — fresh inbound, not yet contacted
- Qualifying — site visit scheduled or pricing being discussed
- Bid Awarded — won, deal created in pipeline
- Postponed — homeowner/owner not ready (revisit in 90+ days)
- Disqualified — wrong size, wrong location, can't deliver
Recommended tags:
- Repeat client (green) — has worked with you before
- Architect referral (blue) — came through architect partner
- Plan room (purple) — sourced from BuildingConnected/Procore
- High margin (gold) — luxury or specialized work
- Public works (red) — government / prevailing wage
8. End-to-end workflow
A Wednesday at a residential remodeler with $5M annual revenue, two estimators, and four active projects.
7:30am — Pipeline review
Owner opens Interface365 dashboard. Pipeline value: $1.4M weighted. Three estimates aged 14+ days flag for follow-up. Two projects flagged with permit issues.
9:00am — Site visit
Estimator visits a kitchen remodel prospect. Logs Site visit activity, takes photos, notes scope. Sets project_type = Kitchen, estimated_sqft = 280, materials_grade = Premium, estimated_value = $85,000. Moves deal to Site Visit Complete.
11:00am — Estimate sent
Yesterday's bath remodel estimate is approved internally. Estimator emails homeowner the formal estimate with line items. Moves deal to Estimate Sent. Forecast updates: $48K weighted.
1:30pm — Stalled estimate follow-up
Three estimates stuck 14+ days. Owner runs the saved view, calls each homeowner personally. One signs the contract on the call — drag deal to Contract Signed. Two say "next month" — move to nurture.
3:00pm — Change order on active project
Active addition project: client wants to add a bay window. Project manager logs Change order discussion activity, opens the project record, drafts a $12K change order quote. Updates final_contract_value from $145K to $157K.
4:30pm — Permit status update
City issues two permits today. PM updates permit_status = Issued on both project records. Webhook fires — Slack #operations channel notified, materials ordering team starts procurement.
9. Estimator + PM commission management
Most residential design-build firms pay estimators a small percentage on signed contracts (1–3%) plus pay project managers a margin-based bonus on substantial completion (typically 10% of net margin, or a flat per-project bonus). Commercial GCs more often run flat-salary estimating with a project-margin bonus pool. Either way, Interface365 doesn't ship a comp engine — model the data here so payout is unambiguous each cycle.
The four-field setup on Deal
Add these custom fields under Settings → Custom Fields → Deal:
| Field | Type | Use |
|---|---|---|
estimator_assigned | User reference | Whose estimate won. Drives commission attribution. |
estimator_commission_rate | Number (percent) | Estimator's rate on this contract — typically 1–3%, paid on first draw. |
pm_bonus_rate | Number (percent) | PM's bonus rate on net margin — typically 10%, paid on substantial completion. |
commission_payout_status | Select | Options: pending, estimator_paid, pm_paid, complete. Most firms pay estimator on first draw, PM on substantial completion. |
Worked example — Whitfield project from the walkthrough
- Contract value = $720,000 (after VE)
- Change order #1 = +$28,200 (windows + powder room)
- Final contract value = $748,200
- estimator_assigned = Rachel Ochoa
- estimator_commission_rate= 1.5%
- pm_bonus_rate = 10% (of net margin)
- Estimator commission = $720,000 × 1.5% = $10,800 (paid on first draw)
- Net margin (forecast) = $748,200 × 18.7% = $139,913
- PM bonus = $139,913 × 10% = $13,991 (paid on substantial completion)
- Total comp = $24,791 (split across two trigger events)
- CO commission rule = estimators get a half-rate (0.75%) on change orders they price → +$211 to Rachel on the CO
Three saved views every firm needs
- "My estimates won this quarter" — saved view filtered to
estimator_assigned = me, status = won, closed_at >= quarter_start. Each estimator gets their own. - "PM bonuses pending payout" — owner-only saved view filtered to
commission_payout_status = pm_paid IS NULL, project_status = substantially_complete. Reconciled at end of pay period. - "Hit-rate by estimator" — pivots estimates-sent vs contracts-signed per estimator over trailing 90 days. Surfaces who's writing winnable estimates + who's overpricing or chasing the wrong leads.
For firms that pay tiered margin bonuses (PM bonus rate climbs from 10% → 12% if project net margin clears 20%, for example), add a margin_tier custom field on the project record and resolve at substantial completion. Most residential firms keep it simple with a flat rate; commercial GCs more often go tiered.
10. Where Interface365 fits — alongside, not against, your construction stack
Construction firms run a stack: estimating tool for takeoffs, accounting for AP/AR + payroll, project management for the field, scheduling for crews, plan rooms for commercial bids, CRM for the funnel + change orders + client comms. The real question isn't "Interface365 OR Procore?" — those tools don't compete; they own different layers. The right question is: "where does Interface365 sit in my stack?"
Interface365 is positioned as the sales / pre-construction / client-facing layer — bid pipeline, estimate creation, value-engineering conversation, contract signing, change-order workflow, draw schedule, owner referral economics. It is NOT a takeoff tool, accounting system, or field-PM software. The handoffs are clean — webhooks fire on Won, on draw triggers, on change-order signature.
The "alongside" pattern (most residential design-build + small-to-mid commercial GCs)
| Layer | Tool | What it owns |
|---|---|---|
| Sales + CRM + change orders | Interface365 | Inquiry → site visit → estimate → VE → contract → change orders → closeout. Source of truth for the funnel + the client relationship. |
| Estimating / takeoff | Buildertrend / CoConstruct / PlanSwift / Bluebeam | Quantity takeoffs from drawings, assembly costing, sub bid solicitation. Output rolls into Interface365 line items. |
| Accounting + AP/AR | QuickBooks / Sage 100 Contractor / Foundation | Job costing, payroll, sub payments, lien waivers, invoicing. Webhook deal.won + draw.triggered → invoice creation. |
| Field PM + daily logs | Buildertrend / CoConstruct / Procore / Fieldwire | Daily reports, RFIs, submittals, punch lists, photos, weather logs. Interface365 surfaces high-level project status; field PM tracks the day-to-day. |
| Scheduling | Microsoft Project / Smartsheet / Buildertrend | Gantt schedules, crew assignment, sub coordination. Interface365 holds milestone dates + draw triggers; the scheduler holds the granular timeline. |
| Plan rooms (commercial only) | BuildingConnected / iSqFt / SmartBid / PlanGrid | Commercial bid intake, addendum tracking, GC ↔ sub matching. Interface365 attaches each plan-room project as a Deal with the room URL on the record. |
This is exactly what walkthrough Step 12 demonstrates — contract signed fires webhooks to Slack + QuickBooks + procurement. The tools don't fight; they each do what they're best at.
When Interface365 alone is enough
- Solo to small residential remodelers (1–8 staff) — Interface365 + QuickBooks + a calendar tool is the entire stack. Field-PM software can wait until you're running 6+ active projects.
- Specialty trade subcontractors — bid pipeline + change-order tracking + customer/GC relationships are the whole job. Interface365 sized perfectly for $1–10M annual revenue subs.
- Custom builders doing 4–10 homes/year — a structured CRM with the project module covers sales + client comms + change orders cleanly. Pair with QuickBooks for accounting.
When to pick something else outright
- Volume residential builders (50+ homes/year) — production-builder software (Buildertrend Enterprise, MarkSystems, Hyphen Solutions) bundles takeoff + scheduling + accounting + warranty in a single ERP. Interface365 doesn't compete here — adopt a dedicated production-builder ERP.
- Large commercial GCs ($50M+ annual revenue) — Procore + Sage 300 CRE + a dedicated estimating tool (DESTINI / WinEst) is the standard stack. Interface365 is sized for $1–30M annual revenue construction firms.
- Heavy civil / infrastructure GCs — your CRM-side life is dominated by public-works bid intake, prevailing-wage compliance, bonded contracts, and DOT relationships. Use a public-works-specialised CRM (Building Radar, ConstructConnect) or just rely on the plan rooms directly.
Bottom line: think of Interface365 as the sales + change-order + client-relationship layer, sitting cleanly above your accounting and below your takeoff/field-PM tools. The boundary is "anything client-facing or pipeline-related" lives here; "anything field-side or accounting-side" stays in the specialist tools.
11. Next steps
Ready to set this up? Start your free trial. Most builders/GCs have their bid pipeline configured within an afternoon.
Specialty trade with a unique workflow (mechanical, electrical, civil, etc.)? Email hello@interface365.ai with your scope and we'll send back a tailored configuration plan.