Add and manage job costs
Last updated: November 1, 2026
Job costs are what you spend on a job, such as expenses, materials, labor, and purchases. You’ll find them on the job under Finances > Costs. You can add expenses and materials manually, or have Cinderblock automatically track costs from timesheets, invoices, and purchase orders linked to the job.
Add an expense
- Open the job, and select Finances > Costs.
- Select New job cost > Create expense.
- Enter a Description and an Amount.
- Optionally, change the Date and choose a Category and a Vendor. You can also add a Note and upload files.
- Select Save.
The expense appears in the job’s costs with the type Expense. The current date is filled in for you.
Add a material
- Open the job, and select Finances > Costs.
- Select New job cost > Add material.
- In Items, find the material, enter its quantity, and select Add.
The material appears in the job’s costs with the type Material. Its amount is the item’s cost multiplied by the quantity. You can add more items before you close Items.
Edit, duplicate, or delete a cost
Edit an expense or material
- In the job’s costs, select the expense or material.
- Make your changes. For a material, change the Unit cost or Quantity, and the amount updates to match.
- Select Save.
Duplicate an expense or material
- Open the cost’s more options menu, and select Duplicate.
- Complete the form, and select Save.
The duplicate is added to the same job as a new cost.
Delete a cost
Open the cost’s more options menu, and select Delete job cost.
Important: Deleting an automatically added cost doesn’t delete its source record. If you turn its automatic setting off and back on, Cinderblock adds the cost again.
Add costs automatically
Each job has its own automatic cost settings. To turn them on or off, open the job, select Finances > Costs > Auto settings, and use the toggles under Automatically add costs.
| Setting | What’s added |
|---|---|
| Timesheets | A labor cost for each of the job’s timesheets: the timesheet’s hours multiplied by its hourly rate. A timesheet adds its cost once it has an end time. |
| Invoice items | The cost of the line items on the job’s invoices: each item’s cost multiplied by its quantity. Costs are added from invoices that are Open, Partially paid, or Paid. |
| Purchase Orders | The total of each of the job’s purchase orders. Costs are added from purchase orders that are Approved or Completed. |
When you turn a setting on, Cinderblock adds costs for the job’s existing records and keeps adding them for new ones.
When you turn a setting off, costs already added stay on the job and continue updating when their source records change. New costs aren’t added. If you turn the setting back on, Cinderblock adds any missing costs, including ones you previously deleted.
Change or remove an automatic cost
Automatically added costs can’t be edited or duplicated directly. To change one, edit its source timesheet, invoice, or purchase order.
- Edit the source: When you edit the timesheet, invoice, or purchase order, its cost updates to match. Selecting a timesheet cost opens the timesheet so you can edit it.
- Delete the source: When you delete the timesheet, invoice, or purchase order, its cost is removed.
- Change the status: When an invoice or purchase order changes to a status that doesn’t add costs, its cost is removed.
How costs affect the financial summary
The job’s Total cost in Finances > Summary includes its manual and automatic costs. Adding, changing, or removing a cost affects the job’s Profit and Margin. See Job finances.