Prime Contract Overview

A Prime Contract defines the agreement and resulting obligations made between two or more parties such as the client and contractor. For most companies, there is usually one Prime Contract per Project. However, in cases such as a Design-Build or CM firm, there may be multiple Prime Contracts that are tracked.

Within each Prime Contract, one can document the Scope of Work, enter Original Budgets, and set default retention (also known as holdback) percentages for future progress invoices. In addition, Sage Construction Management supports four types of contracts which for Prime Contracts and Subcontracts will impact how invoices are processed.

Important Things To Know

  • From a construction standpoint, a firm should never procure materials and services or mobilize to a job site unless they have a signed contract. To mimic this real world scenario, Sage Construction Management will not allow any financial transactions (eg. POs, Subcontracts, Timecards, Invoices) be recorded unless the Prime Contract is marked Approved and has a Status Date.
  • Construction contracts are processed differently depending on the type of contract: Fixed Lump Sum, Cost Plus or Unit Price.
  • Default Retention or Holdback percentages is set in the Prime Contract which is then copied to future Prime Contract Invoices.
  • Default Markups for CPRs, COs and Cost Plus Prime Invoices is set in the Prime Contract.
  • Prime Contract Status options occur in the following sequence: (1) Draft (2) Pending Submission (3) Pending (4) Not Approved (5) Approved (6) Approved And Closed.
  • A Prime Contract can be emailed by clicking the Report option at the top right and choosing Email Doc or Email PDF option in the popup form. The Prime Contract will then be an attachment in the email which can be printed by the customer and later returned signed.
  • Estimated Profitability Percentages shown in the Original Contract Amount and Cost Budget section are as follows.
    • Estimated Profitability Percentage = ((Contract Amount - Cost Budget) /Contract Amount)) * 100
    • Estimated Markup Percentage = ((Contract Amount - Cost Budget) /Cost Budget)) * 100

Steps To Complete Before Entering Prime Contracts

Prime Contract Add Options

Recommended Method:

The option listed below has an advantage over the alternative method since it can create Job Cost Codes and Prime Contract Budgets.

Alternative Method:

Prime Contract Edit Options

Important Things to Know About Editing Prime Contracts

  • If Prime Contract Items (aka Schedule of Values, GMP Amounts, Unit Price Items) exist, then Contract Type cannot be changed.
  • If a Prime Contract Invoice exists, then Contract Type, Status, and Status Date cannot be changed.
  • If a Prime Contract Invoice exists and Settings | Feature Settings | Contract Admin | Do not allow Prime Contracts or Change Orders to be modified after Prime Invoices have been created is checked then Original Contract Items cannot be added or modified.
  • If a Workflow Rule applies to the Prime Contract and the Rule has been initiated or approved already then nothing can be modified unless the Rule is abandoned.

Edit Options

See Also