Commission Dashboard — Manual
How commission tracking works, and how to finish reconciling the imported history.
The big picture
Each job tracks two things: the commission it earns (calculated from the job's
sell price and costs) and the commission we've actually paid the estimator.
We pay commission in two halves — 50% on the front (once the job is sold) and
50% on the back (once the job's actual costs are in). Each half records the
amount paid and the date it was paid, so an estimator can look back and see exactly
when they were paid on each job.
How a job's commission is calculated
- Final Sell = Original Sell + Change Orders.
- Bid margin comes from the bid costs; Actual margin from the actual costs.
The margin picks the rate from the estimator's tier table (Comm Setup), and the rate
× Final Sell gives the commission.
- Est. Commission uses the bid margin; Actual Commission uses the actual margin.
- Balance Due = Actual Commission − everything paid (front + back). Positive = we
still owe the rep; negative (red) = the rep was overpaid / owes it back.
Note These numbers are only as good as
the cost data entered. A job with a Final Sell but no costs shows a 100% margin, which
inflates the commission — see reconciliation below.
Recording a payment
Open any job (click its row) and use the Commission Payments panel:
- Each half pre-fills a suggested amount (Front = 50% of estimated commission,
Back = 50% of actual commission). You can type over it.
- Click Mark paid today to stamp today's date (and fill the suggested amount if
it's blank), or pick/type any date in the Date paid field. Setting a date is what
marks that half paid.
- Clear resets a half back to unpaid. Hit Save when done.
Reading the Front / Back columns
- green — paid, with the amount and the date it was paid.
- amber — an amount is recorded but no date yet. Open
the job and add the date.
- — — nothing paid on that half yet.
Finding a job
Use the Search box (top-right of the filter bar) to filter the list by project name,
job number, or estimator/PM. Combine it with the estimator tabs and the status filters.
About the imported history
64 historical rows were imported from the old Paid Commission spreadsheet, split
across Chris Davis, Kendall Meadows, and Jeff Boman. For each one:
- The Job # came across; the project name was left blank on purpose (the job
number distinguishes it until we match it to a customer name).
- The sheet's two payment columns became the Front and Back amounts and dates.
- The sheet's Job Amount became Final Sell, but the cost breakdown was
not in the sheet, so it's blank.
- Extra info that had no field (Date Booked, Date Invoiced, notes like "100% complete") was
saved into each job's Notes.
Heads-up Because those jobs have a
Final Sell but no costs, the calculator assumes a 100% margin — so their Est./Actual
Commission and Balance Due are placeholders, not real yet. Each estimator's sheet will
show a "you're owed" figure that will correct itself as the costs are filled in. Reconcile
these before pointing estimators at their sheets.
How to reconcile an imported job
Open the job and fill in the pieces the spreadsheet didn't have:
- Project name. Match the job number to the customer/project and type the real name
into the Name field.
- Status. Set In Progress / Substantially Complete / Closed / On Hold (imported rows
come in with no status).
- Bid costs. Enter Material, Regular Labor, and Tax/Other from the original bid. This
makes the Bid Margin and Est. Commission real.
- Actual costs. Enter Material, Labor, Burden, and Other. This makes the Actual
Margin, Actual Commission, and Balance Due real.
- Payment dates. Any half showing amber / no date — add
the date it was actually paid.
- Verify the payments. Confirm the Front/Back amounts match your records, then
Save. Once every imported job has costs, the estimator's Balance Due and the manager
overview will be accurate.
Reconciling a closed job's balance to zero
A job that's done and had both halves paid is settled, even when the recalculated
Actual Commission still shows a few dollars either way (rounding, a rate change, or costs
that were never in the old spreadsheet). Open the job and use the
Reconcile to $0 button under the Commission Payments panel:
- It only lights up once both a front and a back payment are entered.
- It does not change what was paid — the front/back amounts and dates stay exactly
as they are. It just marks the job settled, so its Balance Due reads $0.00 and it rolls
into the sheet totals as zero.
- The leftover amount written off, plus who reconciled it and when, is saved with the job
and shown in the drawer. Undo puts the balance back.
- Reconcile after saving any edits — the button works off the saved figures.
Note Reconciling is a per-job decision,
one line at a time — there's no bulk button on purpose.
Two mechanical notes from the import: where the
old sheet billed a job in several cycles, those installments were summed into that job's
front/back totals; and the same job number appearing on separate lines was kept as
separate jobs (its original amounts). Reconcile each on its own.