Engineering Project Management Software · For small firms
Every proposal, visit and crew hour, one app.
Proposals signed online, projects and tasks, field visits on the schedule, crew hours logged from jobs, expenses and invoices.
From a request to an inspection billed.
Watch a structural inspection go from a contractor's request to a signed proposal, a field visit on the schedule, crew hours and expenses on the job, and the invoice.
- 1A contractor sends a request
- 2The proposal is signed online
- 3The field visit goes on the schedule
- 4Crew hours and expenses land on the job
- 5Finish and invoice, paid by card
What changes on Monday.
- 01
Before
With AloriA quote with a line per deliverable, signed online, with follow ups on their own
- 02
Before
With AloriCrew hours logged when a job starts and stops, ready to approve for payroll
- 03
Before
With AloriExpenses added on the job with a photo of the receipt, counted in the job cost
What’s in your app.
Alori starts from ready-made modules, then shapes them to the way you work. Add or remove one any time by asking.
Quotes
Fee proposals signed online
Schedule
Field visits with the address and who is going
Jobs
Crew hours, expenses and job cost on each visit
Invoices
Finish and invoice, paid by card
Hours that log themselves from the field.
Put the crew on the job. When it moves to In progress, everyone on it is clocked in, and the clocks stop when it is finished. Hours land on each timesheet, ready to approve.
- Export the approved week to CSV for payroll.
- The owner sees labour cost and margin on each job.
- Technicians add expenses with a photo of the receipt.
Every deliverable, with an owner.
Each mandate gets a project with a lead, a target date and a task per deliverable. The signed quote, the jobs and the invoices link to it.
- Progress shows how far along the project is.
- The task board shows what is late.
- Record client meetings and turn next steps into tasks.
Change it by asking.
Your app isn’t frozen on day one. Write what you need, the way you’d text it. Alori makes the change and shows you before anything goes live.
- Add a discipline field: structural, civil, mechanical
- Show me jobs finished but not invoiced yet
- Which expenses are waiting for approval?
- Add a site safety checklist to every field visit
The full guide
Everything above, in detail: how it works, what it replaces and what it does not.
Engineering project management software for small consulting firms
Short answer: Alori is the all-in-one app for small consulting engineering firms that want proposals, projects, field visits, crew hours, expenses and invoices in one place. It works as engineering project management software for the business side of the firm: a request becomes a proposal signed online, the project gets its tasks and field visits, hours log themselves from each visit, and the work is billed when it is done. You set it up by describing your firm, then change it by asking in plain words.
A week in a small engineering firm
A contractor calls for a structural inspection before Friday. A city asks for a fee proposal on a culvert study. A homeowner needs a foundation report for the bank. Someone writes it all down, then copies it into a spreadsheet of open files. The proposal goes out from Word. Field visits are planned by text, and the technician fills in a paper timesheet at the end of the week. Receipts for parking and fuel pile up in a truck.
Most firms of 2 to 30 people juggle the same stack:
- An inbox and a phone where new mandates arrive in pieces
- Word for proposals, and email to chase the signature
- A spreadsheet or a task app for project deliverables
- Personal calendars for field visits
- Paper or a separate app for timesheets and expenses
- An accounting tool for invoices, with everything retyped
Your design and calculation software does the engineering. The cost is everything around it: retyping, chasing and the field visit that never got billed.
What Alori gives an engineering firm
Requests into a pipeline. Requests from your Alori website land as new contacts on their own, and forms on another site can send leads in through a lead link or a lead email. Track each mandate as a deal on a board with your own stages, like Request, Proposal sent and Won. Companies hold the contractors, developers and cities you work with, with their contact people. See deals and customers.
Proposals signed online. Send your fee proposal as a quote, with a line per deliverable: site visit, inspection report, stamped drawings. Save the work you sell most in your price list. The client opens the link, types their name, signs and clicks Accept and sign. Quotes with no answer can get a follow up on their own. See quotes.
Projects and tasks. Start a project for the client, with a lead and a target date. Alori suggests tasks to start with; add one per deliverable, with subtasks for the steps and an owner on each. Progress shows how far along it is, the task board shows what is late, and the signed quote, jobs and invoices link to the project. See tasks.
Field visits on the schedule. Turn the accepted quote into a job, then put each field visit on the shared calendar with the address and who is going. Each person shows as free, busy or on leave. On site, the technician sees the job on a phone, ticks its checklist and adds photos. See schedule and jobs.
Crew hours from jobs. Put the crew on the job. When the job moves to In progress, everyone on it is clocked in; when it is finished, their clocks stop. Hours land on each person's timesheet, ready to approve and export for payroll. The owner sees the labour cost and the margin on each job. See employees.
Expenses on the job. The technician taps Add an expense, types the amount and snaps the receipt. You approve it, and it counts in the job's cost.
Invoices and card payments. Click Finish and invoice on the job, or create an invoice for a phase from Invoices. Every emailed invoice has a link to pay by card, unpaid invoice reminders go out on your schedule, and invoices can sync to QuickBooks Online. See invoices.
Meetings recorded. Record a video meeting, a Google Meet or Zoom call, or an in person meeting on your phone. Alori writes the transcript and a summary with next steps you can turn into tasks. Every plan includes unlimited users. See pricing.
| Firm task | Where it lives in Alori |
|---|---|
| New mandate | Deal on your pipeline board |
| Fee proposal | Quote, accepted and signed online |
| Deliverables | Project with tasks and owners |
| Field visit | Job on the schedule, with checklist and photos |
| Crew hours and expenses | Timesheets and job cost |
| Billing | Invoice from the job, paid by card |
What Alori is not
Alori runs the business side of your firm. It does not do the engineering:
- No CAD. Keep drafting in your design software.
- No calculation or analysis software. Structural, civil and energy calculations stay in your current tools.
- No billable hours to invoice yet. Hours log from jobs for payroll and job cost, but they do not go on invoices yet. Time tracking to invoice is coming soon. See time and billing.
How to start
- Describe your firm. Type a few words, like "structural engineering firm, 8 people, inspections, reports and stamped drawings". Alori builds your app with the tools that fit.
- Import your clients. Paste a client list from a spreadsheet or an email into Ask Alori and it adds them. Tasks come in from an Excel or CSV file. If you use HubSpot, you can move your records over.
- Invite your team. Each person gets an invitation email and their own login.
Working with architects too? See our page for architects and the consulting and accounting industry page.
Questions
Another question? Ask it when you start.
For the business side, yes: requests, proposals, projects, field visits, crew hours, expenses and invoices. It does not do CAD or engineering calculations, so you keep your technical software.
No. When a job moves to In progress, everyone on its crew is clocked in, and the clocks stop when the job is finished. You approve the timesheets and export them for payroll.
Not yet. Hours log from jobs for payroll and job cost, but time tracking to invoice is coming soon. Today, bill a fixed fee per deliverable or phase, and clients pay by card through Stripe. Card payments are in Canadian dollars for now.
Yes. Send it as a quote. The client opens the link, types their name, signs and clicks Accept and sign. You get an email when it is signed.
Related pages
See all →- Consulting firmsClients, meetings, proposals, retainers
- Accounting firmsMonthly close checklists, client inbox and QuickBooks
- ArchitectsFee proposals, project phases and site visits
- BookkeepersRecurring client work, QuickBooks and one inbox
- HR consultantsClient pipeline, signed proposals and check-ins
- Law firmsClient intake, consultations and signed engagements