Zoho Projects Consultant, New Zealand

Fee stages, hourly work and the small-job problem

New Zealand design and engineering practices often price larger jobs by stage, using fee proposals that follow a recognized sequence of design phases, while smaller jobs, site visits and advice are charged by the hour. IT providers mix monthly managed service agreements with project work and ad hoc tickets. Agencies run retainers alongside one-off campaigns. A single project template cannot serve all of these.

In Zoho Projects I set up a small set of templates instead:

• Staged fee jobs with a budget per stage, so the director sees when developed design has used its allowance before detailed design begins.
• Hourly jobs with a simple task list and rates, used for advice and small commissions.
• Recurring service jobs for managed services or retainers, comparing hours used with what the agreement covers.

Small jobs deserve special care. A practice may open dozens of short jobs each month, and if creating one takes too long, staff code time to a general job instead. I keep the small-job template minimal and agree a naming convention with the practice manager, so every job can be found later and the work in progress report stays meaningful.

Council consents, client decisions and idle time

Architects, engineers and planners know that a job can stop for weeks while a council processes a building or resource consent, asks for further information, or while a client decides between options. If the project tool shows these jobs as simply in progress, resource planning goes wrong and directors cannot see where fee is at risk.

I add explicit waiting stages and statuses:

• Waiting on council, with the lodgement reference and the date of any request for information.
• Waiting on client, with the decision required and who was asked.
• Waiting on other consultants, such as a geotechnical or fire engineer whose input blocks your next stage.

Reports then show jobs grouped by what they are waiting for, and resource views reflect which jobs can actually absorb hours this week. When a council's request for information triggers extra work outside the original fee, the variation log captures it straight away.

Consent processes and timeframes are set by each council and by legislation, and I do not model them as fixed rules. The stages simply make the waiting visible. Firms that also need field crews and equipment tracking may need more than Zoho Projects, as discussed below.

Billing into Zoho Books or keeping Xero

Many New Zealand practices keep their books in Xero because their accountant works there. That is a legitimate choice, and it changes the billing design. Zoho Projects connects natively with Zoho Books, while a connection to Xero usually needs an integration tool or a third-party connector, which you should confirm is available and supported before you commit.

The two routes compared:

• Zoho Books receives approved time and stage completions directly, and invoices are raised there with GST applied. The move itself is covered on Zoho Books in New Zealand.
• Xero stays as the ledger. A monthly or fortnightly summary of billable work per client and job is passed across, and invoices are created in Xero, where GST and any Peppol e-invoicing are handled.

Either way, I define which system owns rates, client details and job codes, and test that a billing run produces the invoices the practice manager would have prepared by hand. The comparison on Zoho Books vs Xero helps if the ledger decision is still open. GST treatment for clients outside New Zealand, such as Australian customers, is confirmed by your accountant and applied in the ledger, not in Zoho Projects.

Timesheets that staff will actually complete

Every practice that bills time knows the end-of-month chase for missing timesheets. Zoho Projects can make entry easier, but adoption depends on design choices made early.

• Short code lists. Staff choose from the job's current stages, not a long list of every task ever created.
• Mobile and timer entry for people on site or between meetings.
• Clear non-billable codes for business development, training and admin, so honest entries do not look like failures.
• Approval by job lead before the billing cut-off, with reminders for gaps.
• A locked period after billing, so changes to invoiced time need a reason.

Time data also feeds decisions beyond billing: whether fixed fees are priced realistically, which clients generate unpaid variations, and who is overloaded. If leave and staff records sit in Zoho as well, the planning view can reflect holidays, as described on Zoho People in New Zealand. Payroll stays with your payroll provider; project timesheets are for job costing and billing, and I keep them separate from payroll time unless your provider confirms a combined approach works.

Payment claims, retentions and other limits

Builders, subcontractors and trade businesses in New Zealand work under construction contracts legislation that governs payment claims, payment schedules and, for some contracts, how retention money is held. Those obligations need software that produces compliant claims and tracks retentions properly. Zoho Projects can coordinate tasks and documents for such firms, but it is not a construction claims or job costing system, and I would not position it as one. Your lawyer or quantity surveyor confirms what the contracts require.

Other cases where I would suggest a different tool:

• Trades with field crews scheduling technicians, vehicles and parts may fit dedicated job management software better.
• Larger engineering consultancies needing earned value, multi-office resourcing and project accounting may need a professional services ERP. See best ERP for professional services.
• Firms with significant job costs in materials and subcontractors should look at ERP for job costing.

The engagement runs in English and remotely, in the hours where the New Zealand and Indian working days meet. For platform-wide questions see Zoho for New Zealand businesses, and for system choices see the New Zealand ERP consultant page or the New Zealand hub.