Sterling
Development cost control, from budget to invoice.
Sterling runs development and construction cost control end to end — projects with budgets, vendor commitments and change orders, funding gates, and invoices that arrive by upload or inbound email and get classified with AI. A “Needs Your Action” dashboard puts every approval, match, and reject-with-reason in one place, and the cost reports tie the whole job back to the numbers.
How it works
Three steps from budget to booked cost.
Stand up the project
Create the project with its budget, break it into cost categories, and set the funding gates that release money as the job hits its milestones. Add vendor commitments as you sign contracts.
The budget, the commitments, and the gates all live in one structure — no side spreadsheet drifting out of sync with the contracts.
Invoices arrive and get classified
Vendors send invoices by upload or straight to a project inbox. AI reads each one and pulls the vendor, amount, and line detail; smart suggestions from that vendor's history pre-fill the cost code — ready for you to match against the commitment.
No re-keying a PDF into a spreadsheet. The invoice shows up already parsed, with the cost codes this vendor's work usually lands in.
Match, approve, report
Confirm the match against the commitment, approve in one click, or reject with a reason that routes back to the vendor. Approved cost flows into five reports — cost management, cost detail, commitment, budget, and invoice tracking.
Every job ties back to the numbers in real time — budget vs. committed vs. actual, with the audit trail behind each move.
See it in action
What you’ll see inside the tool.
Needs Your Action
Every invoice to classify, match, or approve — across all your projects, in one queue.
Needs Your Action
7
Invoices to review
3
Awaiting approval
12
Open commitments
To classify · 3
Awaiting your approval · 2
Matching an invoice
AI reads the invoice and suggests the likely commitment from vendor history; you confirm the draw-down and approve.
Kirchner Concrete · INV-3391
Riverside Lofts · received by email · May 7, 2026
Suggested commitment
Foundation & flatwork · CO-002 — this vendor’s prior invoices booked here. Confirm to draw down.
This invoice: $48,200 · remaining after: $5,600
Cost management report
Budget vs. committed vs. actual, by cost category, across the whole job.
Why you’ll use it
The cost spreadsheet can’t keep up with the job.
Development budgets live in a workbook, commitments live in signed PDFs, invoices live in an inbox, and the reconciliation happens once a month if someone has time. Sterling puts the budget, the commitments, and the invoices in one place so the job’s numbers are current every day.
Budget, commitments, and gates in one structure
Every project carries its budget, its vendor commitments, and its funding gates together — so committed-vs-budget is never a manual roll-up.
Change orders layered on the commitment
Track vendor contracts as commitments and layer change orders against them, so the revised commitment is always what you match invoices to.
Invoices read on arrival
Upload a PDF or forward it to the project inbox. AI extracts the vendor, amount, and line detail, and vendor history pre-fills the likely cost code — you confirm the match.
Approve or reject with a reason
Route every invoice through approval. Reject with a reason that goes back to the vendor — no separate email thread to chase.
Reports that tie back to the numbers
Five reports across the whole job — cost management, cost detail, commitment, budget, and invoice tracking — budget vs. committed vs. actual, always current.
Who uses it
Built for the teams tracking development spend.
Development leads & project managers
The people who own the job budget and the vendor relationships. Development leads stand up projects, set budgets and funding gates, and manage commitments and change orders; project managers run their jobs day to day.
- Create projects with budgets broken into cost categories
- Set funding gates that release money at each milestone
- Track vendor contracts as commitments
- Layer change orders against the original commitment
- Watch budget vs. committed vs. actual across the job
Accountants
The people who make sure every dollar books to the right place. Accountants classify and match incoming invoices, approve or reject them, and run the cost reports that reconcile the job back to the ledger.
- Review AI-read invoices from upload or inbound email
- Match each invoice against the right commitment
- Approve, or reject with a reason routed back to the vendor
- Run all five cost, commitment, budget, and tracking reports
- Rely on a full audit trail behind every move
Approve a draw from the job site.
The whole workflow — reviewing classified invoices, checking a commitment draw-down, approving or rejecting — works on any phone browser. Clear the approval queue between walkthroughs instead of letting it pile up until you’re back at a desk.
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