How To Create, Track, And Approve Commissions
Commissions are created per project on the Financials tab, and managed in bulk from the reports section when it’s time to pay out. You can calculate them as a percentage of revenue or profit, or set a fixed amount.
When would I use this?
- Recording a salesperson’s commission once a job is costed
- Commissioning a project lead or crew member as well as the rep
- Reviewing everything ready for payout at the end of the month
- Exporting approved commissions for payroll
Before you start
Creating and editing commissions requires financial access to projects.
Cost the job first. Commissions calculate from your job costing at the moment you create them, and they don’t recalculate afterward. See below.
Where do I create a commission on a project?
- Open the project and go to the Financials tab.
- Scroll to the bottom section, Commissions.
- Click Add First Commission in the main area, or Add Commission in the header.
Both open the Add Commission modal.
Where do I create and manage commissions across multiple projects?
Go to Reports → Financials and scroll to the Project P&L Commissions table. This table is built for tracking and exporting commissions at scale.
How do I choose who the commission is for?
Select the team member. Suggested team members appear at the top — anyone assigned to a team member field on the project, such as salesperson, secondary salesperson, project lead, or crew.
Suggestions aren’t a restriction. You can commission anyone.
How is a commission calculated?
Two methods:
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Fixed amount | Type in the amount you want, plus any notes |
| Percentage | Set a rate, then choose what it’s calculated from |
A percentage can be calculated from:
- Revenue — the project’s most recent revenue after financials
- Profit — gross profit after costs, before commissions
The commission auto-calculates from the basis amount, drawn from the job costing you’ve already done. For example, 10% of $6,113.37 in expected profit calculates to $611.34.
Can I override the basis amount?
Yes. Type a different basis amount into the field and the calculation adjusts.
You can also add notes to any commission.
Click Add Commission to save. It’s stored in the Commissions section with a record of how it was calculated.
Does a commission update if job costing changes?
No. Commissions do not recalculate once created.
The amount is fixed at the moment you create it, based on the job costing at that time. If costs change afterward — including through Reopen Costing on a sold estimate — the commission stays where it was.
Create commissions after job costing is complete. If costs change later, edit the commission by hand.
How do I edit, delete, or change a commission’s status?
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Edit | Click the pencil icon to reopen the Add Commission modal |
| Delete | Click the trash can icon |
| Change status | Set to Pending, Approved, Paid, or Cancelled |
How do I filter the commissions table?
Work through it in order:
- Choose your time window in the top right — last month, last six months, or a custom range.
- Select the project stages or statuses you want included. This is usually a closed-out or ready-for-commission stage, after job costing is complete. The options come from your own project stages and statuses.
- Confirm the projects that entered that stage or status within your time range.
- Search for team members — one person or several — to narrow the list.
Once the list populates, check that the team members in each role are correct before you start creating commissions.
What can I do from the table?
Scroll right to see and manage commissions per project.
- Click a team member to see their total commission, the breakdown, and current status
- Pencil icon — edit
- Trash can icon — delete
- Status — change it
- Add a new commission — opens the same Add Commission modal
When selecting a team member, you can also see what commissions have already been created for them — useful for catching a duplicate before you create one.
How do I export commissions for payroll?
- Sort or filter to the commissions marked Approved.
- Click Export in the top right.
You get an Excel file with the total per team member, ready to hand to your payroll provider or whoever pays the team.
How do I mark commissions as paid?
Individually, or in bulk. Select the projects you want and choose Mark as Approved, Mark as Paid, or Export.
Tips and gotchas
- Cost the job before you commission it — commissions don’t recalculate. A percentage of profit is calculated once, from the job costing at that moment, and it never updates. Commission a project before costs are final and you’ve locked in a number that was never real. If costs move afterward, including through reopen costing, go back and edit the commission yourself.
- Decide revenue versus profit as a company, not per commission. Paying on revenue is simple and rewards selling. Paying on profit rewards selling well and protects you on a job that went sideways. Mixing the two across reps creates arguments you don’t want to have.
- Use the statuses as a workflow. Pending means calculated, Approved means signed off, Paid means it’s out the door. If everything sits at Pending, the export can’t tell you what’s actually ready, and that’s the whole value of the table.
- Check existing commissions before adding one. The team member view shows what’s already been created. Double-commissioning a rep on the same job is easy to do when two people are working the payout.
- Override the basis amount only with a reason in the notes. A hand-typed basis is invisible six months later unless someone wrote down why. On a number someone gets paid from, that trail matters.
- Commission the whole team, not just the rep. Project leads and crew can be commissioned too. If you pay production bonuses by hand today, this is where they belong — on the job, with the job’s numbers.
- Run the table on a schedule. Filtering by closed-out stage and a date range turns payout from a hunt into a routine. Pick a day each month and work the same filters.