The BlueCollar Projects Application is specifically designed for the needs of the construction industry.
The Project record is a custom segment and so is reportable across all financial reporting. A typical project consists of a Project record where basic information is stored, a budget consisting of combinations of Cost Codes and Cost Types, and a Contract in the form of a Sales Order.
From here Invoices are generated against the Contract and costs are applied against the budget in the form of applicable transaction types such as Vendor Bills, Journal Entries, Expense Reports, Credit Cards, etc.
Opportunities and Quotes are supported as part of the project flow but are not required. Further, a Project can be created at any point through Contract creation although most users create the Project first and then the Contract subsequently from the Project record.
Unlike Opportunities, Quotes, and Contracts the Project must be created before a Budget can be. Likewise, Budgets must be created before Job Costs can be applied.
Projects can be created by navigating to BlueCollar -> Projects -> BlueCollar Project -> New
By default the following fields are available on the Project record:
| Field (**Required) | Description |
| **Project Name | Freeform Project Name (This is the value that the project is coded to for all transactions and reporting) |
| Project Number | Freeform Project Number |
| **Customer | Select Customer |
| Project Manager | Select Project Manager (if known at this time, may be added later) |
| Contract Date | Date Contract Starts (This is used as the Contract Date on AIA forms if applicable) |
| **Subsidiary | The Subsidiary will default from the selected Customer. Save the Segment |
| Contract / SOV | Associate an Existing Contract OR when you create a contract from the Project this will auto populate |
Users can add additional fields, sublists, child records, etc. that they might find helpful in managing their projects. To learn more about customizing the BlueCollar Project record see Customizing The BlueCollar Project Record
BlueCollar project functionality is completely standalone and independent of NetSuite's native project modules (Basic Projects, Project Management, SuiteProjects, Services). The two can coexist in the same account but don't interact. BlueCollar is purpose-built for construction — schedule-of-values billing, AIA documentation, cost-code budgeting, change orders, and percent-complete revenue recognition — so you don't need NetSuite's native project tiers to use it.
Because the Project is a custom segment (GL-reportable), it can be tagged on virtually every transaction type — invoices, vendor bills, journals, time, item receipts, inventory adjustments, and more — which is what makes project-level reporting work across the whole ledger.
Remember the dependency chain: a Project must exist before a Budget, and a Budget before Job Costs can be applied.
Each project has a Preferences tab backed by an advanced-preferences record. Key settings:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Billing Driver | Controls the % complete shown on the billing screen: Actual Cost, Current % Complete, Projected % Complete, or Work Complete (see Fixed Fee Billing). |
| BlueCollar Work Calendar | Work calendar used for T&M per diem and overtime calculations. |
| Exclude from WIP | Removes the project from the WIP Report. |
| Exclude from Rev Rec | Removes the project from Revenue Recognition. |
| Unlock Budget | Overrides the budget lock so transactions can be coded against not-yet-budgeted combinations (see Project Budget Overview). |
| Closed Date | The date the project was closed. |
BlueCollar supports parent-child project structures for multi-phase or multi-scope work. The hierarchy is flexible: a contract can sit at the parent, at any child, or at both, and costs roll up to performance-obligation lines on the WIP Report and Rev Rec according to where contracts are placed.
➡️ For the rollup rules with worked scenarios, see Project Hierarchy Rollup on WIP and Rev Rec.