Example agent design
WIP and Change-Order Agent for Contractors
A WIP and change-order recovery agent reconciles job cost, commitments, and pay applications into a traced monthly WIP, finds performed change work that was never billed, and leaves each figure, billing, and notice with a PM, controller, or counsel. This is a starting design. An AI Blueprint adapts it to your goals and the systems it will connect to.
- Owner
- The controller, who approves the WIP. PMs confirm cost to complete, and the CFO releases it.
- Reads
- Job cost, budgets, billings, and commitments · Change events, RFIs, daily logs, and T&M tickets · Pay applications and portal status · Contract terms for notices, markups, retainage, and lien dates
- Never writes
- Percent complete or cost to complete, which come from cost to date and each PM's estimate to complete. No journal entries or billings to an owner or GC, no change order, claim, lien notice, or Texas 10% election, and no WIP released to a bank or surety.
- Typical cost
- AI Blueprint $4,500–$7,500, credited toward the build. Typical first build $35,000–$75,000. Agent Operations after launch $2,500/mo for one production agent. See the first engagement
The workflow
The monthly WIP today and with the agent
Planning comparison only. Scope, timing, and outcomes vary by data, workflow, approvals, adoption, and implementation conditions.
- Fade
- TodayFound at year-end instead of month-end.
- With the agentFlagged by job each month, with the change since last month explained.
- Cost to complete
- TodayForecasts lag the field.
- With the agentStale PM forecasts flagged before the WIP meeting.
- Unbilled change work
- TodayOwner-directed work performed without an executed change order.
- With the agentEach gap queued with its tickets, directives, and logs for PM approval.
- Approved changes
- TodayNever added to the schedule of values.
- With the agentDrafted as requests in the project platform once approved.
- Lien and retainage dates
- TodayTracked from memory.
- With the agentComputed by job, with any notice left to counsel.
How it runs
Five steps from month-end snapshot to release
An illustrative solution design, not a reported client result. The agent prepares and checks; the PM, controller, CFO, and counsel decide.
- Work in place
- Billed to date
- Change work
- Month-end snapshot
- WIP schedule
- PM and controller
- Unsigned work
- Snapshot
- Compute
- Recover
- Approve
- Release
Freeze the month-end snapshot
The agent pulls job cost, committed cost, billings, PM forecasts, and change events at cutoff, with record IDs, so each later figure traces to the snapshot.
Compute the WIP
It calculates cost-to-cost percent complete from cost to date and each PM's estimate to complete, then earned revenue, over and under billings, and fade or gain by job, and flags uninstalled materials and rework for the controller's ASC 606 judgment.
Find unbilled change work
It compares T&M tickets, field directives, RFIs, and overruns with the change-order log and schedule of values, and tracks unsigned owner-directed work against the Texas 10% threshold and Chapter 53 lien dates.
PMs, the controller, and counsel approve
PMs confirm cost to complete and approve each change packet. The controller approves the WIP and the staged over/under entry, and counsel approves any claim or notice.
Human approval point
Release to the bank and surety
The CFO releases the WIP. Approved changes become draft requests in the project platform, and the audit trail records each source, threshold, and reviewer.
Human approval point
Systems
The systems it reads
Platform agents work inside their own platform. This design reconciles the accounting system, the project platform, and the billing portals in one governed workflow, and uses platform AI where it fits.
- Accounting system
- Job cost, budgets, billings, and commitments from Sage 300 CRE, Sage Intacct Construction, Viewpoint Vista or Spectrum, Foundation, or Acumatica.
- Project platform
- Change events, RFIs, daily logs, and T&M tickets from Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud.
- Billing portals
- Pay applications and portal status from Textura or Siteline.
- Contracts
- Notice periods, markups, retainage, and the project type that sets lien dates.
Technologies ITECS evaluates and integrates through supported APIs and exports; listing a product does not imply a formal partnership or a certified connector. The AI Blueprint confirms the systems each company runs.
Controls
Read-heavy and write-controlled by design
- Read-heavy
- Reads the systems listed above through access scoped to this workflow.
- Write-controlled
- Writes nothing listed under Never writes in the spec at the top of this page. Anything it drafts waits at the approval points below.
- Approval points
- PMs confirm cost to complete and approve each change packet. The controller approves the WIP and any staged entry, counsel approves any claim or notice, and the CFO releases the WIP.
- Audit trail
- Each run keeps its inputs, sources, output, and the reviewer's decision.
In this design
- Percent complete comes from cost to date and the PM's estimate to complete. The agent calculates it and flags stale forecasts, and revenue-recognition calls stay with the controller and CPA.
- Access mirrors project permissions in the source systems, and joint-venture and owner-confidential projects stay isolated.
- Claims workspaces stay restricted, and counsel reviews any claim or notice language.
- Each figure, flag, and draft traces to its source record and a reviewer, and data gaps such as missing logs or uncoded costs are reported, not guessed around.
- ITECS does not provide legal, accounting, or engineering advice through its agents, and no design promises an outcome. The agent prepares and checks; the company's PMs, controllers, design professionals, and counsel decide.
Deployment fit
Where this design can run
- Hosted AI Agents
- Runs in a governed Linux environment ITECS operates, on frontier models through enterprise API agreements, connected to the accounting system, the project platform, and the billing portals through controlled integrations, with human review and an audit trail.
- Private AI Servers
- Runs on local models on a server inside your network, for job cost, contract, and claims records that should not leave it. The same build ladder applies; server hardware is quoted after a sizing call.
Typical first engagement
Start with an AI Blueprint
The AI Blueprint sets the actual build rung and its fixed-fee not-to-exceed. The rows below show the typical path and the catalog range for each step.
- FirstAI BlueprintAgent Discovery & Technical Specification. Credited toward the build.$4,500–$7,500
- Typical first buildIntegrated / Line-of-Business AgentIt is an integrated build because it reconciles job cost, the project platform, and billing into one WIP, with an audit trail, exception handling, and a reviewer workflow.$35,000–$75,000
- After launchAgent Operations, one production agent$2,500/mo
Prices from the published AI pricing catalog.
Customize this design
Bring your goals and your systems. The AI Blueprint decides the scope and the systems, not this example, and ends with a fixed-fee not-to-exceed for the build.
FAQ
WIP & Change-Order Agent FAQ
Will the agent decide our percent complete or post entries to our ERP?
No. Your PM's estimate to complete sets it; the agent does the cost-to-cost calculation, flags stale forecasts, and stages entries for your controller to approve.
Our surety and bank rely on our WIP. Does AI make that riskier?
The agent adds evidence and consistency, with each figure traced to a source record and a reviewer, while your controller approves the WIP and the CFO releases it.
How does it find change orders we haven't billed?
It compares T&M tickets, field directives, RFIs, daily logs, and cost-code overruns with your change-order log and schedule of values, then queues each gap with its documents for PM approval.
How do Texas lien and change-order rules factor in?
From the rules the company approved, the agent computes Chapter 53 notice and affidavit dates by job and flags when unsigned owner-directed work passes the 10% threshold in Property Code section 28.0091. Your counsel or claims lead approves any notice or election.
Is this legal, accounting, or engineering advice?
No. ITECS does not provide legal, accounting, or engineering advice through its agents. The agent applies rules the company approved and drafts or flags for review; PMs, controllers, design professionals, and counsel decide, and no design promises an outcome.
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