📋 Requirements
Before you begin, make sure:
You have access to Buildern
You have a bill, receipt, or vendor credit document ready to upload
Understanding Transaction Types
Before uploading a transaction, it's important to understand the available transaction types:
Bill - Represents money your company owes to a vendor or subcontractor for products or services received.
Expense (Receipt) - Represents a purchase or payment that has already been made and typically includes a receipt as proof of payment.
Vendor Credit - Represents a credit or refund issued by a vendor that can be applied against existing or future bills.
Upload a Bill, Expense, or Vendor Credit
There are two ways to upload bills, expenses (receipts), and vendor credits in Buildern:
Method 1: Upload from a Project
Navigate to Bills from the left-side menu.
Click Create.
Select either:
Upload Bill, or
Upload Receipt.
In the upload window, click Upload or drag and drop your file into the designated area, then select the document you want to upload.
Method 2: Upload from All Items
Navigate to All Items → Bills.
Click Create.
Select Upload Bill or Upload Receipt.
Upload your file.
Review the extracted information and save the transaction.
Upload Bill creates a transaction with the Bill type.
Upload Receipt creates a transaction with the Expense type.
ℹ️ Note - When uploading a transaction from All Items, the transaction is not automatically associated with a project. During the review process, you will need to select the appropriate Project before saving the transaction.
Once the file has been uploaded, Buildern automatically scans the document and opens the transaction review page.
Review the Uploaded Transaction
Buildern automatically extracts information from the uploaded document. Review the extracted information and make any necessary adjustments before saving.
1) Change the Transaction Type
If the uploaded transaction should be recorded as a different type:
Click Review Bill.
Select the appropriate transaction type:
Bill
Expense (Receipt)
Vendor Credit
Save your changes.
2) Review Transaction Details
Review the following information extracted from the uploaded document:
Name – The transaction name.
Project – The associated project.
Transaction ID – The Bill, Expense, or Vendor Credit ID generated by Buildern.
Related Purchase Order or Subcontract – Any linked Purchase Order or Subcontract.
Pay To Account – The vendor or subcontractor associated with the transaction.
Reference Number – The invoice, receipt, or credit reference number.
Date Submitted – The transaction date.
Due Date – The payment due date for bills.
3) Configure Tax Settings
The Amounts Are field determines how taxes are applied to the transaction.
Available options include:
Tax Exclusive – Tax is added on top of entered amounts.
Tax Inclusive – Tax is already included in entered amounts.
No Tax – No tax is applied.
4) Review Cost Lines
Review the individual items, materials, services, and costs included in the transaction.Buildern also extracts related quantity, unit cost, tax, and total amount information for each cost line.
From here, you can select or update the Cost Code for each line item and adjust the tax applied to the line before saving the transaction.
To add additional cost lines, click Add new line. You can also click More types to add lines from your Cost Catalog or create Estimate cost lines directly within the transaction.
5) Attachments
The uploaded document is automatically added to the Attachments section of the transaction, allowing you to preview and download the original file at any time.
You can also upload additional files by dragging and dropping them into the attachment area or by clicking Select files.
If needed, click the X icon on an attachment to remove it from the transaction.
6) Record Payments
If the transaction has already been paid, you can record the payment directly during the review process.
To record a payment:
Click Record Payments.
Click OK to confirm.
Enter the payment details:
Date - The date the payment was made.
Amount - The payment amount.
Payment Method - Select the payment method used.
Note - Add any additional payment information if needed.
Click Record Payment.
ℹ️ Note - Recording a payment updates the transaction's payment history and helps keep your financial records up to date. For Vendor Credits, recording a payment indicates that the refund has already been received from the vendor. If no payment is recorded, the Vendor Credit remains available to be allocated against existing or future bills.
7) Comments
The Comments section becomes available after the transaction has been created and saved.
Once available, users can use the Comments section to communicate about the transaction, ask questions, provide updates, and share additional information related to the bill, expense, or vendor credit.
8) Save the Transaction
Once you've finished entering all the transaction details, you can either click Save or select the arrow next to the Save button to access additional save options.
Bills and Vendor Credits
For Bills and Vendor Credits, the following options are available:
Save and Add Another – Saves the current transaction in Draft status and immediately opens a new creation page, allowing you to continue entering additional bills or vendor credits.
Submit for Approval – Submits the transaction for approval and changes its status to Awaiting Approval, making it ready for the approval workflow.
Save and Approve – Saves the transaction and immediately changes its status to Approved.
Approve and Next – Approves the current transaction and automatically opens the next transaction for review. This is especially useful when reviewing multiple draft transactions in succession.
💡 Tip: If you’d like to quickly review and approve multiple draft bills, navigate to the Bills page and filter the list by Draft and Awaiting Approval status. Then, open the first bill and click Approve and Next. Buildern will automatically open the next draft bill, allowing you to approve your bills one by one without returning to the bills list each time. This provides a fast and efficient way to work through all of your draft bills.
👉 Learn more about PO, Subcontract and Bill approval workflow
Expenses
For Expenses, the approval workflow is not currently available. Expenses can only be saved, so the only additional save option is:
Save and Add Another – Saves the current expense and immediately opens a new expense creation page, allowing you to continue entering multiple expenses efficiently.
Unlike Bills and Vendor Credits, Expenses do not have an Approved status and therefore cannot be submitted for approval or approved within Buildern.
Happy building!