ERP FOR SIGNAGE & FIT-OUT
ERP that tracks every signage and fit-out job from enquiry to handover, and shows what each one earns.
Every material issue, timesheet and subcontractor bill lands on the job it belongs to, so the margin is visible while the job is still open. Variations get a number, a price and an approval before the work starts.
- 50+ companies onboarded
- 30+ systems live
- 7 trades
Dxbitz sets up ERPNext for sign manufacturers and fit-out contractors in the UAE and GCC. One system runs enquiries, site surveys, estimation, production, installation, variation orders, stage billing and UAE-ready accounts.
Common challenges
The problems you already know.
The software is not the hard part. Setting it up the way signage and fit-out actually run is. These four patterns show up in almost every company we walk into.
You only know what a job earned after it closes
Material costs, install labour and subcontractor bills sit in different places. By the time someone works out the real margin, the client is billed and the next quote has gone out at the same price.
How the system handles it
Every cost posts to the job as it happens. Margin per job is live from the first material issue, so a job that is bleeding shows up while you can still do something about it.
Material waste and over-ordering eat the margin
Materials get bought job by job with no check on the shelf. Offcuts and leftover substrate are written off with no record. The buyer orders sheets that are already in the store.
How the system handles it
Material needs are planned per job against current stock. Offcuts move to a remnant store at zero cost and get picked first. New purchases trigger only for what is actually missing.
Installs and deliveries run on WhatsApp
Crews reach sites with no confirmed access. Materials arrive before the installers do. Nobody has one view of what is going out this week, so the client hears three different answers.
How the system handles it
Delivery notes and install work orders link to the job. One dispatch calendar shows everything going out. Site updates and sign-offs flow back to the job the same day.
Variation orders billed late, or never
The client asks for a change on a call. Your team does the extra work. The change never reaches the invoice because nobody wrote it into the system when it was agreed.
How the system handles it
Variations are raised against the original job with their own scope, price and approval. Production starts only against the approved variation, and it bills on its own line.
The job flow
How a job moves through the system.
Nine stages from enquiry to retention release. Each stage is a document, and each document feeds the next. Nothing depends on someone remembering.
- STAGE 01
Enquiry
Scope, budget and timeline captured and routed to the right estimator. Every follow-up logged on the lead.
System documents
LeadOpportunity - STAGE 02
Site survey
Measurements, photos, access notes and constraints recorded on site. The output goes straight to design.
System documents
Site SurveySite Inspection Report - STAGE 03
Design and drawings
Concept, technical drawings and the bill of materials. Client approval is recorded against the drawing version.
System documents
Design SheetBOMDesign Approval - STAGE 04
Estimation and quote
Materials, labour, machine time and overheads costed. The quote is built from the same numbers production will see.
System documents
EstimationQuotation - STAGE 05
Order and project
Order confirmed, advance invoice raised, and a live project opens with the budget locked and the team assigned.
System documents
Sales OrderProjectAdvance Invoice - STAGE 06
Procurement
Material requests raised against the project. Purchases matched to suppliers, stock allocated to the job, not the pool.
System documents
Material RequestPurchase OrderPurchase Receipt - STAGE 07
Production
Job cards open. Fabrication, machine hours and labour log against the job. Quality checks before dispatch.
System documents
Work OrderJob CardQuality Inspection - STAGE 08
Installation
Delivered, installed, snags raised and cleared. The customer signs off on the spot.
System documents
Delivery NoteInstallation ReportSnag List - STAGE 09
Handover and retention
Final invoice against the milestone. Warranty tracked, retention release scheduled automatically.
System documents
Final InvoiceProject CompletionRetention Entry
Each document links to the next, and the system blocks shortcuts. You cannot raise a purchase order without a project, or a final invoice without a signed installation. The chain is the controls.
What gets set up
What gets set up.
The setup covers the whole business, configured for how this trade runs, not switched on module by module.
Enquiries to orders.
Leads, follow-ups, quotations and sales orders in one pipeline. Nothing lives in a rep's notebook.
Estimation templates.
Cost build-ups saved as templates so every estimator prices with the same logic.
Projects and production.
Tasks, job cards, machine hours and labour, all rolling up to the job they belong to.
Buying and stock.
Purchases raised against the job. Stock counts that match the shelf, including the remnant store.
Job costing.
Estimated against actual, per job, live. The gap shows before the next quote goes out.
Billing.
Advance, stage invoices, variations and retention, each on its own line with its own trigger.
Accounts.
Receivables, payables, banking and a UAE chart of accounts that is VAT-ready from day one.
People.
Attendance, WPS payroll, gratuity accruing as people work, and document expiry alerts that fire early.
Client result
A real one: the Roots Advertising revival.
Roots builds retail fit-outs, signage and brand activations for end clients like Dyson, Google and Aldar. When they called us, their ERPNext had gone quiet. Estimation was so painful the team had gone back to spreadsheets. Production entries did not match the floor. Finance had never been switched on. The brief was not an implementation. It was a revival.
We started where it hurt most. Two days beside the estimator, rebuilding quote-to-estimation as one flow, with calculations that update when anything changes and a summary panel to check a job before it goes out. Once estimation was back, production followed: task planning, material requests, transfer checks and a profitability report per job. Then HR, payroll and finance, switched on and running.
Read the full storyYou didn't add anything we didn't already have. You just made the things we owned actually work.
CFO, Roots Advertising
Outcomes
Revival completed in 8 weeks
Estimation back in the system
Profitability per job, live
Payroll and finance running
How we implement
How we implement.
- 01
Walkthrough.
We sit with your estimator, your production head and your accountant, and map how jobs run today.
- 02
Setup.
Your items, your rate build-ups, your stages, your live jobs. Not a blank demo.
- 03
Trial week.
New jobs run in the system next to your current sheets. Gaps show up here, not after go-live.
- 04
Go-live.
Training happens on the floor and at the desks where the work is done.
- 05
Support.
WhatsApp first, with response times we put in writing.
Questions
Questions signage and fit-out companies ask us.
Can the system track material cost per job, live?
Yes. Every material issued to a job posts to that job's cost record at the moment it moves. If someone pulls substrate or vinyl from the store, it shows on the job cost report straight away, not when the job closes.
How do we handle variation orders the client approves verbally?
You raise a variation against the original job with its own scope, price and billing amount. The approval, whether an email, a signature or a WhatsApp message, gets attached to the document. Production starts against the approved variation, and it bills separately, so base scope and extras never blur.
We use outside installers. How are their costs tracked?
A subcontract work order links to the job with the scope and agreed rate. When the installer bills, it is checked against that order and the cost lands on the job. Your margin includes install, not just fabrication.
Can we track offcuts and remnants for reuse?
Yes. A separate remnant store holds usable offcuts at zero cost. Production picks from it first, and write-offs drop because leftover sheet stops disappearing.
How does stage billing work on a typical job?
Stages are set when the job opens, for example design sign-off, production complete, delivery and final install. Each stage carries a billing percentage, and reaching the stage raises that invoice. Variations bill as their own line or their own invoice, whichever you prefer.
How long does a signage or fit-out implementation take?
Our average go-live across all trades is about 15 days. Signage and fit-out setups usually take longer because estimation, production and stage billing get configured and tested on your real jobs. Plan for 4 to 6 weeks. The Roots revival took 8, and that included rebuilding estimation from scratch.
Is this digital signage software?
No. This is business software for companies that fabricate and install signage and deliver fit-out projects. It runs estimation, production, installation, invoicing and accounts. Software that plays content on screens is a digital signage CMS, which is a different product.
Signage & Fitout ERP
Send us a live job.
Pick one job you are running right now. We will show you how the system would handle its estimate, its production cost and its variations on that exact job. No generic demo.
We usually reply within a few hours during UAE business hours.