Forge & Build.
Construction management for craftsmen and small construction companies.
Forge & Build is a three-role web app (Owner, Employee, Subcontractor), each with its own dashboard. It models the actual workflow of a small construction firm: jobs go from NEW → SCHEDULED → IN_PROGRESS → DONE → INVOICED, with mobile time-tracking, daily reports, subcontractor invoicing, project chat, and customer-facing booking + invoice flows (without a dedicated customer login — customers receive secure links).
What it solves.
Small craftsman shops run on WhatsApp groups, paper Bautagebücher, and Excel. Existing construction-management tools are either enterprise-scale or generic project trackers that miss the German-specific bits (Bautagebuch with weather, subcontractor invoice flow, time entries tied to a Baustelle).
How it's solved.
- 01
Three role-scoped dashboards: Owner sees everything (projects, customers, team, subs, invoices, time, reports, chat); Employee sees assigned projects + clock-in; Subcontractor sees their jobs + own invoices. Customers don't need their own login — they receive secure tokenized links for bookings and invoices.
- 02
Mobile-first time tracking with optional GPS capture so hours are tied to the actual work site, not just an honor system.
- 03
Daily-report flow (Bautagebuch) with weather, temperature, work done, blockers, and photos — the data clients actually want when something goes wrong.
- 04
Subcontractor invoice pipeline (submit → approve → reject → pay) visible to both sides, eliminating the "wait, where's that invoice" thread.
- 05
Public /book route creates a customer record + a NEW project for the owner to schedule — same data model, no second "leads" table.
What makes it interesting.
Three role-scoped dashboards
Owner, Employee, Subcontractor — each role gets its own dashboard, navigation and data scope. Subcontractors see only their assigned jobs and their own invoices; Employees see only assigned projects. Role-routing handled in middleware so the wrong UI never even renders. Customers receive tokenized links for bookings and invoices instead of a dedicated login.
GPS-aware mobile time tracking
Clock-in / clock-out captures optional location so hours are tied to the actual work site, not the honor system. Solves the 'did the crew really show up at the Baustelle at 7am' question without micromanaging.
Subcontractor invoice pipeline
Submit → approve → reject → pay flow with status visible to both sides in real time. Eliminates the 'where's that invoice from October' WhatsApp thread that small construction firms actually run on.
Tech.
- Frontend
- Next.js 16ReactTailwind v4shadcn/ui
- Backend / DB
- Prisma 7SQLite (dev) → PostgresServer Actions
- Auth
- Auth.js v5Credentials + JWTRole-based session
- Forms / Validation
- react-hook-formZodbcryptjs
- Maps
- LeafletOpenStreetMap