Subcontracting of Services

ERPNext User Forum
1

Is it possible to subcontract Services and not goods? In our Construction company, we subcontract out work to be performed, and sometimes there are no physical items (just the service item).

Eg. When building a home, we subcontract out the Excavation Service. One of our suppliers comes out with a back hoe and clears the foundation of the new house for a fixed or hourly cost. No materials are being transferred between warehouses, etc.

Should I use a Subcontracting Order?

Since there are no materials involved… should the Items table be empty, and the Additional cost represent the cost of the Service (labor in this case)?

It appears this feature is really built for subcontracting manufacturing items… not service items.

Should I just go back to using a regular Purchase Order for Services, and not try to use Subcontracting?

Thanks

2

Hi @rich

My first thoughts are that if you can achieve your intended functionality WITHOUT using the subcontracting workflow then go for it. Using the subcontracting module will complicate things for your use case (service item) since it will be tricky to define the BOM, material transfers, etc.

If you still want to use the subcontracting workflow, you can first think of mapping your business case with that of a manufacturing process. Eg. Define finished good (excavation service), define operations (foundation clearing using back hoe, etc) and then implement it. I wouldn’t recommend it though as you’ve rightly said that the entire subcontracting module has been made from a manufacturing point-of-view.

Thanks,
Shashank

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3

Thank you Shashank!