Project management for construction site teams: a board a foreman will actually use

A small construction or fit-out team does not need a construction management platform to keep a job on track. It needs one shared list that says what is to be built, what has changed, and what needs putting right, that the foreman can update in seconds and the client can look at without ringing anybody. fenbs was designed to that standard: the rule we build to is that it must stay simple enough for a site foreman and precise enough for a software developer. This piece shows how a small site team can set one up.

To be clear about where fenbs comes from: its main users are software developers. But the promise to stay simple enough for a foreman, a kitchen fitter or an interior designer is written into how we build it, and the board works the same way whatever the work is.

What a site team actually needs from a list

• Writing something down has to take one line. Nobody fills in a form with wet gloves on.
• Everyone must be able to say which item they mean, on the phone, without describing it.
• The crew should be able to mark work done. They should not be able to change what the job says.
• The client should be able to see progress and ask questions, and change nothing.
• When there is a disagreement later, there should be a record of who said what and who changed what.

The board, in site terms

Three kinds of task

Every task on fenbs is a Feature, an Enhancement or a Bug. The words come from software, but the idea comes from the drawing office. The design is based on a draughtsman’s pencils marking up a drawing: blue adds, green revises, red corrects. On site that maps neatly.

• Feature (blue): something to be built or installed. “Fit island unit and worktop.”
• Enhancement (green): a change to what was agreed or already done. “Client wants the sockets moved 300mm left.”
• Bug (red): something that needs putting right. A snag. “Door to utility catches on the frame.”

Colour tells you the kind of task and never how urgent it is. A board with a lot of red near handover tells you there is a lot of snagging left, at a glance.

Four lanes

To Do, Next Up, In Progress, Completed. Things for later, things for next, things being done, things that are done. There are four and no more. Next Up is the useful one on site: it is the answer to “what are we on tomorrow?”

A name for every task

Each task gets a short ref, such as BU-046. Say that on the phone and everybody knows which one you mean. The number is never reused, even if the task is deleted, so a ref in a text message to the client still means the same thing when the final account is being argued over. There is also a separate box called Your reference, for whatever your own paperwork calls it: a job number, a variation number, the client’s PO.

Setting it up for a job

1. Get the list in. If the schedule of work is already typed up somewhere, paste it into Add many, one task per line. Start a line with bug:, feature: or enhancement: to set its kind. You see a preview before anything is created.
2. Use a project or a category if it helps. Both are optional labels, made by typing a new name in the task editor: one per area of the building, say, or one per trade.
3. Add the people, each with a role (next section).
4. Drag tomorrow’s work into Next Up. Set priority where it matters; it runs from 1 to 10 and 1 is the most urgent.

First fix electrics, kitchen
Fit island unit and worktop
enhancement: Move sockets 300mm left of hob
bug: Door to utility catches on the frame

Who can do what

This is the part that matters most on a job with a client and subcontractors, and it is the part fenbs takes most seriously. Each person gets a role, and you can give them a smaller one than yours.

• You and whoever runs the job with you can do everything: write tasks, change them, move them, add and remove people.
• The crew can see the board, move tasks between lanes and comment. Moving is its own permission, separate from editing, so a crew role can drag work to Completed without being able to rewrite what the task says. You can create that role yourself and call it what you already call it, such as “Site crew”.
• A subcontractor or anyone reporting problems can write down what went wrong and comment, and edit only what they wrote themselves.
• The client can look and leave comments. If they try to drag a card, they are told exactly which permission they do not have.

Take someone off the board when their part is finished and they stop seeing it. What they wrote stays where it is.

A day on the board

In the morning the foreman opens the board on a phone and looks at Next Up. As work starts, tasks go to In Progress; as it finishes, to Completed. A fitter spots that a delivered unit is damaged and writes one line. It gets a ref and the fitter’s name. The client, who has been wondering about the sockets, opens the board instead of calling, sees the task in Next Up, and leaves a comment on it rather than sending an email nobody files.

Every one of those changes has a name against it. Every task keeps its own trail. When someone asks in three months who agreed to move the sockets and when, the answer is on the task.

Where an AI assistant fits, if you want one

You can ignore this part entirely; the board works without it. If you do use an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT, it can be connected to the board with a key of its own that can never do more than you can, and everything it changes has its name against it. A practical use is tidying: paste in rough notes from a site walk and ask the assistant to turn them into clear tasks, or ask it what got completed this week. The steps are in the connection guide. AI assistants cost nothing extra.

What fenbs does not do

fenbs is a shared list with roles and a record. It is not a construction management system. It has no programme or Gantt chart, no dependencies between tasks, no drawing register, no cost tracking, and no health and safety paperwork. It has no custom fields and no automations, and the four lanes cannot be changed. Larger contractors with formal document control need tools built for that, and should use them. fenbs suits the small builder, the fit-out team, the kitchen or bathroom installer, and the designer coordinating a handful of trades.

What it costs

Teams is $99.50 a month for the whole team’s shared workspace, however many people you invite: your crew, your subcontractors, your client. It is not charged per person. Personal, at $4.99 a month, is one person’s own board with nobody else on it. If you stop paying, the board goes read-only and nothing is deleted. See pricing, or read how it works first; it is five steps.