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Experienced Cost Clerk – Construction Project
Role Overview
The Cost Clerk will provide accurate, timely, and well-controlled cost administration for a construction project. Working closely with the Project Manager, Commercial Manager, Quantity Surveyors, finance team, procurement, and site personnel, the role will maintain reliable cost records, validate project expenditure, support forecasting and reporting, and help ensure that costs are correctly authorized, coded, and allocated. The successful candidate will bring substantial cost-control experience from a construction, civil engineering, or infrastructure environment and will be confident working independently in a fast-paced site-based setting.
Key Responsibilities
- Maintain accurate project cost records, cost ledgers, commitment schedules, and supporting documentation.
- Process and reconcile purchase orders, delivery notes, goods-received records, subcontractor applications, invoices, credit notes, and accruals.
- Check that expenditure has appropriate approval, supporting evidence, contract or order coverage, and correct project, work-package, and cost-code allocation.
- Monitor actual costs, commitments, and forecasts against budgets, identifying anomalies, duplicate charges, coding errors, missing liabilities, and emerging variances.
- Prepare regular cost reports, reconciliations, and supporting schedules for project and commercial reviews.
- Assist with period-end activities, including accruals, prepayments, cost transfers, reconciliations, and completion of audit-ready working papers.
- Liaise with suppliers, subcontractors, procurement, and site teams to resolve invoice, quantity, rate, tax, and payment queries promptly.
- Maintain records of labor, plant, materials, hired equipment, and other site costs, ensuring charges are complete and supported.
- Support cash-flow forecasting, applications for payment, subcontract administration, and change-control processes where required.
- Maintain organized electronic and hard-copy records in accordance with project procedures, document-retention requirements, and audit standards.
- Contribute to improvements in cost-control processes, reporting accuracy, and data quality.
- Comply with company policies, delegated authorities, contractual requirements, and site health, safety, and environmental procedures.
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Experience and Knowledge
- Significant experience in a Cost Clerk, Project Cost Administrator, Commercial Administrator, or similar role on construction, civil engineering, or infrastructure projects.
- Strong practical knowledge of purchase-to-pay processes, project cost coding, commitments, accruals, reconciliations, and cost reporting.
- Experience working with subcontractors, suppliers, quantity surveyors, and site-based project teams.
- Demonstrable ability to investigate discrepancies and maintain accurate records across a high volume of transactions.
- Understanding of construction terminology, work packages, plant and material costs, and subcontract payment processes.
- Experience supporting month-end reporting and internal or external audit requirements.
- Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, including lookups, pivot tables, filters, and reconciliation techniques.
- Experience with construction ERP, finance, procurement, or cost-management systems; familiarity with systems such as COINS, SAP, Oracle, Causeway, or similar is advantageous.
Skills and Behaviors
- Excellent numerical accuracy and attention to detail.
- Strong organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize competing deadlines.
- Analytical and methodical approach to resolving cost and data discrepancies.
- Clear, professional communication with commercial, operational, and finance stakeholders.
- Confident challenging incomplete or non-compliant documentation constructively.
- High standards of integrity, confidentiality, and accountability.
- Proactive, dependable, and comfortable working with limited supervision.
- Collaborative approach and willingness to support the wider project team.
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Qualifications And Practical Requirements
- GCSEs or equivalent in English and Mathematics.
- AAT qualification, bookkeeping credential, or relevant finance or commercial training is desirable.
- Construction-related training or familiarity with standard forms of contract is advantageous.
- Ability to work from the project office or site as required and attend relevant project meetings.
- Right to work in the project location and willingness to comply with any site-access requirements.
Reporting Line and Key Relationships
- Reports to: Commercial Manager, Project Finance Manager, or Project Manager, depending on the project structure.
- Key relationships: Quantity Surveyors, project controls, procurement, accounts payable, site management, engineers, suppliers, and subcontractors.
Key Performance Measures
- Accuracy and completeness of project cost records.
- Timely processing and resolution of invoices, commitments, and queries.
- Quality and punctuality of period-end reconciliations and cost reports.
- Reduction in coding errors, unmatched transactions, and unsupported costs.
- Compliance with project procedures, approval limits, and audit requirements.
- Constructive support provided to commercial, finance, and site teams.
Whether you are looking for progression in your new role or for your forever job, we will happily welcome your application.
Equal Opportunities
Aureos are an equal opportunities employer, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favorable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.
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