Sage 300 Construction

Accounting and operations software built for contractors and property developers.

Quick Answer

Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (formerly Sage Timberline Office) is accounting and ERP software from Sage Group built for construction firms and real estate developers. It handles job costing, accounts payable/receivable, payroll, estimating, procurement, and document and property management. Mid-size contractors use it as the financial system of record across their projects.

The Full Picture

Sage 300 Construction exists because general accounting software isn't built for how construction bills and tracks cost — by job, by cost code, against a committed contract value, with retainage and change orders layered on top. Contractors need job-costed financials, not just a general ledger, and property developers need the same discipline applied to real estate assets.

Mechanically, it's a modular system: core accounting and job costing form the base, with add-on modules for payroll, procurement, estimating, document management, and service or property management. Firms license the modules relevant to their operations, and the software has historically been deployed on-premises, with Sage expanding cloud-hosted options over time.

In AEC workflows Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate is used primarily by mid-size general contractors, specialty contractors, and developers as their accounting backbone — job cost tracking, payroll, AP/AR, and financial reporting across active projects. It's less commonly the tool where estimating or bidding decisions are made, though it does include estimating functionality.

Formerly known as Sage Timberline Office, the platform has decades of installed base in North American construction accounting, which is why it remains common even as newer cloud-native ERPs have entered the market. It sits downstream of the precon decisions that set a project's budget, tracking actual cost against that budget once work is underway.

Real Examples

→Job costing: An accountant codes weekly payroll and vendor invoices to specific project cost codes in Sage 300, giving the project manager an up-to-date picture of budget versus actual spend.

→Payroll and compliance: A contractor runs certified payroll for a public project through Sage 300's payroll module, generating the reports required for prevailing-wage compliance.

→Change order tracking: A project accountant logs an approved change order in Sage 300, which updates the committed contract value and flags the revised budget to the project team.

Common Misconceptions

People assume: Sage 300 Construction is the same as general Sage Business Cloud accounting.

Actually: It's a distinct, construction-specific product line (Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate) built around job costing, committed cost, and construction payroll — not the general small-business accounting products Sage also sells under other names.

People assume: Sage 300's estimating module makes it a full precon estimating platform.

Actually: It includes estimating functionality, but most mid-size and larger GCs use dedicated takeoff and estimating software for the heavy lifting during precon, then feed the resulting budget into Sage 300 for cost tracking and accounting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Sage 300 Construction previously called?

It was previously called Sage Timberline Office, a name that's still widely used in the industry even after Sage rebranded the product as Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate.

What is Sage 300 Construction used for?

It's used for construction and real estate accounting — job costing, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, procurement, estimating, and document or property management — as a firm's core financial system.

Who uses Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate?

Mid-size general contractors, specialty contractors, and real estate developers use it, often firms that need construction-specific job costing but don't require the scale of an enterprise ERP like CMiC or Oracle.

Is Sage 300 Construction cloud-based?

It has historically been deployed on-premises, though Sage has expanded hosted and cloud-connected options over time; firms should check current deployment options directly with Sage.

How is Sage 300 Construction different from CMiC?

Both are construction ERP systems, but CMiC markets itself on a single-database architecture aimed at larger firms, while Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate is modular and has a long-standing installed base among mid-size contractors and developers.