Real estate developer software in Morocco: developments, buyers and companies under control

What makes a property development hard to steer

A residence in Bouskoura, an apartment block in Tangier or a housing estate near Marrakech runs over two to four years. Money comes in through buyers' instalments and goes out to the structural works contractor, the finishing trades, the architect and the engineering consultants. Developers often run several projects at once, each held by a separate company.

The danger is discovering at handover that the development cost far more than planned, or that a buyer has missed two instalments. When budgets live in a spreadsheet, cheques in a binder and each company in different software, management has no overall view.

• Budget overruns discovered at works acceptance
• Buyer instalments tracked by hand
• Purchase orders signed without approval at the right level
• Several project companies with no consolidation

Each development as a cost centre: budget, actuals, variances

In SOGESTIO, each development, for example "Les Orangers residence – phase 1", becomes a cost centre. Supplier invoices, expenses and sales invoices are assigned to it. A monthly budget is entered per line item, and the budget-versus-actual comparison shows variances as the works progress, along with the result per cost centre.

In the example below, a 32-apartment development halfway through: structural works exceed their budget by 270,000 DH, partly offset by finishing works, whose spending is still below budget to date. Overall, actual costs exceed the budget by 135,000 DH. That is not yet a loss, but it calls for a decision: renegotiate a work package, revise some finishes or adjust the price of the apartments still for sale.

One company per development: multi-company and consolidated view

In Morocco it is common to place each development in a dedicated company, alongside a parent company and sometimes a construction company. The Groupe plan manages each company with its own data and numbering, lets you switch between them with a selector, records intra-group transactions and gives a consolidated view of revenue and cash.

When a group company builds on behalf of a project company, the Projects module tracks that contract as a job: contract amount, costs and invoicing per project. The Groupe plan includes 3 companies for 990 DH/month excl. VAT, and each additional company costs 249 DH/month excl. VAT.

Buyers: deposits, payment schedules and cheques until key handover

Each buyer is a customer with a file, where the contract and supporting documents are attached through the Documents module. Deposits and instalments are managed on sales documents, each payment is recorded with a receipt, and the balance outstanding is known at any time. Cheques and LCN bills are tracked with their number, bank, due date and status.

Worked example: an apartment sold for 950,000 DH, paid in four instalments set in the contract: 190,000 DH at signature, 285,000 DH when structural works are completed, 285,000 DH when finishing works are completed and 190,000 DH at key handover, which adds up to exactly 950,000 DH. The stages and percentages of a payment schedule, particularly for off-plan sales, are governed by regulation, so have them validated by your notary. The tax treatment of the sale, including VAT and special schemes such as social housing, should be confirmed with your chartered accountant.

Subcontractors and suppliers: purchase requests approved before any order

On a development site, commitments are made quickly. The site manager raises a purchase request, which management (the account owner or an administrator) must approve before it becomes a purchase order; the order then cannot exceed the approved quantities or prices. Nobody can approve their own request, and delegation covers absences.

For large work packages, a supplier tender consults several contractors and compares their offers in a table. Framework contracts apply negotiated prices, for example with a tile supplier, and three-way matching of order, receipt and invoice catches any invoice that does not match what was ordered and received. Supplier payments can also go through approval.

Property-holding companies: rents as recurring invoices

For a company letting offices, shops or apartments, each lease becomes a recurring invoice: customer, amount and frequency are defined once, and the invoice is generated on each due date with a server-assigned number. Payments, cheques and arrears are tracked tenant by tenant.

The tax treatment of rents depends on the type of property and your structure, so have the set-up validated by your chartered accountant. Note that SOGESTIO does not manage an inventory of apartments or plots (availability grid, sales plans); it handles invoicing, collections, purchasing, budgets and accounting.

Which plan for a developer or property company?

A single company will choose the Pro plan at 449 DH/month excl. VAT (4,490 DH/year): cost centres and budgets, advanced purchasing, banking with cheques and LCN bills, CGNC accounting, documents and payroll, up to 10 users. Once each development has its own company, the Groupe plan at 990 DH/month excl. VAT (9,900 DH/year) brings together 3 companies and up to 30 users, with consolidation. The free 14-day trial needs no bank card and no commitment.