How to Set Up Multi-Level Expense Approvals for Construction Teams

Expenses often skip the people who should actually be reviewing them.
Maybe a project manager never saw the charge. Maybe it landed on accounting’s desk with zero context.

When approval workflows aren’t clear, things fall through the cracks.
You get late approvals, missing receipts, and reports that no one fully trusts.

That’s exactly what the Sage Expense Management platforms' multi-level approval workflows are built to fix.
You get control over who approves what, by role, project, department, or even spend amount, without needing manual follow-ups or custom emails.

Why Structured Approvals Matter In Construction

• Project managers and team leads want visibility into what’s being spent
  
• Finance shouldn’t have to chase missing approvals at month-end
  
• When workflows are inconsistent, reports are delayed, and policy violations go unnoticed
  
• As your team scales, informal approvals don’t work anymore

How Sage Expense Management Helps: Customizable Multi-Level Approval Workflows

You can define exactly who needs to approve each expense, based on:

• Role (e.g., Project Manager, Site Supervisor, Department Head)
  
• Project or job number
  
• Department or business unit
  
• Expense amount thresholds (e.g., extra approval for high-value purchases)
  

You can create multi-level workflows with one or more stages, and use drag-and-drop to customize the approval order. 

Everyone in the chain can see the approval status in real time, so there’s no confusion about where a report is stuck or who’s responsible.

Setting Up Approvals In Sage Expense Management: What It Looks Like

Setting up approval workflows in our platform is simple and doesn’t require IT or custom code.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to Admin Settings → Workflows → Approvals
   
2. Choose the field(s) you want to base your workflow on — like Project, Department, Role, or Amount
   
3. Use the drag-and-drop interface to arrange who approves and in what order
   

You can also:

• Add secondary approvers for extra oversight or coverage
  
• Build project-based approval chains, so each job site has its own workflow
  
• Set department-specific rules, so teams like operations or finance have their own flows
  
• Add manual approvers for one-off situations, like executive approvals
  

Everything is configurable and fully visible in the dashboard.

What This Looks Like In Practice

Let’s say a field staff submits an expense for materials.

No email chains. No wondering who signed off.
Just a clear, auditable trail, from submission to export.

Benefits For Construction Companies

Most construction companies rely on spreadsheets, emails, or verbal approvals to review expenses. But as your team scales, that stops working.

With Sage Expense Management:

• Get the right people reviewing the right expenses
  
• No skipped or duplicate approvals
  
• You get a full audit trail of who approved what, and when
  
• Approval timelines are faster and easier to track
  
• Finance receives only pre-approved, policy-compliant reports
  
• Everything is visible in the dashboard, no more confusion or follow-ups

Implementing a structured approval system helps detect and prevent fraudulent claims and duplicate submissions, thereby safeguarding company resources.

Ready To See It In Action?

Construction expenses move fast, and so should your approvals.
The Sage Expense Management platform gives you complete control over who approves what, and when, without relying on spreadsheets, email threads, or manual follow-ups.

Whether it’s routing approvals by project, department, or amount, we ensure the right people review each expense, every time.
No skipped steps. No bottlenecks. Just a clean, compliant process from submission to export.