Domain Terms Glossary

This glossary maps Spanish construction industry terms used in Construbot to their English equivalents. Use this for consistency in all documentation, translations, and communication.

Note

Important: The codebase uses Spanish model and field names. This glossary provides English equivalents for documentation purposes only. Do not change the actual Python code to use these English names.

Core Entities

Cliente

English: Client / Customer

Description: A customer who contracts construction work from your company. This is a Contraparte with tipo=’CLIENTE’.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Contraparte (tipo=’CLIENTE’)

Usage: The party paying for the construction work

Examples: “Government Agency”, “Private Developer”

Contraparte

English: Counterparty / Business Partner

Description: An external business entity with which your company has a relationship. Can be one of three types: Cliente (Client), Destajista (Piecework Contractor), or Subcontratista (Subcontractor).

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Contraparte

Types: CLIENTE, DESTAJISTA, SUBCONTRATISTA

Examples: “ABC Construction Inc. (Client)”, “XYZ Electrical (Subcontractor)”

Contrato

English: Contract / Project

Description: A construction project or contract. Represents the main entity in Construbot for managing construction work. Can be hierarchical (parent contracts with sub-contracts) using django-treebeard.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Contrato

Key Fields: folio (reference number), contrato_name (contract name), monto (amount), anticipo (advance payment)

Examples: “Main Building Contract”, “Electrical Subcontract”

Destajista

English: Piecework Contractor / Task Contractor

Description: A contractor paid by completed work units (piece rate) rather than by time. This is a Contraparte with tipo=’DESTAJISTA’. Common in Mexican construction industry.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Contraparte (tipo=’DESTAJISTA’)

Usage: Workers paid per completed task or quantity

Examples: “Masonry crew paid per square meter”, “Painting contractor paid per room”

Destinatario

English: Recipient / Contact / Contact Person

Description: A contact person at a Counterparty organization. Used for document distribution and communication.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Destinatario

Key Fields: destinatario_text (contact name), puesto (position), contraparte (associated counterparty)

Examples: “John Doe, Project Manager”, “Jane Smith, Procurement Officer”

Sitio

English: Site / Construction Site / Location

Description: Physical location where construction work occurs. Must be associated with a Cliente (Client) contraparte.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Sitio

Key Fields: sitio_name (site name), sitio_location (address), cliente (associated client)

Examples: “Downtown Office Building”, “Highway 101 Bridge Project”

Subcontratista

English: Subcontractor

Description: A contractor for specialized work under a main contract. This is a Contraparte with tipo=’SUBCONTRATISTA’.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Contraparte (tipo=’SUBCONTRATISTA’)

Usage: Specialized contractors (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.)

Examples: “HVAC Subcontractor”, “Structural Steel Subcontractor”

Financial Terms

Amortización

English: Amortization / Advance Amortization

Description: The process of deducting advance payment amounts from subsequent progress payments.

Method: Contrato.amortizacion_anticipo()

Usage: Calculated automatically in estimates to recover advance payments

Anticipo

English: Advance Payment / Down Payment / Mobilization Payment

Description: Initial payment percentage for a contract, typically used for mobilization and initial expenses.

Model Field: construbot.proyectos.models.Contrato.anticipo (DecimalField)

Range: 0% to 100%

Examples: “10% advance payment”, “15% mobilization payment”

Concepto

English: Concept / Line Item / Work Item / Work Package

Description: Individual work item in a contract catalog. Defines a specific type of work with quantity, unit of measurement, and unit price.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Concept

Key Fields: code (item code), concept_text (description), unit (measurement unit), unit_price, total_cuantity

Examples: “Concrete Pouring - Foundation”, “Electrical Wiring Installation”

Ejercido

English: Executed / Spent / Expended

Description: Amount of work completed or money spent to date.

Method: Contrato.ejercido_acumulado()

Examples: “Accumulated executed amount”, “Total spent to date”

Estimación

English: Estimate / Progress Payment / Progress Billing

Description: Periodic billing for completed work on a contract. Documents work progress and calculates payment due.

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Estimate

Key Fields: consecutive (estimate number), start_date, finish_date, project (associated contract)

Examples: “Estimate #5 for March 2024”, “Monthly Progress Payment”

Facturado

English: Invoiced / Billed

Description: Indicates whether an estimate has been invoiced to the client.

Model Field: Estimate.invoiced (BooleanField)

Monto

English: Amount / Total Amount / Contract Amount

Description: Total monetary value of a contract or payment. Usually specified without VAT/IVA.

Model Fields: Contrato.monto, Retenciones.valor

Examples: “$1,000,000 contract amount”, “$50,000 retention amount”

Pagado

English: Paid / Payment Completed

Description: Indicates whether an estimate payment has been received.

Model Fields: Estimate.paid (BooleanField), Estimate.payment_date (DateField)

Retención

English: Retention / Withholding / Holdback

Description: Amount or percentage withheld from payments, typically released upon project completion. Can be a fixed amount (AMOUNT) or percentage (PERCENTAGE).

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Retenciones

Types: AMOUNT (Monto), PERCENTAGE (Porcentaje)

Examples: “5% Quality Retention”, “$10,000 Performance Holdback”

Field Names

code

English: Code / Item Code / Contract Code

Description: Alphanumeric code for identification.

Model Fields: Contrato.code, Concept.code

Examples: “CONT-2024-001”, “ELEC-100”

fecha

English: Date / Contract Date

Description: Date of contract signing or creation.

Model Field: Contrato.fecha (DateField)

folio

English: Reference Number / Folio / Sequential ID

Description: Sequential identification number for contracts within a company.

Model Field: Contrato.folio (IntegerField)

nombre

English: Name

Description: Generic name field used across multiple models.

Model Fields: Vertices.nombre, Retenciones.nombre

puesto

English: Position / Job Title / Role

Description: Job title or position of a person.

Model Fields: Destinatario.puesto, User.puesto

Examples: “Project Manager”, “Site Supervisor”, “Procurement Officer”

tipo

English: Type / Category

Description: Classification or type field with choices.

Model Fields: Contraparte.tipo, Retenciones.tipo

valor

English: Value / Amount

Description: Monetary or numeric value.

Model Field: Retenciones.valor (DecimalField)

Measurement & Quantity Terms

alto

English: Height / Tall / High

Description: Height dimension in meters.

Model Field: Vertices.alto (DecimalField)

ancho

English: Width / Wide

Description: Width dimension in meters.

Model Field: Vertices.ancho (DecimalField)

Cantidad

English: Quantity / Amount

Description: Numeric quantity of work or materials.

Model Fields: Concept.total_cuantity, EstimateConcept.cuantity_estimated

largo

English: Length / Long

Description: Length dimension in meters.

Model Field: Vertices.largo (DecimalField)

piezas

English: Pieces / Number of Pieces / Count

Description: Count or number of identical items.

Model Field: Vertices.piezas (IntegerField)

Unidad

English: Unit / Unit of Measurement / Measurement Unit

Description: Unit for measuring work quantities (square meters, kilograms, pieces, etc.)

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Units

Examples: “m²” (square meters), “kg” (kilograms), “pza” (pieces), “m³” (cubic meters)

Vértice

English: Vertex / Measurement Point / Survey Point

Description: A point used for calculating quantities with dimensions (length, width, height).

Model: construbot.proyectos.models.Vertices

Key Fields: nombre (name), largo (length), ancho (width), alto (height), piezas (pieces)

Organizational Terms

Cliente (Sistema)

English: Customer / Account / Tenant

Description: Top-level organization account in the multi-tenant system. Not to be confused with Cliente (Client) in Contraparte.

Model: construbot.users.models.Customer

Hierarchy: Customer → Company → User

Empresa

English: Company / Business Entity

Description: Business entity within a Customer account in the multi-tenant system.

Model: construbot.users.models.Company

Hierarchy: Customer → Company → User

Nivel de Acceso

English: Access Level / Permission Level

Description: User permission level (1-6).

Model: construbot.users.models.NivelAcceso

Levels:

• 1: Auxiliar (Assistant)

• 2: Coordinador (Coordinator)

• 3: Director (Director)

• 4: Corporativo (Corporate)

• 5: Soporte (Support)

• 6: Superusuario (Superuser)

Usuario

English: User

Description: System user with permissions and company assignments.

Model: construbot.users.models.User

Key Fields: email (authentication), company (assigned companies), permiso (permission level)

Action Terms

Asignar

English: Assign / Allocate

Description: Action of assigning users or resources to a contract.

Model Field: Contrato.users (ManyToManyField)

Autorizado por

English: Authorized By / Approved By

Description: Person who authorized or approved a document.

Model Fields: Estimate.auth_by, Estimate.auth_by_gen

Elaborado por

English: Drafted By / Prepared By / Created By

Description: User who created or drafted a document.

Model Field: Estimate.draft_by (ForeignKey to User)

Supervisado por

English: Supervised By / Overseen By

Description: User who supervised or managed the work.

Model Field: Estimate.supervised_by (ForeignKey to User)

Documentation & UI Terms

Catálogo

English: Catalog / Price Book / Work Item List

Description: List or catalog of work items (concepts) for a contract.

Usage: “Concept Catalog”, “Price Catalog”

Consecutivo

English: Consecutive / Sequential Number / Estimate Number

Description: Sequential numbering for estimates within a project.

Model Field: Estimate.consecutive (IntegerField)

Generador

English: Generator / Estimate Generator

Description: The estimate generation document or system.

Usage: Authorization field for estimates (auth_by_gen)

Observaciones

English: Observations / Notes / Comments

Description: Free-text notes or comments on items.

Model Field: EstimateConcept.observations (TextField)

Ubicación

English: Location / Address / Site Location

Description: Physical address or location description.

Model Field: Sitio.sitio_location (CharField)

Status & State Terms

Completado

English: Completed / Finished / Done

Description: Work or action that has been completed.

Pendiente

English: Pending / Outstanding / Awaiting

Description: Items awaiting action (payment, invoicing, etc.)

Functions: estimacionespendientes_facturacion(), estimacionespendientes_pago()

Vigente

English: Active / Current / Ongoing

Description: Indicates an active or ongoing contract.

Model Field: Contrato.status (BooleanField)

Function: contratosvigentes() - Returns active contracts

Translation Guidelines

Model Names in Code

Keep Spanish names in Python code, use English in documentation:

• Python: class Contrato(MP_Node):

• Documentation: “The Contract model represents…”

First Use Pattern: On first use in any document, include Spanish term:

“The Contract (Contrato) model represents construction projects…”

Field Names in Documentation

Reference both names when documenting fields:

“The folio (reference number) field stores the sequential contract ID…”

API Response Documentation

Document JSON keys with both languages:

{
  "folio": 1,           // Reference Number
  "monto": 1000000.00,  // Amount
  "anticipo": 10.00     // Advance Payment %
}

Choice Field Values

Document all options in tables:

Spanish Code	English Translation	Description
CLIENTE	Client	Customer paying for work
DESTAJISTA	Piecework Contractor	Worker paid by task
SUBCONTRATISTA	Subcontractor	Specialized contractor

Consistency Rules

1. Always use the same English term for a Spanish term across all documentation

2. Provide context when terms could be ambiguous

3. Link to models for technical reference

4. Use industry-standard English construction terminology where applicable

5. Update this glossary when adding new Spanish terms to the codebase

Usage in Different Contexts

End User Documentation

Use plain English with Spanish reference on first use:

“To create a new Project (Contrato), navigate to the Projects menu…”

Developer Documentation

Use both names with model references:

“The Contrato (Contract) model inherits from MP_Node for hierarchical structure. The monto (amount) field stores the contract value…”

API Documentation

Use English descriptions with Spanish field names:

folio (integer): Reference number / Sequential ID for the contract

See Also

• Glossary - User-facing glossary

• Translation Glossary - Full contributor glossary

• /developer/models/proyectos - Model documentation

• Core Concepts - Concept explanations for end users

—

Last Updated: December 2025

Note: This glossary is a living document. When adding new Spanish terms to the codebase, update this glossary with the appropriate English translation and context.