Control cost against budget
Hold the job to its number: fix the priced bill as the budget baseline, track committed and actual spend against it trade by trade, and report the variance while there is still time to act.
How it works, step by step
3 steps across the platform - what you do at each one, and why it matters.
Set the budget baseline
BOQTake the agreed priced bill and fix it as the cost budget, broken down by trade or cost code, so every later commitment and invoice has a target line to be measured against.
Why: You cannot control spend without a fixed line to control it against, and a budget that keeps drifting hides overruns as fast as they appear. Locking the baseline is what makes a variance mean something.
Track committed and actual
FinanceBook orders and subcontracts as committed cost and invoices and site records as actual cost, each against its budget line, so you can see budget, committed and spent side by side.
Why: Committed cost is the overrun you have already signed for but not yet paid, and it is where jobs quietly go over before a single invoice arrives. Tracking it, not just actuals, is what gives you real warning.
Report the variance
ReportsProduce the cost report showing budget against committed and actual with the forecast final cost per trade, and flag the lines trending over so the team can act on them by name.
Why: An overrun caught in month four can still be steered by reworking scope or renegotiating; the same number found at final account is only a loss to explain. Reporting variance early is the entire point of cost control.