About project budgets

A project budget represents a summary of the hard costs detailed in a takeoff, and provides the basis for all budgeted versus actual cost, hour, or unit comparisons. In addition, you can use the budget as the basis for the proposal you provide to the client.

The costs for a budget are categorized by cost code, and each cost code is further divided into cost types. Furthermore, you can include the hours necessary to complete the work for each cost code. For work performed on a unit basis (include the quantity of units to be performed for each cost code), Sage 100 Contractor automatically computes the cost per unit.

There are several ways to create a budget: you can export the data from a takeoff, import a file, or create a budget manually. After the budget is completed, you can set the original budget. If at any point the budget is changed, you can compare it to the original.

If it becomes necessary to adjust the costs in a budget, you enter the changes by issuing change orders. Change orders allow you to alter the budgeted costs independent from the budget itself.

Sage 100 Contractor also provides a way for you to be warned when you are over budget. The program determines the costs to date for the jobs by cost code and cost type. It then compares the data to the original budget plus change orders. When you save the record, Sage 100 Contractor notifies you if costs exceed the budgeted amount for a job. You can enable the Over Budget Warning option using the 1-3 Journal Transactions or 4-2 payable Invoices/Credits windows.