You will be setting up your project's budget from the Estimate and/or Specs & Selection page, and there are a few different ways that you can approach this. In order to effectively utilize the Budget page for reviewing and tracking your costs, you’ll first want to set up your accounting codes in the system.
Once your accounting codes are set up, there are four ways to set up your project's budget:
- Copy items from a Specs & Selection Template (with budget information included) to the project. Accounting codes included at the Template level will automatically populate the project’s Budget page. (If you have spec and selection items to cover everything on the home, copying over your Template will simultaneously build your entire estimate and project budget.)
To do this, go to the Estimate > "+ New" > "Copy from spec/selection template". The system will guide you through the process for copying down the template.
- Create or update spec/selection items from either the project's Specs & Selection page or Estimate. Add appropriate accounting codes and budget details for each selection item and available option. The updated information will automatically update the "Accounting Code" fields in the Budget tab.
Add new specs/selections to your Specs & Selection page > "+ New" > select either "Specification" or "Selection"
Add new selections to your Estimate: Estimate > "+ New" > select either "Specification" or "Selection"
- Enter financial information in new cost lines underneath the "Other Line Items" heading at the bottom of the Estimate. Financials that are entered here are budget-only items – they are not connected to corresponding entries on your Specs & Selections page.
OR... do a combination. You'll likely find that you cover many of your line items on the Specs & Selection page, but then there are some stragglers that aren't. And that's perfectly fine. You simply mix-and-match the options above -- but work from the top down.
For instance, you may need to copy over your Template (#1), add some one-off items to your selections (#2), and fill in the remaining accounting codes not covered on specs or selections (#3). You wouldn't want to do #3, then #1, and then #2, since you create the possibility of rework for yourself.
So, you can enter your budget data a variety of ways, but always complete the top items on this list first, and work your way down, for the best results.