Project Budgeting in Ontraccr (Step 5)

🧾 Project Budgeting in Ontraccr (Step 5)

📘 Overview

During Project Creation, Step 5: Budget is where you build your job’s financial plan. After adding cost codes in Step 3, you can enter cost values, allocate labor hours, and track budget breakdowns by category (Labor, Material, Overhead, Equipment). This becomes the basis for all job costing comparisons throughout the project.

You can either:

Build an Estimate by entering detailed cost and hour values per cost code
Or enter high-level totals for each category, including burden and contract value

🛠️ How to Get Here

Open a project in edit mode (new or existing)
Navigate to Step 5: Budget
Enable the “Track Budget” toggle

🧮 Option 1: Build an Estimate (Detailed Budget)

Leave the “Build Estimate” toggle enabled (default)
Every cost code from Step 3 will appear in the table
For each code:
- Enter budgeted Cost & Quantities
- For Labor and Overhead: also enter Hours
As you input data:
- The system will automatically total the cost and hours at the top of the page

Use this method when you want full breakdowns per cost code.

📊 Option 2: High-Level Budgeting

Toggle OFF “Build Estimate”
You’ll now enter:
- Estimated Labor Hours
- Material Cost
- Labor Cost
- Overhead Cost
- Estimated Equipment Cost
- Contract Value
- Burden Rate (%)

These fields give you a simpler way to summarize the job’s financials without entering line-by-line cost code detail.

💼 Burden Rate

The Burden Rate accounts for employment-related expenses beyond wages (e.g. vacation, health benefits, payroll tax).

Example: If you pay $1,000 in labor and your burden rate is 30%, the system will show a total labor cost of $1,300
Burden applies only when using the high-level budgeting view

💰 Contract Value

This is the total value of the project (what you are charging the client)
Once entered, Ontraccr will automatically calculate expected profit = Contract Value − Total Estimated Cost

📅 Timeline Fields

Start Date and End Date
Used to define project duration
Feeds into other tools, including the Project Timeline Report

📤 Importing or Exporting Budgets

Use the three vertical dots (⋮) in the top-right corner to:

Export your budget to Excel or PDF
Import a pre-built Excel budget (use Ontraccr’s format)

🔢 Hours Allocated Counter

As you enter labor hours for individual cost codes, the system tracks:
- Total hours allocated vs. Top-level budget
If you exceed the total, the system will display a warning
- Helps ensure alignment between summary and line-level values

🧠 Tips

✅ Use Build Estimate for detailed jobs with multiple trade breakdowns
🧮 Use high-level budgeting when you want quick totals without complexity
⏳ Always set start/end dates if you want your data reflected in timeline reports

Project Budgeting in Ontraccr (Step 5)