---
title: "Project Budgeting in Ontraccr (Step 5)"
url: "https://help.ontraccr.com/en/article/project-budgeting-in-ontraccr-step-5"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2025-08-22T18:10:05.235Z"
---

# 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**

1.  Open a project in edit mode (new or existing)
2.  Navigate to **Step 5: Budget**
3.  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