Job Costing Is More Useful When You Can Compare Jobs.
Job costing assigns every cost to a project and a cost code, so you can see what a job spent on sitework, foundation, framing, mechanical, finishes, permits, consultants and interest — instead of a single company-wide expense total.
That is the right foundation. It just stops at one job. Bivvit extends the same analysis across your completed projects.
Free. Send one project to start.
The mechanics, briefly
- Cost codes
A consistent breakdown structure. Framing must mean framing on every job, or comparison across jobs is impossible later.
- Committed vs incurred
Subcontracts and purchase orders committed against the budget, versus invoices actually incurred to date.
- Hard vs soft costs
Construction cost separated from design, permits, fees, consultants, insurance and closing costs.
- Change orders
Scope and cost changes tracked against the original budget line, so the variance has an explanation.
- Cost to complete
Remaining cost by category — the difference between a job that is on budget and one that only looks on budget.
One job cost report, five useful comparisons
Similar projects come next: comparable product type, size, unit count and construction period, so the comparison holds up.
- Is framing consistently running over budget?
- Which projects have the lowest hard cost per square foot?
- Are soft costs increasing across recent projects?
- Which product type produces the strongest margin?
- Are current projects costing more than historical projects?
- Which cost categories drive most of your overruns?
Where job costing ends and analysis begins
- Records transactionsInterprets project performance
- Tracks job costsCompares job costs across projects
- Organizes cost codesFinds cost trends by category
- Produces financial reportsExplains what the project did
- Reports actual spendingExplains variance
- Focuses on individual transactions and projectsCompares your completed projects
- Records historyHelps you use history on the next project
You need accounting. Bivvit makes that data more valuable.
Related Guides
- Budget vs Actual
How to see where the project missed and why.
- Construction Cost Per Square Foot
How to compare cost/SF correctly.
- Builder Accounting
What your books do well, and where they stop.
Put It Against Your Own Projects.
Send us the records from a completed project. Bivvit organizes the numbers, shows what happened, and helps you understand what to carry into the next one.
Free Project Snapshot. Every completed project makes your Project Pulse more useful.