What a Budget Check Looks Like.
This is a complete sample Next Budget Check for a fictional Seattle infill townhome project. It shows the proposed construction budget compared line by line with the builder's own recent completed projects, then organizes what it found into Looks Good, Check This and Watch the Downside.
Every figure, project name and comparison on this page is fictional and illustrative.
Check your next budget
Eight sections, one decision to make.
Executive Decision Summary
The proposed budget is broadly consistent with your recent completed projects, with three exceptions that together carry more risk than the headline margin suggests.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Project (fictional) | Project Summit · 789 Demo Way, Seattle, WA 00000 |
| Location | Seattle infill lot |
| Units | 6 |
| Finished residential SF | 7,200 |
| Proposed construction budget | $2,520,000 |
| Proposed construction duration | 9 months |
| Comparable completed projects used | 2 townhome projects, closed 2024–2025 |
The proposed budget carries no contingency and assumes a faster sellout than your most recent comparable project achieved. Those two assumptions, not the hard-cost total, are where the projected profit is most exposed.
Detailed Proposed Hard Costs vs Recent Completed Projects
Each proposed line item is shown against the same line item from your two most recent comparable completed townhome projects.
| Line item | Proposed | Proposed / SF | Your history / SF |
|---|---|---|---|
| General conditions | $138,000 | $19 | $18 |
| Demolition & sitework | $196,000 | $27 | $34 |
| Utilities & connections | $132,000 | $18 | $22 |
| Foundations | $214,000 | $30 | $29 |
| Framing & structure | $574,000 | $80 | $88 |
| Roofing & exterior envelope | $268,000 | $37 | $36 |
| Windows & doors | $142,000 | $20 | $19 |
| Mechanical, electrical, plumbing | $322,000 | $45 | $44 |
| Interior finishes | $398,000 | $55 | $53 |
| Appliances & fixtures | $74,000 | $10 | $10 |
| Landscape & hardscape | $62,000 | $9 | $8 |
| Total hard costs | $2,520,000 | $350 | $361 |
Variances are stated as differences, not as conclusions about cause. Framing, sitework and utilities are the three lines where the difference is large enough to matter and the cause requires your input.
Proposed $/SF vs Historical $/SF
Proposed hard costs are $350 per finished residential SF. The weighted figure from your two comparable completed projects is $361 per finished residential SF.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Proposed hard cost / SF | $350 |
| Historical hard cost / SF (weighted) | $361 |
| Difference | −$11 / SF |
| Effect across 7,200 SF | About $79,200 |
Cost/SF uses finished residential square footage unless otherwise stated. Garage, decks, common areas, or gross building area are not silently mixed into comparisons. The weighted figure is total comparable hard costs divided by total comparable finished SF, not an average of project ratios.
Soft Costs and Contingency
Soft costs are close to history. Contingency is the larger issue.
| Item | Proposed | Recent projects | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design & engineering | $74,000 | $71,000 | Consistent |
| Permits & fees | $96,000 | $104,000 | Check this |
| Marketing, staging & commissions | $78,000 | $82,000 | Consistent |
| Insurance, taxes & misc. | $20,000 | $21,000 | Consistent |
| Soft cost subtotal | $268,000 | $278,000 | — |
| Contingency | $0 | 3–5% carried | Watch the downside |
A 3–5% contingency on the proposed hard costs would be $75,600 to $126,000. Whether to carry it, and where, is your decision — but the budget as written has nothing to absorb a variance of the size your last project produced.
Timing, Financing and Carry
Carry is driven by total project duration, not construction duration alone.
| Item | Proposed | Your recent projects |
|---|---|---|
| Construction duration | 9.0 months assumed | 9.8 and 10.4 months actual |
| Sellout duration | 2.0 months assumed | 3.6 months actual on the most recent project |
| Construction loan | $2,900,000 at 9.5%, 12-month term | — |
| Construction-period interest | $145,000 budgeted | — |
| Carry if sellout matches recent history | About $46,000 of additional interest | Plus any extension fee if the term is exceeded |
On your most recent project, construction finished ahead of plan while sellout ran longer than assumed. The financing records establish the additional interest; they do not by themselves establish why the sellout took longer. Confirm your pricing and listing plan.
Sales and Profit Sensitivity
The submitted case is the builder’s budget as provided. The history-adjusted case changes assumptions where the two comparable projects provide stronger support. The stress case shows the outcome if those adjusted costs occur and pricing is 3% softer.
| Item | Submitted case | History-adjusted case | Stress case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projected revenue | $4,620,000 | $4,620,000 | $4,481,400 (−3% pricing) |
| Land / acquisition | $980,000 | $980,000 | $980,000 |
| Hard costs | $2,520,000 | $2,599,200 (at historical $/SF) | $2,599,200 |
| Soft costs | $268,000 | $268,000 | $268,000 |
| Financing & carry | $145,000 | $191,000 | $191,000 |
| Expected project cost | $3,913,000 | $4,038,200 | $4,038,200 |
| Projected profit | $707,000 | $581,800 | $443,200 |
| Margin on revenue | 15.3% | 12.6% | 9.9% |
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Recommended reserve | $75,600 |
| Basis | 3% of submitted hard costs |
| Treatment | Capital held against uncertainty, not expected project cost |
A reserve is capital held against uncertainty. It is not necessarily expected to be fully spent, and it is not included again in the expected project-cost totals above.
Nothing here is a forecast. It shows how much of the projected $707,000 depends on assumptions that your own completed projects do not yet support.
Looks Good / Check This / Watch the Downside
- Foundations, roofing and envelope, MEP, appliances and landscape are all within a few dollars per finished SF of your recent completed projects.Medium confidenceSame product type and a consistent finished-SF definition across two relevant completed jobs.
- General conditions at $19/SF is close to the $18/SF recorded on the two comparable projects.Medium confidenceOnly two comparable projects carried general conditions the same way.
- Interior finishes at $55/SF is slightly above history at $53/SF, consistent with the higher finish level described in the scope notes.Medium confidenceFinish levels differ between projects and were described in notes rather than priced line by line.
- Framing is budgeted at $80/SF against $88/SF on your recent projects — about $58,000 across this project. Confirm whether a firm bid, a different framing package or a scope change explains the difference.Medium confidenceSame product type, consistent finished-SF definition and two relevant completed jobs.
- Demolition and sitework is budgeted at $27/SF against $34/SF. The records establish the difference but not its cause. Confirm subsurface expectations, shoring, haul-off and utility scope for this specific lot.Low confidenceSite conditions may not be directly comparable and no project-specific geotechnical information was provided.
- Utilities and connections is budgeted at $18/SF against $22/SF. Confirm which connection and capacity charges are included and which are excluded.Low confidenceWhich charges sit inside this line differed between the completed projects.
- Permits and fees is $8,000 below recent actuals. Confirm the fee schedule used and whether all impact and connection fees are inside this line.Medium confidenceFee schedules change over time, so older projects are only partly comparable.
- No contingency is carried. On your last project, overruns of a similar size flowed directly into profit because there was nothing to absorb them.High confidenceDirectly supported by the completed project's records.
- Sellout is assumed at 2.0 months; the most recent comparable project took 3.6 months. Two extra months of carry is roughly $46,000 of interest before any extension fee.Medium confidenceSales timing depends on market conditions that are not established by the records.
- Historical hard-cost levels and history-based carry move projected profit from $707,000 to about $582,000. A separate $75,600 reserve would protect capital against additional uncertainty; it is not treated as an expected expense. A 3% pricing softening takes projected profit to about $443,000 if the other adjusted assumptions occur.Medium confidenceA sensitivity based on your history, not a forecast of this project's result.
Questions and Actions Before You Lock the Budget
Specific, answerable questions — each one is something a document or a subcontractor can settle.
- 1Is the framing number a firm bid or an allowance? Get it in writing before lock.
- 2What sitework scope is assumed for this lot — and who confirmed subsurface conditions?
- 3Which utility connection and capacity charges are inside the $132,000, and which are excluded?
- 4What contingency will you carry, and where does it sit in the budget?
- 5What sellout duration are you underwriting, and what does the loan term allow?
- 6At what pricing does this project stop clearing your required margin?
Bivvit separates what the records show from what they don't. A cost variance can show that something changed; it does not always show why. Where the cause requires builder or project-team input, we ask rather than guess.
Every figure above is fictional and illustrative only
Have a Budget in Front of You?
Send the proposed construction budget before you lock it. With established Bivvit history, the check uses your completed-project results and the records for the proposed project.