Budgets by OPEX and CAPEX
Each interior project gets a budget by cost category, approved before it counts. Purchase orders, subcontractor bills and expenses fill it by themselves, and payment milestone and design fee invoices count as revenue. The project manager is told at 80 % and again over 100 %.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- The margin on a job is known only when the accountant closes the books months later.
- Boards and hardware for one project are bought against another's money.
- A budget is changed quietly, and nobody can say who allowed it.
- Costs without a document, such as a cash payment, never reach the project.
How it works
- On the project's Budget tab, make a budget with lines by category, such as Materials, Subcontracts and Freelancers, Travel and Expenses. Each category is OPEX or CAPEX.
- Send it for approval through the Project Budget chain. Approved, it is the project's budget; approving a new one closes the old one.
- Confirmed purchase orders for the project are committed under Materials; their vendor bills turn them into actual cost.
- Posted vendor bills from subcontractor bills, approved expenses and settlements are actual cost. Posted payment milestone and design fee invoices are revenue.
- When a cost would go past what a line has left, the budget control warns or blocks. The project manager is told at 80 % of a line and again over 100 %.
- To change the budget, raise a Budget Change with why; it is approved like the budget.
Everything it does
Categories
- Seven ready: Team Time, Materials, Subcontracts and Freelancers, Travel and Expenses, Software and Services, Equipment and Assets (CAPEX), Other Costs
- Each has OPEX or CAPEX and a cost type that decides where costs land
- Team Time is not filled by itself in Interiors, which has no timesheets
- Add, edit or archive categories, for one entity or all
The budget
- Name, project, From and To dates, lines with category and planned amount
- Budget tab (managers): current budget, planned, committed, actual, available, revenue
- Statuses: Draft, To Approve, Approved, Rejected, Closed
What fills it
- Purchase orders for the project: Materials unless another category is picked; committed when confirmed, actual when billed, released when cancelled
- Subcontractor bills: actual cost once their vendor bill is posted
- Approved expenses and settlements: actual cost
- Revenue: posted invoices from payment milestones and design fee bills of the project
- A cost with no line of its category is kept as Not in the Budget
Control and alerts
- When a cost goes over: Off, Warn (to start with) or Block
- Alert at 80 % (a setting) and again over 100 %, once per level
Changes and the ledger
- Budget Change: lines that raise, lower or add a category, with why
- Budget Ledger: every row with date, line, kind, source, document and amount
- Budget Lines: every approved line, with Over Budget and Near the Limit filters
- An administrator adds a row by hand with the PO or invoice number typed, or links the order, vendor bill or invoice itself
Who uses it
Project managerMakes the budget, watches it fill and raises changes.
Owner or finance headApproves budgets and changes and reads the ledger.
Interiors AdministratorSets categories and adds rows by hand.
Where you use it
- Web: the project's Budget tab; Interiors > Projects > Finance > Budgets > Budgets, Budget Lines, Budget Changes, Budget Ledger
- Configuration: Interiors > Projects > Configuration > Money > Budget Categories; Settings > Project Budgets
- Not in the Interiors apps
What you control
Settings
- When a cost goes over: Off, Warn (to start with) or Block, per entity
- Alert at (%): 80 to start with
- Budget categories, OPEX or CAPEX and cost type
- The Project Budget and Budget Change approval chains
Approvals
- Project Budget: an Interiors Manager approves to start with; add levels for larger budgets
- Budget Change: the same, on the size of the change
Notifications
- Project Budget Alert: to the project manager at the alert % and over 100 %, in the app and by email
- Request Waits for Your Approval: to the approvers, with a to-do
Questions
Can a budget stop a purchase order?
Yes. Set When a cost goes over to Block. An order or expense larger than its line has left is refused, with what is left.Are subcontractor costs counted when the work order is approved?
No. They count once the subcontractor's approved bill becomes a vendor bill and is posted.Does a design fee count as revenue?
Yes, once its invoice is posted, if the fee belongs to a project. A fee raised before the project exists stays off the ledger.Which plan has it?
Scale.Related features
PROJECTSProfitability per projectOne row per interior project: the value sold, revenue invoiced, and cost so far split into OPEX and CAPEX. Also what is committed, the margin and how much of the budget is used. Filters show the jobs losing money or over budget.MEASURE AND MAKEPurchasingOrder the furniture, lights and fittings the client approved from their vendors in one step: one purchase order per vendor and project. The vendor confirms and gives ship dates and tracking on their own page, late deliveries are flagged, and nothing is received without an inspection photo.PROJECTSProject expenses, advances and settlementsSite staff and designers claim what they spent on a project with the receipt. Or they ask for an advance before buying hardware locally and settle it after. An Interiors Manager approves, payments are recorded by method with proof, and a supplier's expense can become a draft vendor bill.PROJECTSWork plan and subcontract work ordersPlan the site work from your template and the approved estimate, with dates, the critical path and a Gantt. Give carpentry, false ceiling or painting to subcontractors on work orders at their rates. Pay them only on measured work your manager certified, and charge back the snags they caused.DESIGNDesign fee agreements, retainers and hourly billsAgree the design fee as a flat sum, a share of the project value, a rate per area or room, or by the hour. Add a retainer and the stages it is billed at. Each bill, including extra concept rounds and hours, goes through approval and becomes a customer invoice.
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