Free job cost tracker template
Most contractors find out what a job made after it’s over. This sheet keeps each cost code’s budget beside what it has actually cost so far, so the overrun shows up while there’s still work left to fix it on.
Free. No email, no account.
How to fill it out
1. Copy the budget from the estimate
One line per cost code, at your cost — not the selling price.
2. Post costs every week
Hours from timesheets × the loaded rate, plus every receipt, invoice and sub bill, against the right code. Weekly is often enough to act; monthly is usually too late.
3. Count committed costs too
A purchase order or subcontract you’ve signed but not been billed for is already spent. Add it to the actual, or keep a note beside the line.
4. Read the negatives first
An overrun early in a phase is a question for the crew this week; the same overrun at the end is a lesson for the next estimate.
What a good one includes
- A budget by cost code
- Split the job the way you estimated it — demolition, framing, electrical, finishes — so each line has a budget to be measured against. The estimate’s cost (before markup) is the budget.
- Actual cost to date
- Labor at each person’s loaded rate (wage plus payroll taxes, insurance and benefits), materials from receipts and supplier invoices, subcontractor bills and equipment.
- The variance
- Budget minus actual. A negative number is an overrun; the sheet shows it the moment the actual passes the budget.
- What’s left, and the profit if it holds
- The remaining budget across the job, and the contract price less the budget — the profit if every line comes in on budget.
- Change orders on their own lines
- Add an approved change as its own cost code with its own budget, so it doesn’t hide an overrun on the original work.
Or skip the paperwork
The estimate becomes the budget, and labor, purchase orders and bills post to the job as they happen.
Questions
Is this template free?
Yes — the spreadsheet and the PDF are free, no email or account needed.
What is a cost code?
A label for a part of the job — like “framing” or “electrical rough-in” — used in both the estimate and the costs, so each can be compared with the other.
What is a loaded labor rate?
The hourly wage plus what each hour costs you on top: payroll taxes, workers’ comp, insurance and benefits. Using the bare wage makes every job look more profitable than it is.
How is this different from a WIP report?
This tracks one job’s costs against its budget. A work-in-progress report looks across jobs at what has been earned and billed — useful once you run several at once.
What does Partner add?
In Partner the approved estimate becomes the budget, labor posts from the time clock at each person’s rate, and purchase orders, bills and expenses post as they’re entered — so the margin you see is today’s.