The budget: lock, committed, actual, forecast
The estimate pushed to the job becomes its budget. Lock sets the baseline; purchase orders write the committed column and matched bills the actual; the forecast columns read where every line is heading. Nothing on this desk is retyped.
1. Lock the baseline
Push the estimate to the budget, then Lock: quantities and unit costs hold, and only the actuals keep moving. Unlock to revise, and every lock is a version you can read against the one before.
Open Budget →2. Committed and actual arrive on their own lines
Awarding a quote writes the purchase order's commitment on the budget line it covers. Vendor bills matched to that purchase order, and time coded to the line's cost code, become Actual.
Bid requests and award →3. Read the columns
Budget is the locked line. Committed is what you agreed to pay; Actual what it has cost so far. Projected is the largest of the three. EAC is the actual cost plus the budget still unspent, scaled by how much of the work is left, never below what is committed. Remain is budget less actual; Buyout is budget less committed; Commit left is committed less billed. Point at a heading for its sentence, or press ? and open Words.
Open Budget →4. Move money, open a figure
Transfer between lines when a saving covers an overrun. A figure opens the bills and purchase orders behind it. Columns, Export rows and Bulk edit… work as on every table, with one Undo on every bulk write.
Open Budget →5. Price the next job from this one
Once the job has a cost, New estimate from these actuals… prices another job's estimate at what this one actually cost — every line with its delta against what you estimated, change-order lines left out and counted — and the comparison prints on your letterhead.
Estimate → proposal →Evaluate on one job — 14 days free, no credit card. Try the product · For subcontractors
Questions the guide does not answer? Email support@estilumina.com or browse the Help Center.