The budget stops at approval
The budget is approved once, then changes, contracts and invoices pile up in other places. By the time the monthly report is compiled, the forecast is already a month old.
For owners
Construction cost tracking for owners
An owner needs to know, on any given day, what the project will cost at completion and why that number moved. Fidrel tracks each budget line from the original budget through approved changes, commitments and invoices to the estimate at completion, warns before lines go over budget, and puts every project side by side in a portfolio.
30 days free · No long-term contract.
Why owners lose sight of cost
Every project reported differently
Each project manager keeps cost in their own spreadsheet. Comparing projects, or explaining to the board which ones need attention, takes days.
From original budget to estimate at completion
Each budget line shows the original budget, approved budget changes and the current budget, then what is committed in contracts and orders, what is invoiced, and the approved actual cost. With a remaining forecast entered, estimate at completion is the invoiced cost plus that forecast; without one it is the highest of the current budget, commitments and invoiced cost. Variance is estimate at completion minus the current budget, and the overview draws the bridge from the original budget to estimate at completion beside a cost curve.
Cost tracking
Alerts before a line goes over
Financial alerts warn when commitments or the forecast exceed the budget, when budget use is high, when the forecast has grown, when costs run ahead of progress or when an invoice is not fully allocated, and you set the thresholds. Contingency is part of the budget, and drawing it down moves money between lines without raising the total. Planned cost, forecast, actual cost and payments can be phased by month, quarter or year.
How owners track cost in Fidrel
Step 1
Approve the budget estimate
The estimate approved as the baseline becomes the original budget and is locked. Later revisions can replace it, either keeping the approved changes on top or folding them in.
Step 2
Record commitments and invoices
Enter contracts and purchase orders coded to budget lines, and approve vendor invoices against them, so committed, invoiced and actual cost roll up by line.
Step 3
Forecast and act
Enter a remaining forecast (cost to complete) where you know it. Estimate at completion and variance are calculated from it, alerts flag lines that run over, and the portfolio shows where to look first.
Every project in one portfolio
The portfolio lists each project with current budget, estimate at completion, variance, committed, invoiced and paid cost, pending budget changes and overdue invoices, and flags it Over budget, Watch or Within budget. Projects in different currencies are totaled separately, never combined. The project cost report exports to XLSX and CSV, and finance permissions are given per person: view, upload, edit, code, approve, budget and forecast.
What cost tracking in Fidrel does not do
AIA pay application forms and a line-item schedule of values are kept per contract between two parties, approved or rejected by the owner’s side; there is no AIA G702 or G703 and no line-item schedule of values (the Schedule of values on a contract is a payment plan of stages). Fidrel handles incoming vendor invoices only, with no outgoing billing, lien waivers or accounting integration. Pending change orders and open risks are not added to the estimate at completion, sales tax is a single rate you enter for each estimate, and the portfolio cannot be exported.
Related solutions
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Insights
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Project coordination just got simpler
The project system of the future connects people, documents and decisions. Discover the thinking behind Fidrel.
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Your drawing, on site. Open DWG on your phone.
On site, answers need to be close at hand. Fidrel displays DWG drawings in your mobile browser, within the project’s document structure.
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A clearer schedule. From the first activity to the final milestone.
When everyone can see the next step, moving the project forward becomes easier. Fidrel brings activities, dates and reported progress together in a shared Gantt view.
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When you enter a remaining forecast, it is the invoiced cost plus that forecast. Without one, Fidrel uses the highest of the current budget, the commitments and the invoiced cost.
From the estimate approved as the baseline, which then becomes the original budget and is locked. Changes after that go through approved budget changes or a new revision.
Yes. The portfolio shows each project whose costs you can see, with budget, estimate at completion, variance, commitments, invoices, pending budget changes and a status.
No. Fidrel tracks contracts, purchase orders and vendor invoices coming in; billing forms between the contractor and the owner are not part of it.
Yes. The project cost report exports to XLSX and CSV. The portfolio view cannot be exported.