A simple way to track rehab budget vs. actual so overruns don't sneak up on you

Rehabbing & House Flipping

A simple way to track rehab budget vs. actual so overruns don't sneak up on you

Technology · Member since 2026 · 17 posts · 2 votes

From the threads here, overruns rarely come from one big surprise. They come from a lot of small ones nobody wrote down. Here's a simple structure that seems to catch them early:

Break the budget into trade categories (demo, framing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roof, windows, drywall, paint, flooring, kitchen, baths, exterior, landscaping, permits/fees). Add a contingency line of its own that you only touch after writing down why.
Three columns per line: Budget / Committed / Paid. Committed is the signed bid or PO. If you only track Paid, you find out about overruns at the end.
Log every receipt the same day, tagged to a category and the property, with a photo.
Tie contractor payments to completed scope, not dates: walk it, photograph it, then pay.
Re-forecast weekly: projected profit = ARV − purchase − (committed + remaining budget) − holding − selling costs. If it drops meaningfully, stop and re-scope before the next draw.

What do you put in the "committed" column: signed bids only, or verbal quotes too?

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Alan F.
Flipper/Rehabber · CA · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5d
Excel, simple, easy & on my phone.
Things don't sneak up on anyone. Poor underwriting, not knowing how to estimate rehabs, not knowing specifics of the area & generally poor management is how businesses fail. Flipping houses to sell is a business.
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- Brandon Hadler
  OP
  Technology · Member since 2026 · 17 posts · 2 votes
  5d
  Fair point, Alan. Underwriting and a realistic rehab estimate are where most of it is won or lost, and no tracking sheet fixes a bad buy. I'm on my first one now (starting with a septic repair, so the estimate already got an education). The tracking is really just the "management" part you mentioned: catching change orders and scope creep before the draw instead of after. Excel on the phone works fine for that. Out of curiosity, do you keep committed (signed bids) separate from paid in your sheet, or just track against the original budget?
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Alan F.
Flipper/Rehabber · CA · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5d
Here in CA a bid is just an estimate. Once theres a legally signed contract and a payment is made it goes in AP.
I do have a full time admin & she babysits me though.
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Divin KanyamaBusiness Member
Accountant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2025 · 520 posts · 219 votes
4d
@Brandon Hadler I would reserve “Committed” for enforceable or authorized costs: signed bids, executed change orders, purchase orders, permits, and materials already ordered. That keeps the column objective and prevents a casual conversation from looking as reliable as a documented obligation.
Verbal quotes are still useful, but they belong in a separate “Forecast” or “Pending” column with the vendor, date, assumptions, and expiration. Until the scope and price are confirmed in writing, the remaining-budget forecast should use the higher of the verbal quote or the original allowance, plus an appropriate contingency. It also helps to reconcile each signed change order to both the committed amount and projected completion date, since schedule slippage can create overruns even when the trade price does not change.
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Mike Carter
Homeowner · Fort Collins, CO · Member since 2026 · 11 posts · 2 votes
4d
Agree with the signed-bids-only camp on committed. On my own house projects I keep that column strictly for signed bids and written change orders, and verbal quotes live in a separate pending list. In my experience a verbal number moves once work actually starts, and putting it in committed makes the budget feel spent before it is. The mistake that bit me early on was the opposite direction too: once I paid an invoice I'd leave the amount sitting in committed, so committed plus remaining budget double counted it. Now when I log a payment I move the line off committed the same day. Keeps the weekly forecast honest.
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Brandon Hadler
OP
Technology · Member since 2026 · 17 posts · 2 votes
4d
Thanks, Divin, that's a cleaner line than the one I was drawing. Keeping Committed to things that are actually enforceable (signed bids, executed change orders, POs, permits, materials ordered) makes sense, and I'm moving verbal quotes into a separate Pending column with the vendor, date and expiration. Forecasting with the higher of the quote or the original allowance is a good conservative rule too.
@Mike Carter, the double count is a sneaky one. Moving a line off Committed the same day it's paid sounds like a simple rule worth stealing, and it keeps Committed, Paid and Remaining adding back up to the budget.
The schedule slippage point is the part I hadn't thought through. When a change order pushes the completion date, do you re-forecast holding costs (interest, insurance, utilities) as their own line each week, or let the extra days come out of contingency? Curious how you both handle it.
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Anthony Gayle
Rental Property Investor · Fairfield County, CT · Member since 2024 · 16 posts · 6 votes
3d
Brandon, nice setup with the Budget, Committed and Paid columns, and Divin's point about slippage creating overruns even when the trade price doesn't move is a good one. To your question, I'd keep the extra holding costs as a separate line, mostly so that afterward you can tell how much of the overrun came from extra work and how much from the job taking longer. A schedule reserve up front is fine if you want one. Just pull the holding costs from that and not from your scope contingency.
When a change order comes in, ask how many days it adds and multiply that by what the house costs you per day to hold. On hard money that can end up bigger than the change itself.
It also usually doesn't stop at one trade. If the plumbing change pushes rough inspection out a week, your drywall crew may be on another job by then, and you're waiting on their schedule instead of yours.
Is this one on hard money?
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- Brandon Hadler
  OP
  Technology · Member since 2026 · 17 posts · 2 votes
  7h
  Thanks, Anthony. Keeping holding costs on their own line is where I was leaning, for exactly that reason: after the sale you can split the overrun into "extra work" and "took longer," and those two have different fixes on the next one.
  The days-times-daily-carry check on every change order is a good habit. I'm adding a daily carry number to the sheet (interest, insurance, utilities and taxes divided down to one day) so each change order shows its schedule cost next to its price. And you're right that the knock-on is often bigger than the change itself, like the drywall crew moving to another job while you wait on an inspection.
  When you price a change order, do you count only the days it adds directly, or do you also estimate the slip in the trades behind it?
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Matthew MorrowBusiness Member
Investor · PA - NY - NJ · Member since 2019 · 702 posts · 248 votes
9h
@Brandon Hadler tracking by trade is smart. Alan's right that most overruns start before the job does, with the scope or the bid. Before any money goes out, I'd want a detailed scope and a signed contract, not just a number in a text. With a new contractor, start with a small job before handing them a full rehab. And on older houses carry a real contingency, because opening the walls almost always finds something. Hope some of that helps you work through the numbers.
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