How to Use the Budget Tab

Overview

The Budget tab is most useful once you have booked jobs. It gives your team or project manager one place to see a job's items, expenses, bids, vendor orders and payments, kept up to date.

Before You Begin

• The job should be booked or in progress.

Open the Budget Tab

1. In the left-hand menu, click Jobs.
2. Open a job that is booked or in progress.
3. In the job's left sidebar, scroll down to the Production section and click Budget.

Find Your Way Around the Budget

1. To collapse or expand all groups at once, click the minus icon next to all at the top left of the table.
2. At the top, choose how to group the items:

• Group by construction stage: Shows the work in the order it happens. Most teams use this view.
• Group by vendor: Separates the items by the vendor doing them.
• Group by budget code: Groups the items by budget code.

3. Click the arrow on the left of a construction stage to open or close it.
4. To assign an item, click the icon in the Assign column and select a vendor (for materials) or one of your subcontractors (for labor).

Expand and Collapse Columns

Like a spreadsheet, the column groups at the top can be expanded or collapsed.

1. Expand Estimating to see the unit cost, extended cost, unit price and extended price for each item.
2. Collapse a column group to bring the next one into view, such as Costing or the labor columns.

Send Items Out for Bid from Costing

The Costing columns show what is out for bid and what is still missing. Each item shows how many bids have been received.

1. Find the item in the Costing columns and click its bids cell (for example, 0/1 bids received). The bid requests panel opens and shows whether any bids have been received.
2. Click Open bid request.
3. In the top right corner, click New bid request.
4. At the top, choose what the bid is for (for example, flooring), then select the items to include (for example, linoleum flooring and wall tile).
5. Scroll down and choose which vendor is completing the job. Bolster also suggests vendors.
6. Add a contact name, an email address and a phone number for the vendor, so the request has somewhere to be sent.
7. Under Bids due, pick a date or choose a set time, such as 1 week.
8. Scroll down to the advanced options if you need them, add notes and files, then click Next.

The bid requests you send tie back into the Budget tab, so you can track them from the item's costing cell.

Review Payments and Profit

1. Keep scrolling right past Costing to see the payment columns. You can filter the view to show only payments.
2. Keep scrolling to see which items you are profiting on and which items are below your margin.
3. Check the discount and tax columns to see what discounts you gave.

Add a Vendor Order or Expense from the Budget

The buttons in the top right corner let you add a vendor order or an expense without leaving the Budget tab.

Add a Vendor Order

1. In the top right corner, click Vendor order.
2. Choose what you want to send out.
3. Choose your vendor.
4. At the bottom, preview the order, then save and send it.

Add an Expense

1. In the top right corner, click Expense.
2. Upload a receipt or bill, or create the expense manually.
3. Add the vendor and the job, and select whether it is paid.
4. Add a line item from scratch or from the job item list.
5. Enter the amount (for example, 300). If the amount puts you over budget, a message lets you know.
6. Click Save.

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Summary

Click Jobs, open a booked or in-progress job, and click Budget under Production. Group items by construction stage, vendor or budget code, collapse groups and columns to focus, and assign vendors or subcontractors to items. Use the Costing columns to send items out for bid, scroll right to review payments, profit and discounts, and use the Vendor order and Expense buttons in the top right corner to add orders and expenses.