Construction budget analyzer
Paste or upload a cost breakdown as CSV. The analyzer checks its shape: where the money sits, lines that do not add up or appear twice, headings a budget usually has, the contingency, exposure to material prices and, when you give months, the cash flow. Your figures are not stored.
Result
Automated checks on your own figures. They assist a review and do not replace a quantity surveyor.
12 lines, total 92,600. 8 flags.
- High
Quantity times rate does not give the amount
On these lines the amount differs from quantity times rate by more than 1%. One of the three is wrong.
Lines: 9
- High
No contingency line
Nothing is set aside for what the estimate did not foresee. Add a contingency line sized to the project’s risks.
- Medium
One line carries over a quarter of the budget
"Columns beams and slabs" is 34.6% of the total. A single large line hides quantities that are hard to check; break it down.
Lines: 4
- Medium
The same item appears more than once
Lines with the same category and description may be counted twice.
Lines: 5, 6
- Medium
Half the budget or more rides on material prices
70% of the total is in lines you marked imported; a rise in material or freight prices moves the whole budget.
- Low
Lines far larger than the rest
These lines are far above the others (more than three interquartile ranges above the upper quartile). Large lines are normal for some items; check that each is intended.
Lines: 4
- Low
Headings a budget of this kind usually has
No line mentions: External works; Contingency. They may be elsewhere or out of scope; check.
- Low
Most of the budget is lump sums
97% of the total has no quantity and rate, so it cannot be measured or checked line by line.
By category
| Category | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Frame | 32,000 | 34.6% |
| Substructure | 15,000 | 16.2% |
| Roof | 9,000 | 9.7% |
| Doors and windows | 8,000 | 8.6% |
| Electrical | 6,000 | 6.5% |
| Fees | 6,000 | 6.5% |
| Finishes | 5,600 | 6.0% |
| Plumbing | 5,000 | 5.4% |
| Preliminaries | 4,000 | 4.3% |
| Walls | 2,000 | 2.2% |
- Five largest lines
- 75.6% of the total: Columns beams and slabs (34.6%); Excavation and foundations (16.2%); Roof structure and sheets (9.7%); Doors and windows (8.6%); Wiring and fittings (6.5%)
- Contingency
- None found (no line mentions contingency)
- Material exposure
- 70.2% of the total is in lines you marked imported
- Lump sums
- 97.2% of the total has no quantity and rate
- Benchmark
- None applied: no sourced benchmark exists yet, so nothing here says a rate or total is high or low for the market.
Cash flow by month
| Month | Amount | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25,000 | 27.0% |
| 2 | 32,000 | 61.6% |
| 3 | 2,000 | 63.7% |
| 4 | 9,000 | 73.4% |
| 5 | 19,600 | 94.6% |
| 6 | 5,000 | 100.0% |
What it is for
A quick second look at a budget before it goes to a client, a funder or a tender board: the arithmetic, the gaps and the concentrations that are easy to miss in a long spreadsheet.
How it works
- Totals by category, and the share of the five largest lines.
- Flags: a zero or negative line; quantity times rate differing from the amount by more than 1%; the same category and description twice; one line over a quarter of the total; lines more than three interquartile ranges above the upper quartile (with eight lines or more).
- Contingency: lines that mention contingency, flagged when there is none or it is under 5% of the total.
- Missing headings: the budget’s text is compared with a checklist for a building (12 headings) or a road (8 headings).
- Material exposure: the share in lines you mark imported, or, without that column, in lines that name a material.
- Cash flow: totals by the month you give each line, with the cumulative share; a month over 40% of the total is flagged.
Assumptions
- All amounts are in one currency; the analyzer does not convert.
- The 5%, 25% and 40% lines and the checklists are this tool’s rules of thumb, not standards.
- No benchmark is applied: no sourced benchmark of construction rates exists yet, so nothing here says a rate or a total is high or low.
Example
The form starts with an illustrative budget for a small building: made-up amounts, not prices or cost shares from any real project. It totals 92,600 and raises 8 flags, among them the blockwork line entered twice, the plaster line whose quantity times rate does not give its amount, and the missing contingency.
Limitations
- It checks the budget’s arithmetic and shape, not whether the quantities or prices are right.
- Headings are matched by words, so a heading under an unusual name may be reported as missing.
- It is not a cost estimate or professional advice. A quantity surveyor should review any budget you rely on.
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More in Business and Costs.
The construction risk analyzer looks at the project around the budget; the material calculator works out quantities.