How to Manage Your Project Budget

Managing your budget is a key part of managing your business. The Houzz Pro budget feature (Custom packages only) makes it easy to track your project's estimated costs versus your actual costs. It ensures you stay on track financially as your project progresses.

To learn more about this feature, watch the videos below or read this step-by-step article tutorial.

Budget Tutorial Video for Designers

Budget Tutorial Video for Builders

How to Access Your Budget

You can access the budget feature in several locations throughout your project.

Budget in Left Menu

One way is to click on the Projects icon in the left navigation, then select the relevant project. Click on Budget in the left menu under Finance.

Project Estimates/Proposals Page

You can also access your budget in the Estimates/Proposals section of your project. Click on the Projects icon in the left navigation, select the relevant project, then select Estimates/Proposals in the left menu. Here, you will notice your budget details on the right side of your project estimates/proposals.

If you have already created a budget, click Go to Budget under Actual Cost to view your budget details.

If you have not created a budget for this project, you will be prompted to Create a Budget.

Project Overview Page

Finally, you can also view a summary of your budget on the project overview page. To view your full budget details and make changes, click Full View.

Project Budget Overview

Your project's budget page gives you a comprehensive view of your finances so you can review your estimated vs. actual costs. These costs are compiled from Houzz Pro financial documents and tools only. At this time, you are not able to import expenses from Excel, QuickBooks Online, or any other source.

Because Houzz Pro financial documents and tools are key budget inputs, it is important to create them before starting your budget. If you need help with creating financial documents, read more about creating estimates, proposals, invoices, change orders, purchase orders, and time and expenses in our Help Center.

Within your project budget, your total estimated, actual, variance and invoiced (if enabled) costs are displayed at the top.

Your estimated cost includes costs from your project's estimates, proposals and change orders.

Your actual cost includes costs from your project's purchase orders, time entries and expense entries.

Your variance cost shows the difference between the two costs. A positive cost difference will be highlighted in green, while a negative cost different will be highlighted in red.

Your invoiced cost shows the total amount and percentage of the project that has been invoiced to the client. You are able to enable or disable the invoiced cost as needed (see more below).

You are also able to see the estimated, actual, variance and invoiced cost per line item.

In the View By: dropdown, you are able to view your budget by category or by room, then generate a report.

In the Actions dropdown, you are able to export your existing budget to excel if needed.

Expand All will bulk expand all your categories in one click so you can review project details.

Customize allows you to customize columns in your budget. By default, your budget will include invoiced costs and will also combine both cost and markup into one Estimated column (as shown above). If you prefer, you have the option to exclude invoiced costs and/or create two separate Estimated columns — one for Cost and one for Markup (as shown below).

To make customization changes, select Customize, then toggle on or off the Cost, Markup or Invoiced columns. Select Restore to Default to set back to your original settings — the default is Cost and Markup off, Invoiced on.

When you make a change, be sure to click Save.

How to Set Up Your Budget

When you first start your project budget, it will be empty, as shown here. You will need to select which existing estimates, proposals, change orders, purchase orders, time entries or expense entries to link in your budget.

To do this, select the Budget Setup button at the top of your screen, or you can select the Link an Estimate/Proposal button in the middle of your screen.

Here, you will see a list of all your existing documents for that project, including Estimates (build only), Proposals (design only), Change Orders (build only) and Purchase Orders.

By default, your budget will include markups in the calculations. If you prefer to exclude markups, turn off the toggle next to Include Markup in Budget Calculations. Please Note: Regardless of this setting, invoiced amounts will always include markups.

Use the Status dropdown to filter by document status, including Draft, Sent, Approved, Partially Paid and Paid.

Click the check box next to the relevant documents to include them in the budget. Once you select the relevant documents, click Sync Documents. Your budget will now show a cost breakdown based on your document information.

Sync to Budget from Estimate

Another way to sync a document to your budget is from the document itself (available for estimates only).

To start, open up the relevant estimate. Near the top of the document, there will be a Sync to Budget icon. Click on the icon, then select Sync to Budget to add the document to your project budget. To remove the document sync, click Unlink. Click View and Update Now in the popup to directly view your budget details.

Once the sync is complete, the budget icon on your estimate will show as synced — this will also appear in your All Estimates page, as shown below.

Add Expenses to the Project Budget

To get a comprehensive overview of your project budget, you will need to input your expenses, or actual costs, as well.

You can link existing purchase order documents under Budget Setup, but you can input your existing time and expense entries under a specific line item.

To start, click the relevant line item in your budget where you would like to link time entries or an expense.

Here, you can filter between documented expenses, time entries and purchase orders for this project. From the list, click Link to add that expense to the selected line item. Click Unlink if you would like to remove.

If you would like to edit an existing entry on this list, just click on the time entry or expense you would like to edit. A new edit screen will appear — make your adjustments, and be sure to click Save.

Once all your time and expense entries are finalized, click Save Budget Item.

Please Note: Purchase orders will only appear if you have already linked a purchase order under Budget Setup. You are only able to Unlink a purchase order from this screen. To add a purchase order, go to Budget Setup and follow the steps above.