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Create a Budget

Learn how to create a budget for a project

Bobbie Combs avatar
Written by Bobbie Combs
Updated over 9 months ago

In Design Manager, you can create a budget before sourcing and adding Project specifications and Items and this budget can be used to establish the overall framework or scope of the Project. Before creating a budget, you first must have the Client and Project already created.

There are two ways to enter a budget, one way is at the Project level and the other way is at the Item level.

Project Budget

To create a Project budget, in the left side Menu, click on Projects and select the Project you want to create a budget for.

Select the Budget tab. In this window, you have several different budget options to choose from and these are outlined below.

Project budget tab

Enter an overall budget for the entire Project​

1. At the top of the Budgets window, check in the box next to Override Total.

2. Add the Budget Total.

3. Select an Overall Warning for this budget:

  • None: No action will be taken when the total Project pricing has exceeded the Budget Total

  • Warning: Whenever the total Project pricing exceeds the Budget Total, by entering Specifications, Accounts Payable, etc., the user will be alerted as such, but will still be allowed to continue with the process

  • Block Entry: Will prevent the user from continuing their process upon exceeding the Budget Total

4. Add an Overall Tolerance % if applicable. The Overall Tolerance allows the user to optionally set a boundary under and over which the Budget Total will be allowed. For instance, if the Budget Total is 10,000.00 and there is 10% Overall Tolerance, the action of the Overall Warning will only be enacted when the Project exceeds 11,000.00. Conversely, an Overall Tolerance of -10% would cause the Overall Warning action to occur when the Project reaches 9,000.00.

5. When finished entering the information, click on Save.

Project budget

Enter a Budget set by a Sales Category

1. Click the +Add button in the top right.

Adding project budget for sales category

2. Select Sales Category and select the Sales Category in the drop down field.

3. You can add a note for this specific sales category budget if needed. This note will print on the budget report.

4. Enter the amount for each Component type as needed, select the Action and a Tolerance %

  • None: No action will be taken when the total Project pricing has exceeded the Budget Total

  • Warning: Whenever the total Project pricing exceeds the Budget Total, by entering Specifications, Accounts Payable, etc., the user will be alerted as such, but will still be allowed to continue with the process

  • Block Entry: Will prevent the user from continuing their process upon exceeding the Budget Total

  • Tolerance %: The Tolerance allows the user to optionally set a boundary under and over which the Budget Total will be allowed

5. When finished click on OK.

Add Project Budget page

6. You'll see the budget entry you just added on the Budget window. You can delete and edit this entry or add more Sales Category budget entries by following the same steps above.

Note:The additional options shown on the Add Project Budget window are for overriding the company and Project defaults for Sales Categories.

Override Client Deposit %: Selecting this and entering a new deposit % along with selecting a Sales Category under the drop down will override the company and Project defaults for the deposit % for that Sales Category. For instance, when Furniture is selected as the Sales Category and and the Override Client deposit % is 75%, when an Item or specification is added with the Sales Category of Furniture, the deposit % will change from the company and Project defaults to 75%.

Override Markup %: Selecting this and entering a new Markup % and % Type for a Component type along with selecting a Sales Category under the drop down will override the company and Project defaults for the Markup % and % Type for that Sales Category. For instance, when Furniture is selected as the Sales Category and and the Markup % is 50%, when an Item or specification is added with the Sales Category of Furniture, the Markup % will change from the company and Project defaults to 50%.

Add Project Budget page

Enter a Budget set by a Location

1. Click the +Add button in the top right.

Add project budget


2. Select Location and select the Location in the drop down field.

3. You can add a note for this specific location budget if needed. This note will print on the budget report.

4. Enter the amount for each Component type as needed, select the Action and a Tolerance %.

  • None: No action will be taken when the total Project pricing has exceeded the Budget Total

  • Warning: Whenever the total Project pricing exceeds the Budget Total, by entering Specifications, Accounts Payable, etc., the user will be alerted as such, but will still be allowed to continue with the process

  • Block Entry: Will prevent the user from continuing their process upon exceeding the Budget Total

  • Tolerance %: The Tolerance allows the user to optionally set a boundary under and over which the Budget Total will be allowed

5. When finished click on OK.

Add project budget by location

6. You'll see the budget entry you just added on the Budget window. You can delete and edit this entry or add more Location budget entries by following the same steps above.

The additional options shown on the Add Project Budget window are for overriding the company and project defaults for Locations.

Override Client Deposit %: Selecting this and entering a new deposit % along with selecting a Location under the drop down will override the company and Project defaults for the deposit % for that Location. For instance, when Kitchen is selected as the Location and and the Override client deposit % is 75%, when an Item or specification is added with the Location of Kitchen, the deposit % will change from the company and Project defaults to 75%.

Override Markup %: Selecting this and entering a new Markup % and % Type for a Component type along with selecting a Location under the drop down will override the company and Project defaults for the Markup % and % Type for that Location. For instance, when Kitchen is selected as the Location and and the Markup % is 50%, when an Item or specification is added with the Location of Kitchen, the Markup % will change from the company and Project defaults to 50%.

Add project budget by location

Note: You can create different types of budget for one Project as seen in the picture below. For instance, you can have one budget setup for a Sales Category and another budget setup for a Location.

Multiple project budgets

Item Budget

1. To create an Item budget, in the left side Menu, click on Projects and select the Project you want to create an Item budget for.

2. Click the +Add button to add a generic Item that will represent your Item budget.

Adding an item page

3. Enter a generic name, location and sales category.

4. Enter a quantity and units of measure.

5. Enter the Unit Budget for your Item. The extended budget will calculate based on what you entered for the quantity.

6. When finished entering the information, click on Save.

Adding budget as an item

When you start sourcing the actual Items or specifications for the Project, you can edit the generic Item entered for the budget and enter the actual information for the Item along with editing the Component to add information such as actual cost and price. When editing the Item, do not delete or change the unit budget entered from step 5 above.

After you have setup your budget and when you are adding the actual Items or specifications to the Project, you can run the Budget report at anytime to see your budget totals and how the budget evolves as you are adding actual Items or specifications. The budget report can found in the left side menu under Reporting.

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