There is no point back costing at the end of the job and across the whole job, because then it’s too late. You don’t get to know where specifically you made money or where you lost it. You need to take the detail from the Quote/Price and tip it into your system and then back cost against this detail. E.g. if you allow 80 hours to put the foundation down, how long did it take; if the materials were 20 cubic meters and xyz, what did they actually come in at; did you use additional materials not already accounted for and did you force Variances for these unforeseen costs.

 

Then, once you have this information you can “forward flush” i.e. projecting information forward to see how the status quo ends up financially. The other real advantage to this level of detailed back costing, is you can take this knowledge and apply it to the next job or get the QS to use it. Essentially you start developing and storing your Intellectual Property, to ensure you make money in every area.

 

Costing at the end of a fixed price job could lose you money. We can show you how to cost a job based on the status quo and forward-flush this information so you can get an idea of how the job is going to end up, profit wise. The other advantage is you’ll avoid making the same mistakes from previous jobs, and apply these lessons to future jobs, so you increase profits.