Construction Job Costing Spreadsheet: WIP & Profit Tracker

Jobs don't fail in one dramatic moment. An allowance creeps over, a change order never gets billed, and you find out at closeout.

The job costing workbook that shows your true cost, your projected margin and your cost to complete on every job — while there's still time to do something about it.

Built for a five-person crew and not a controller's office.

Who it's for

You run 3 to 15 jobs a year and you find out whether you made money after the job is over.

Not for you if your accountant already produces a WIP schedule every month. This is for contractors who don't have that.

What's in it — 9 tabs, plus the guide

• Cover & Instructions. How the system works, tab by tab, where you type, and what every colour means.
• Project Setup. Contract value, retainage terms and company details that drive the rest of the workbook.
• Cost Tracker. Budget against committed against actual across 20 construction phases, with cost to complete and projected final cost calculated for you.
• Cost Log. Log a cost as it happens and it routes itself to the right phase. No monthly reconciliation ritual.
• Change Order Log. Approved change orders adjust the contract value everywhere in the workbook, so the margin you are looking at is the current one.
• Job Dashboard. Projected margin, percent complete, and a profitability status signal you can read in three seconds.
• Billing & WIP Schedule. Earned revenue, percent complete, and over/under billing separated out — the schedule your lender or CPA is going to ask for.
• Invoice. A branded client invoice that calculates retainage automatically.
• Retainage Tracker. What is held, on which job, and whether it has been released.
• Setup Guide. Step-by-step PDF, plus a DEMO workbook with a full example project already loaded.

The part most templates skip

Most job cost templates are expense lists. They tell you what you have spent. They do not tell you what you are going to spend, which is the only number that lets you intervene. Cost to complete and projected final cost are calculated on every phase here, and over-budget phases turn red while you can still change the outcome.

The WIP schedule, without an accounting background

Earned revenue, percent complete, and the over/under billing split are produced from the numbers you are already entering. If your bank, bonding agent or CPA has ever asked for a work-in-progress schedule and you have built one by hand in a panic, that stops here.

Built so you cannot break it

Only highlighted cells accept input; formulas are locked. Setup on a new job takes about ten minutes. The DEMO file shows a complete project so you can see the finished state before you start your own.

What you need

Microsoft Excel for Mac or PC, Excel 365 or 2019 and later. It also imports into Google Sheets. No accounting background needed.

Instant download. Single-business commercial use — use it on every project your business bids and builds. Questions? Email me — I answer every message personally.