Free Budget Template for Project Planning and Cost Tracking
Here’s a simpler way to manage your project budget. Break it down, set a budget, and keep an eye on the numbers.
This template can be used to give you a clear picture of what needs to get done, how much it’ll cost, and what resources you’ll need. It’s designed to be straightforward and works for a variety of industries, from IT to construction. With this template, you can add details like the effort required for each task, labor, materials, and equipment. As your project moves forward, you’ll be able to track your progress and spot any issues (before they snowball out of control).
On top of that, this template helps divide a project into bite-sized tasks using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). It’s perfect for comparing planned costs to actual spending, so you can stay within budget throughout your project. Use a free Excel template below to get started.
Here’s what each column helps you track:
- WBS: A structured code to organize tasks hierarchically (e.g., 1.0, 1.1, 1.2) so you can easily see how each part of the project fits together.
- Task: Describes the specific work being done, including project initiation, concept development, design, and any summary-level tasks.
- Owner: The person or team responsible for completing the task.
- Labour: Enter estimated hours and hourly rate for staff or contractors to calculate labor costs.
- Materials: Specify the number of units and cost per unit for materials needed.
- Equipment: Track how many hours equipment will be used and its hourly cost.
- Fixed costs: One-off expenses not tied to time or quantity, like permits or software licenses.
- Budget: The total planned cost for each task, automatically calculated based on your inputs.
- Actual: The real cost incurred as work progresses.
- Deviation: The difference between budgeted and actual costs, making it easy to spot overruns or savings.
Lastly, at the top of the sheet, you’ll find summary section that rolls up the total budget, actual, and deviation.
Discover more helpful resources:
How to Plan and Control Costs
8 Project Budgeting Tools
Budgets & Estimation
Free Kanban Board Excel Template
Project Budget Example
IT Infrastructure Upgrade: Sample Project Budget
Here’s an example of how to set up a project budget for upgrading your IT infrastructure. It’s organized into tasks, which makes it easier to manage costs. This includes the cost of labor, materials, equipment, and any fixed costs that come up.
To make sure things get done, each task has an owner who’s in charge of it. The budget also keeps track of how much you planned to spend compared to how much you actually spend. And if you go over budget or save some money, it’s easy to see that too.
This format is especially helpful for engineering and IT teams. It gives you a clear view of your project’s scope, costs, and progress. That way, you can spot any problems early on and make changes as needed.
Teamhood automates budget tracking, risk alerts, and time logging – so you spend less time updating spreadsheets and more time moving projects forward.
