Build a budget

A budget is built from groups (sections of related work) and line items inside them. This guide covers adding both, assigning cost codes, and saving — the budget uses an explicit save, so your edits are buffered until you commit them.

Open the budget

1. From the sidebar, open Projects and click into a project.
2. Click the Budget tab.

Select and edit cells

The sheet works like Excel or Google Sheets:

• A single click selects a cell; a double click opens it for editing. While nothing is being edited, the arrow keys move the selection, and typing replaces the cell's contents.
• The sheet selects one cell at a time — dragging or Shift-clicking doesn't select a range.
• ⌘/Ctrl + C and ⌘/Ctrl + X copy or cut the selected cell; ⌘/Ctrl + V pastes into it. Paste a block copied from Excel or Google Sheets and only its first value goes in — a message tells you so. Computed columns (Extended Cost, Profit, and the Costing/Invoicing/Profit columns), and any cell a formula on that row drives, keep their values.
• Delete or Backspace clears the selected cell.

The Name column is pinned to the left, next to the row numbers, so it stays in view as you scroll across the sheet.

Add a group

Groups organize the sheet — "Sitework", "Framing", "Finishes", and so on.

1. At the bottom-left of the sheet, click Add Group. The group lands named New Section, after whichever group you have selected (or at the end of the sheet).
2. Double-click that name to edit it, type the group's name, and press Enter.

Add a line item

1. Select the group you want the line in (or click into a cell in it).
2. Click Add Line Item at the bottom-left of the sheet.
3. Double-click the first cell you want to fill, then move across the row with Tab:
   • Name — what the item is. As you type, matching items from your cost database appear beneath the cell; pick one to pull in its unit, cost, and margin. Press Enter with nothing highlighted to keep exactly what you typed.
   • Quantity and Unit (Each, Linear Feet, Square Feet, and so on). Unit is a pick-one cell — double-click it to open the list, then type to filter it in place. To take a unit back off a line, pick — None — at the top of the list; it only appears once a unit is set.
   • Unit Cost — your cost per unit, before markup.
   • Margin % — a new line without its own margin uses the budget's default. Enter a percentage to override it; clearing the displayed margin sets it to 0%.

Extended Cost, Unit Price, Extended Price, Profit, and Markup % (the same profit expressed against cost) fill in automatically as you type.

Assign a cost code to the line

Cost codes are how the budget rolls up for reporting and QuickBooks.

1. Double-click the line's Cost Code cell — an empty one is marked with a small chevron. The full list opens; there's no separate search box.
2. Keep typing to filter it in the cell. It matches on the code number as well as the name, so 0200 finds it as fast as "Concrete".
3. Pick a code from the list. No match? The list offers assign to Uncategorized so the line is never left unfiled.

The line's Cost Type (labor, material, subcontractor, and so on) is inherited from the cost code by default — an inherited type renders grey, an override you set renders solid. Double-click the cell to override it for that line, or choose Use cost code default (only offered while an override is in place) to go back to inheriting. That's how one "Plumbing" code can carry both plumbing labor and plumbing materials.

Reorder, move, and delete

• Select a row from its row-number cell, then drag that cell to reorder the row or move it into another group.
• Select a group from its row-number cell, then drag it to reorder whole groups or nest one inside another. Where you drop it vertically picks the slot; how far right you drag picks the depth, and the drop line shows exactly where it will land. Groups nest up to four levels deep.
• A vertical guide line runs down the left of each group's contents, so you can see at a glance which rows belong to which group.
• Select rows from the row-number gutter down the left: click one, ⌘/Ctrl-click to add another, Shift-click for a range. Selecting a group takes everything under it.
• With rows selected, the toolbar shows how many, with a Selected row actions menu beside the count — Delete selected is in it. Backspace or Delete does the same thing — unless a cell is selected, in which case those keys clear that cell instead of removing the rows.
• Each line and group also has its own ⋯ menu at the right end of its Name cell (it appears when you hover the row) with the same row actions.

Turn selected lines into a record

Once rows are selected, the Selected row actions menu beside the selection count also offers Create a record from these lines.

1. Select the lines (or groups) you want on the record.
2. Open that menu and choose Create a record from these lines. Your unsaved changes are saved first, so brand-new rows can go on it.
3. Pick the record type and kind. Any type the selected lines can't go on is greyed out with the reason underneath it.
4. The builder opens with those lines already priced onto the record.

Start from a template

If you've saved a budget as a reusable template, you can drop it in:

1. In the toolbar, click Import and choose From template.
2. Search and select the template to add its groups and items.

To save the current budget as a template for next time, click Save as template in the toolbar.

Save your work

Ordinary sheet edits do not auto-save. Orange corner markers identify changed cells (or the row number of a new row), and the highlighted Save changes button shows that changes are pending. Actions such as importing a template or creating a record save pending edits first because they need saved rows.

1. Before saving, correct mistakes with Undo and Redo in the toolbar, or press ⌘/Ctrl + Z and ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + Z.
2. Click Save changes to commit your changes. Saving starts a fresh Undo/Redo history; those buttons do not restore earlier saved versions.