Chapter 4: Job Costing Reports
Managers need to ensure their companies make a profit. Simply put, this is done by lowering costs (where appropriate), and increasing revenue. In order to do this well, managers need good accounting information.
Job costing is effective because it tracks details at a granular level. It gives you the ability to see many dimensions of a construction company. That's why job cost reports are so critical to an operation.
Report Categories
- Job-Level Reports - This data pertains to one job at a time.
- Cost Code-Level Reports - This data tracks individual expense items within a job, or across multiple jobs.
- Transaction-Level Reports - This type of report tracks transactions at a company scale, rather than a single job.
Report Elements
Here are a few of the terms you'll find on various job cost reports.
- Burden - This is the indirect expense that has been allocated to a job. It includes things like insurance that aren't used to do the work, but enable the work to happen.
- Capital Contribution - This is money that's put into a company by its owners. It can also be equipment, like vehicles.
- Contract Price - The total amount that the project owner has agreed to pay for the job.
- Cost to Complete - The remaining expenses to complete a job. This figure comes from subtracting current expenses from the budgeted expenses.
- Equipment - This is expenses related to operating equipment and hauling it around. Some large equipment, like excavators, have a large cost just to get it on site.
- General - General expenses include things that aren't described well in the other categories. These might be something like lunch for the workers, or new work gloves.
- Labor - The cost to pay the workers.
- Materials - The cost of materials used in jobs. This could be nails, sod, shingles, tiles, carpet, lumber, etc.
- Percentage Complete - This figure is derived from the current costs vs. total budgeted costs. If a job will cost $5,000 to complete, and $2,500 worth of work is done, the percentage complete could be estimated as 50%. Of course, some phases of a job will cost more or less than others, so this is a rough figure.
- Profit - Revenue - Expenses.
- Profit Rate - The amount of profit generated by each dollar spent. A profit rate of 15% means that for every $1 of project expenses, you've earned 15 cents of profit.
- Revised Contract Price - Sometimes contracts must be renegotiated. As change orders come in, project estimates must be revised. This results in a revised contract price.
- Subcontracts - The amount paid to subcontractors to complete parts of a job.
- To Date - "To date" is like saying "so far." For example, costs to date would be the amount spent so far, rather than the total amount of expected expenses.
Report Examples
There are countless ways to run a report. Most accounting software will allow you to run your own custom formats to accomodate your needs and preferences.
Here are some of the main reports a company might want to see:
Job Summary Report - A job summary report shows a quick overview of all active jobs. It gives you an idea of how each job is progressing, on a general level.
| Job ID | Job Name | Labor | Materials | Subcontracts | Equipment | General | Burden | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | A-Systems Corporation Building | 12,621.29 | 314.20 | 155,537.75 | 0.00 | 1,542.69 | 0.00 | 170,015.93 |
| 200 | Golden Hills Nursing Home | 28,592.47 | 1,884.26 | 82,125.10 | 0.00 | 652.90 | 0.00 | 113,254.73 |
| 300 | Pleasant City C of C Office | 45185.84 | 19,978.65 | 29,000 | 0.00 | 341.52 | 0.00 | 94,506.01 |
| 385 | Garrity | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 395 | PlanSwift | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 400 | Tennis Court | 8,022.04 | 1,086.50 | 32,600 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 41,708.54 |
| 500 | Twin Pines Mall | 11,816.16 | 0.00 | 80,000 | 4,500 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 96,316.16 |
| 600 | West Wind Retirement Center | 22,396.88 | 902.00 | 37,159 | 0.00 | 58.00 | 0.00 | 60,515.88 |
| 700 | Bone & Joint Clinic | 927.35 | 11.89 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 938.24 |
| 750 | Markwell House | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 800 | Schow County | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 900 | Ulrich Mansion | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 910 | Donut House | 727.35 | 0.00 | 5,000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5,727.35 |
| Grand Totals: | 130,289.38 | 24,177.50 | 421,421.85 | 4,500 | 2,595.11 | 0.00 | 582,983.84 |
Comprehensive Job Summary - This provides a more thorough overview of a job's status.
| Romswell Med Plaza Job #2789 |
|---|
Profitability
| Revised Contract Price: | 322,757.83 | |||||
| Subtract Latest Cost Estimate: | 252,890.55 | Percent Complete | Profit to Date | Profit Rate | ||
| Projected Profit: | 69,867.28 | Times | 98.17% | Yields | 68,590.18 | 21.65% |
Cost vs Billed
| Billed to Date: | 262,369.92 | Cost to Date: | 248,268.06 | ||
| Subtract Cost to Date: | 248,268.06 | Billed to Date: | 262,369.92 | ||
| Capital Contribution: | 14,101.86 | Required Capital: | 0.00 |
Earned vs Billed
| Cost to Date: | 248,268.06 | |||||
| Plus Profit to Date: | 68,590.18 | Billed to Date | Excess Billings: | 0.00 | ||
| Earned to Date: | 316,858.24 | vs. | 262,369.92 | Under Billings: | 54,488.32 |
Cash Position
| Received to Date: | 262,369.92 | Paid Out to Date: | 0.00 | |||
| Subtract Paid Out to Date: | 0.00 | Subtract Received to Date: | 262,369.92 | |||
| Positive Cash Flow: | 262,369.92 | Negative Cash Flow: | 0.00 |
Job Breakdown
| Percent | Budget | Costs | Cost Variance | ||||||||||
| Complete | Budget | Original | Current | To Date | Projected | Current | Projected | ||||||
| Labor | 72.92% | 73.78% | 186,585.00 | 186,585.00 | 136,055.28 | 186,585.00 | 5,124.63 | 3.77% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| Materials | 710.77% | 1.24% | 3,125.00 | 3,125.00 | 22,211.49 | 3,125.00 | 20,711.79 | 93.25% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| Subcontracts | 160.67% | 21.06% | 53,250.00 | 53,250.00 | 85,558.00 | 53,250.00 | 426.76 | 0.50% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| Equipment | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| General | 44.74% | 3.93% | 9,930.55 | 9,930.55 | 4,443.29 | 9,930.55 | 480.00 | 10.8% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| Others | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00% | |||
| 98.17% | 100% | 252,890.55 | 252,890.55 | 248,268.06 | 252,890.55 | 26,743.18 | 10.77% | 0.00 | 0.00% | ||||
Bonding Report - This report is given to surety companies. They use it to assess a construction company's ability to complete projects. It helps them decide whether or not to issue a bond.
| Job # | Description | Contract Amount | Budgeted Amount | Estimated Total Cost | Final Profit | Costs to Date | Percentage Complete | Profit to Date | Earned to Date | Billed to Date | Excess Billings | Cost to Complete | Contract Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | A-Systems Corp. | 691,650 | 585,981 | 588,000 | 103,650 | 170,016 | 28.9 | 29,970 | 199,986 | 452,256 | 252,270 | 417,984 | 239,391 |
| 200 | Golden Hills | 362,700 | 336,082 | 392,692 | -29,992 | 113,884 | 29 | -29,992 | 83,891 | 2,425,466 | 2,341,574 | 278,809 | -2,062,761 |
| 500 | Tennis Court | 290,500 | 261,269 | 263,652 | 36,848 | 41,987 | 15.9 | 4,276 | 46,263 | 236,562 | 190,300 | 221,665 | 53,931 |
| 400 | Planswift | 462,140 | 414,961 | 414,857 | 47,283 | 96,604 | 23.3 | 11,010 | 107,614 | 300,977 | 193,362 | 318,253 | 161,161 |
| Totals | 1,806,990 | 1,598,293 | 1,659,201 | 157,789 | 422,491 | 24.27 | 153,855 | 267,738 | 3,415,261 | 2,977,506 | 1,236,711 | -1,608,278 |
Job Cost Analysis - This report analyzes progress and profitability for each cost code item. In this format, a projection for total costs/overrun are given.
| Cost Code | Description | Original | Current | Remaining | Variance | Actual Cost | Projected Cost | Projected Overrun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0015400 L | Plumbing | 30,000.00 | 30,000.00 | 16,564.22 | 0.00 | 13,435.78 | 30,000.00 | 0.00 |
| 0015400 M | Plumbing | 0.00 | 0.00 | -10,039.34 | 10,039.34 | 10,039.34 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 0015500 S | Fire Protection/Sprinklers | 0.00 | 0.00 | -350.00 | 350.00 | 350.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Mechanical Subtotal: | 30,000.00 | 30,000.00 | 6,174.88 | 10,389.34 | 23,825.12 | 30,000.00 | 0.00 | |
| 0016000 L | Electrical | 0.00 | 0.00 | -517.02 | 517.02 | 517.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 0016000 S | Electrical | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 6,172.24 | 0.00 | 5,827.76 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Electrical Subtotal: | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 5,655.22 | 517.02 | 6,344.78 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 |