Budget and headroom by category
Materials, labour, vehicles, property and expense claims: for each you see budget, spend to date and remaining budget, in red when it goes negative.
Costs · Budget · Margin
Construction site cost control: budget, progress and project margin in real time
How much you've spent, how much is left and how much you'll really make on each site. V-Site compares budget and actuals by category, calculates physical progress and cost-to-cost, and shows you the estimated final cost and margin before the work is finished.
The problem
Too often a site's margin is only discovered once the work is done
The quote says one thing, the final account another: in between are months of rushed material orders, unallocated labour hours, vehicles moved from one site to another and piling expense claims. By the time the accountant closes the project, the real margin is already set — and it's often much lower than planned.
V-Site's site cost control turns this around: every euro spent is immediately allocated to the right category and site, and the two indicators site managers rely on — physical progress and cost-to-cost — are recalculated with every new expense. So you see the problem while you can still fix it.
What's included
From budget to final margin, without Excel sheets
Physical progress
Enter the percentage of work completed: V-Site calculates production value, attributable costs, theoretical phase margin and materials on site.
Cost-to-cost and estimate at completion
From actual costs incurred: budget consumption, margin absorbed, estimate at completion (EAC) and estimated final margin of the project.
Cost items fed by other modules
Materials from requests, labour from attendance, vehicles from the fleet: you only enter expense claims and extras by hand.
Charts and monthly trends
Pie chart of costs by category, month-by-month timeline and a detailed table of every single item, filterable and exportable.
Overrun alerts
Alerts when a category passes a budget threshold or when the estimated final margin drops below the planned one.
How it works
Four steps to a site under control
1
Set the budget
Project total and budgeted cost for each category: materials, labour, vehicles, property, expense claims.
2
Expenses record themselves
Clocked hours, requested materials and assigned vehicles become site costs; you only add extras by hand.
3
Update physical progress
Enter the percentage of work completed: V-Site recalculates production, attributable costs and phase margin.
4
Read margin and EAC
Cost-to-cost tells you what the site will cost at completion and how much margin will be left. If needed, act straight away.
Glossary
Cost control terms, explained
Physical progress
Physical progress (in Italy, the "SAL fisico") is the percentage of work actually completed. From this percentage V-Site derives the value of production earned (share of the project total), the attributable costs for that phase and the theoretical phase margin. It tells you whether, for the work done so far, you're earning as planned.
Cost-to-cost
A method that starts from actual costs incurred: it compares spend to budget to estimate what the whole project will cost. If you've already spent 100% of the budget with the work at 20%, cost-to-cost flags it immediately with a negative final margin.
Estimate at completion (EAC)
The Estimate At Completion is the projected total cost of the project once finished, calculated from the actual cost trend. Compared with the project total it gives the estimated final margin.
Remaining budget
The difference between budgeted cost and spend to date, for each category and for the whole project. When it goes negative, that category is eroding your margin.
Materials on site
Materials already bought and delivered to site but not yet installed: a cost incurred that isn't yet "production", which V-Site keeps separate so it doesn't distort the phase margin.
Who it's for
Who needs site cost control
- Construction companies with lump-sum or measured contracts and periodic progress reports for the client
- Installers with many parallel projects and thin margins — see the software for installers
- Maintenance companies with fixed-fee contracts to keep profitable
- Infrastructure and renewables with public tenders and progress-based reporting
- Owners and site managers who want to decide on the numbers, not at the end of the job
FAQ
Site cost control: your questions answered
What's the difference between physical progress and cost-to-cost?
Physical progress measures how much work has actually been done (e.g. 20% of the project) and derives the value of production earned and the phase margin. Cost-to-cost starts from actual costs incurred: it compares spend with budget to estimate the project's final cost (EAC) and final margin. Used together they tell you whether you're earning as planned or whether costs are running ahead of progress.
Do I have to enter expenses by hand?
Only expense claims and extra items. Materials, labour hours and vehicle use come from the other V-Site modules: material requests, clock-ins and fleet feed cost control automatically.
What happens when a category goes over budget?
The remaining budget turns negative and is highlighted in red on the category card and the site dashboard. You can set an alert when spend exceeds a percentage of the budget, for example 80%.
Can I compare costs across several sites?
Yes. Each site has its own cost control, and the management dashboard compares projects: planned and estimated margin, budget consumption and variances, so you see straight away which jobs need attention.
Learn more
Related pages
Want to know how much you're really making on each site?
Bring us the quote for an open project: we'll show you budget, progress and margin in V-Site in a 30-minute demo.