The Preliminary Budget sub-tab is where you would go to create a very QUICK project budget or a client preliminary budget proposal - with the ability to add a scope of work description and margin or markup.

 


NOTE: This is NOT a QS document or a final client estimate/quote, but it is a way for you to create a quick budget to keep for yourself or to provide your client with an idea of what this job would cost.





Creating a Preliminary Budget


You can create a new preliminary budget by scratch following the steps below; you can also upload a CSV file via the 'CSV Import' button; instructions on how to do this are available via this Rave Help link.

To create a new Preliminary Budget from scratch:

  1. Select a category to be added to our budget via either ‘Add Category’ buttons

    This will open an 'Add new category' pop-up

  2. Select the category from the pop-up’s ‘Create as’ dropdown 
  3. If you need to add different line level 'Markup' percentage amounts - you can add these here
  4. Enter the 'Amount' excluding GST
  5. Then click the ‘Add Category’ button


    NOTE: If you don't already have your categories set up in RAVE, you can add these as required by going to your profile dropdown, selecting Estimate Category, clicking the Add New button, giving the category a name, and clicking save.   The new categories will be added to the bottom of the list, these can be rearranged up or down via the hamburger bars to the left of the category name.



As you add each category and pricing line in, you’ll see each line displays it's:

  • Category description
  • Amount excluding markup (and GST)
  • The line-level Markup percentage 
  • The Amount including markup (ex GST)

    With the option to Edit or Delete each line.  Also, it is possible to move category lines up or down via the double bars to the left of each line.


As you can see in the example below, we’ve added $5000 for Preliminary & General, $25,000 for Architect/Designer and $10,000 for Engineering and Inspections - providing: 

  • A raw cost, or subtotal, of $40,000 – which is the cost to you excluding GST
  • Our 20% margin, or 25% markup, of $10,000 – which again excludes GST
  • The GST component of $7,500
  • Creating a total sell price to the client of $57,500 – including GST





Deleting or Adding a Markup % to Multiple Category Lines 

 

You can easily delete or add a markup % to multiple category lines by:

  1. Selecting the lines to delete or edit via the check box to the left of each line. 
     
    This opens an action footer near the bottom of your screen

  2. To delete the selected lines, click the red 'Delete' button
  3. To add a markup % to the selected lines, add a value to the 'Markup %' field and click 'Apply'
  4. To delete markup % to the select lines, clear out the markup % field and click apply


 



Adding a Scope of Works to your Preliminary Budget 

 

You can easily add a Scope of Works to your preliminary budget, by:

  1. Clicking on the 'Add Scope' text
     
    Which opens a 'Scope of Works' for you to add your desired text - with formatting options.

  2. To save your scope of works, click the 'Save' Button




To Generate a Preliminary Budget proposal
 
You can create a preliminary budget proposal by clicking on the 'Generate' button, to the top right of the Preliminary Budget screen. This will open a 'Generate Preliminary Budget' pop-up screen.

 

To the left of the 'Generate Preliminary Budget' pop-up screen, is a preview of what your preliminary budget will look like, based on the seletion options to the right.

The preliminary budget preview includes:

  • The date to the top left
  • Your logo to the top right
  • Your business details and job information to the left
  • Your client's details and site address are on the right
  • The Scope of Works if selected - via the tick box to the right
  • Each category line detail and totals - based on the proposal style to the right
  • And a preliminary budget disclaimer  

 

Rave provides you with 4 proposal style options - selectable via the proposal 'Style' dropdown

  1. The Minimal style - displays each category line detail cost, a sub-total value, the markup dollar value, GST and Total price including GST
  2. The Streamlined style - hides each category line detail cost, and displays the Total price including GST only
  3. The Streamlined with Price style - displays each category line detail price including markup, with the total GST, and the Total price including GST
  4. The Full style - displays each category line cost price, markup %, price including markup, with the total GST, and the Total price including GST 

    And the 'Include Scope of Works' tick box to display your preliminary budget scope of works





Generate your Preliminary Budget Proposal to Save/Print, or Send to your Client


Once you've included all required category lines and line details, have selected your proposal style, and have chosen whether to include your scope of works or not - you can generate a PDF version of your proposal to save/print, or have it sent directly to your client via their primary email address listed in their Rave client profile. 






Reviewing your Preliminary Budget on the Back Costing sub-tab


Moving over to the project’s “Back Costing” sub-tab, you will notice that the little “Budget” tab allows you to compare your preliminary budget with your actual quoted amount, and with what your purchase orders and bills totals are. As a result, it gives you a really good indication of how your original preliminary budget went versus what you actually ended up spending.  We dive deeper into the Back Costing reports in the RAVE FMS Back Costing sub-tab section.



NOTE: If you’ve deleted all of your preliminary budget categories, you’ll have no data to compare in the Back Costing report, and in this case, the Budget tab on this report will be greyed out.