Description
This is a new feature that adds manual cost forecasting directly to the Budget vs. Actual (BvA) table in Project Financials, so project managers can project where a job will land financially before it closes.
What's new?
The Budget vs Actuals (BvA) table has always shown what you budgeted and what you spent — but not where you will end up. To model final costs, project managers had to maintain separate spreadsheets, manually calculate estimated cost at completion, and reconcile those numbers with ServiceTitan data. There was no structured way to flag budget overruns until costs were already incurred.
Project Financials Forecasting adds a dedicated forecasting layer directly in the BvA table. You can now enter a Forecasted Cost to Complete for each expense segment, see the impact on your Forecasted Cost at Complete and margin in real time, save the forecast as a named record, and review a history of all forecasts created on a project.
Resources
Before and After
Before (Current)
Open the Budget vs Actuals table in Project Financials.
Review the current columns: Original Budget, Cost Adjustments, Total Budget, Committed, Actual, and percentage of budget used.
Notice that no forward-looking cost information is available. You can see what has been spent, but not where costs will land at job completion.
To estimate final costs, open a separate spreadsheet and manually model the Forecasted Cost to Complete, Forecasted Cost at Complete, and expected margin.
Reconcile those figures with ServiceTitan data each time costs change.
Impact: Without a forecast in ServiceTitan, project managers cannot proactively flag cost overruns or margin risks until after the fact. Teams spend hours each month maintaining manual spreadsheets outside the platform.
After
Open the Budget vs Actuals table in Project Financials for an in-flight project.
In the Segments view, review the new columns: Balance to Finish, Forecasted Cost to Complete, Forecasted Cost at Complete, and Over/Under Cost.
Select Sandbox to enter forecasting mode. All expense segments expand automatically so leaf-level rows are visible.
Click a Forecasted Cost to Complete cell on a leaf segment row to open the forecasting popover. Enter your estimated cost to complete as a dollar amount or percentage of total budget. Preview the Forecasted Cost At Complete and Over/Under Cost in real time before applying.
Repeat across all segments you want to forecast. Unsaved rows are marked as dirty until you confirm.
When ready, click Save. The Save Changes modal opens. Enter a forecast name and a summary note, then choose Save Changes to finalize or Save Draft to keep the forecast in draft status without updating the live BvA values.
Review the updated BvA table. Forecasted Cost At Complete, Over/Under Cost, Forecasted Margin $, and Forecasted Margin % now reflect your forecast. View the full history of forecasts in the Forecast Records table below the BvA.
Impact: Project managers can now see where a project is heading financially before it closes, from directly inside ServiceTitan, without a spreadsheet. Forecasted margin and over/under cost are visible as soon as costs start landing.
Who uses this feature
Commercial Construction, Residential Construction
Administrators, Managers
Region availability: All regions
How it works for your industry
Commercial Construction
A project manager running a large mechanical installation opens the BvA table mid-project. Labor costs are tracking 8% above the original budget for one segment. The project manager opens Sandbox, enters a revised cost to complete for that segment, and immediately sees the updated Forecasted Margin % drop below the acceptable threshold, prompting a conversation with the site supervisor before the overrun compounds.
A controller reviewing a portfolio of active jobs opens the Forecast Records table for each project to compare the most recent forecast with the original budget, using the historical snapshots to support monthly project financial reviews with ownership.
A project manager finishing a framing package realizes the scope was reduced. They enter a negative cost adjustment and a revised Forecasted Cost to Complete (FCTC) in the same session, save the forecast as "June Reforecast," and the BvA table shows the project is now tracking under budget on that segment.
Residential Construction
A project manager on a kitchen and bath remodel notices material costs are running low. They open Sandbox, enter a small positive Forecasted Cost to Complete for the finishes segment, and confirm the forecasted margin is still within the acceptable range before the project moves to final billing.
A construction manager overseeing three concurrent projects saves a named forecast each month for each project. At the end of the quarter, they review the Forecast Records table to compare forecast accuracy against actuals across all three jobs.
A project manager tracking a low-margin job uses the Over/Under Cost column to confirm the project is on track before submitting an Application for Payment (AFP). The real-time view in the BvA table replaces the spreadsheet they previously maintained alongside ServiceTitan.
How to prepare
Have an administrator reach out to Support or your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to ensure you have the Budget vs Actuals and GL Based Job Costing configurations enabled for your account. This feature is enabled automatically when you have those configurations.
Identify which project managers and controllers will use the forecasting workflow and share the Knowledge Base article with them before the release.
Review any existing spreadsheet-based forecasting processes your team uses today and determine which projects to pilot the new workflow on first.
Confirm that all relevant projects have budget segments set up in the BvA table, as the forecasting columns operate at the leaf-segment level.
Bookmark any Knowledge Base articles or Academy videos for team training.