Understand project financials

Overview

The Project Financials section provides a clear, visual breakdown of key financial metrics to support budgeting, cost control, and profitability for your projects. With detailed insights into revenue, expenses, and cash flow, it helps track financial health and streamline decision-making. Visual summaries and expandable sections ensure quick access to critical data for better project management.

Things to know

• Certain calculated amounts are based on configured settings. For more, see Define how cost is calculated.

• You must have Budget vs Actual enabled to view the visual project financials.

• The budgeted comparison in the Actual Expense card and the forecasted metrics require additional account configuration. Contact Technical Support for details.

Contract Value and Actual Billed

Contract Value includes the total price and tax of all Sold estimate

Total Budgeted Expense and Cost to Complete

Total Budgeted Expense represents the sum of all estimated costs, providing a clear starting point for expected project spending. Cost to Complete calculates the remaining budget by subtracting actual expenses from the total budgeted expense, helping track remaining costs and prevent overspending. 

Change Orders and Cost Adjustments

Change Orders reflects the total price of sold change order estimates, reflecting modifications to the original project scope. Cost Adjustments capture the total cost of sold estimates that include only cost items, ensuring accurate tracking of non-revenue expenses. Together, these metrics help monitor budget fluctuations, control unexpected costs, and maintain financial transparency throughout the project.

Actual Expense

Actual Expense represents the total costs incurred on a project, providing a detailed view of spending across key cost categories. A bar chart visually breaks down expenses into the following categories, helping identify where resources are being allocated: 

• Material

• Equipment

• Labor

• Subcontractor

• Permit

• Other Direct Costs

• Rentals

Each cost category displays two bars so you can compare planned spend to real spend:

• Budgeted: The budgeted amount for the category, shown in grey.

• Actual (On Budget): Shown in blue when the actual amount is at or under the budgeted amount.

• Actual (Over Budget): Shown in red when the actual amount exceeds the budgeted amount.

A legend below the chart explains the color treatment. Categories sort by budgeted amount, largest first. The total Actual Expense figure continues to display at the top of the card.

Actual Margin

Actual Margin is calculated as Actual Revenue minus Actual Expense, showing the real profitability of a project. Budgeted Margin represents the expected profit by subtracting Total Budgeted Expense from the Contract Value. This section also includes a pie chart that provides a visual breakdown of these margins and additional financial details, including:

• Actual Revenue to date

• Actual Expense to date

• Actual Margin $ to date

• Actual Margin % to date

These insights help track profitability, compare projected vs. actual performance, and ensure financial goals are met.

Earned Revenue and % of Work Completed

Earned Revenue shows the revenue generated based on project progress, calculated by multiplying the percent complete by the contract value. % of Work Completed compares Actual Expense to Total Budgeted Expense. A bar chart visualizes the comparison of Actual Billed and Earned Revenue, including Retainage, helping track invoiced amounts and maintain cash flow accuracy.

Open Invoices and Payments

Open Invoices reflects unpaid invoices that are still outstanding, providing a clear view of amounts due. Payments reflect invoices that have been partially or fully paid, helping track cash flow and monitor customer payments. Together, these metrics give you a comprehensive view of your accounts receivable and payment status, ensuring better financial management and timely follow-ups.

Budgeted Labor Expense and Actual Labor Expense

Budgeted Labor Expense is the total labor cost based on the quantities estimated for the project, reflecting the planned labor spend. Actual Labor Expense represents the total cost of labor based on the actual hours worked on the project. Comparing these metrics helps you track labor cost efficiency, ensuring that labor expenses stay within the planned budget and allowing for quick adjustments if necessary.

Budgeted Labor Hours and Actual Labor Hours

Budgeted Labor Hours represent the total estimated labor costs from the project’s estimate, while Actual Labor Hours track the real labor costs incurred. Comparing these metrics helps monitor workforce efficiency and ensure labor costs stay within budget.

Forecasted view

A toggle at the top of the project financials summary switches between Actual and Forecasted. Actual shows the metrics described above. Forecasted replaces them with values based on the forecast saved in the Budget vs Actual table.

In Forecasted view, the summary shows the following metrics:

• Forecasted Cost at Complete: Projected Expense plus Forecasted Cost to Complete. This is your estimated total project cost at completion.

• Forecasted Margin $: Contract Value minus Forecasted Cost at Complete.

• Forecasted Margin %: Forecasted Margin divided by Contract Value.

• Forecasted Labor Expense: The sum of forecasted labor costs on the project.

• Budget vs Forecasted Cost at Complete Expenses: Compares the total budget to the forecasted cost at complete.

The chart updates to reflect forecasted figures when you switch views. Each metric includes a tooltip that explains the calculation.

Note: The toggle returns to Actual each time the page loads. The view you select is not saved.

If no forecast has been saved on the project, the summary shows an empty state prompting you to add forecast values in the Budget vs Actual table. For the full forecasting workflow, see Forecast project costs.

Want to learn more?

• Visit ServiceTitan Academy and enroll in Project Tracking Basics

• See Project management

• See Understand project records

• See Understand Budget vs Actual

• See Forecast project costs