Construction cost control: site execution sheets next to the BOQ
Construction cost control starts with plain records: what was ordered, what arrived on site, what was invoiced and what was actually built. In AiN Engine, the software I develop and work with, those records live inside the bill of quantities window, in the "Execution & finance" group of tabs: Orders, Delivery Notes, Invoices, Work Diary, Contractor A/C and a Budget Control sheet based on earned value. This page covers what each sheet holds, how to work with it, and what it does not do.
What you see in the execution and finance sheets
Each sheet is a tab of the full bill of quantities, next to the planning and Gantt sheets, and each has one job:
- Orders: a manual table of the project's purchase orders.
- Delivery Notes: a manual table of the notes that come with materials to site.
- Invoices: a manual table of supplier invoices.
- Work Diary: a daily site diary in table form, beside the bill of quantities.
- Contractor A/C: a table of contractor accounts, the progress claims submitted during construction, tracked against the bill of quantities.
- Budget Control: earned value control with planned value (PV), earned value (EV) and actual cost (AC), plus the cost performance index (CPI), the schedule performance index (SPI) and the estimate at completion (EAC). It also has a monthly report view, for viewing only.
The five execution tables can be exported. As with every file download in the software, the download needs an active subscription.
Construction cost control with earned value
Earned value compares three numbers at the same date. Planned value is the budgeted worth of the work that was planned by then. Earned value is the budgeted worth of the work actually done. Actual cost is what was spent to do that work. Two indices follow from them: CPI is earned value divided by actual cost, and SPI is earned value divided by planned value.
Reading them is simple: an index below one means the work is costing more than planned, or moving more slowly than planned. The estimate at completion turns that trend into a forecast of the total cost at the end of the project. Read the two indices together: work that is ahead of schedule but over budget tells a different story from work that is both late and over budget. The point is for a question like "why is plastering over budget?" to come up in time, not in the final account.
What it gives you on site and in the office
The first advantage is that the evidence sits next to the quantities. When a supervisor checks a contractor's claim, they ask for the work diary, the delivery notes and the measurement sheets. When orders, delivery notes and the diary are in the same window as the bill of quantities, you do not have to hunt for them across folders and e-mails.
The second advantage is that money and progress are visible in one place. Orders, invoices and contractor accounts sit in neighbouring tabs, and the Budget Control sheet shows budget against progress in indicators that project managers and developers already know. The planning side of the same tab group, with resources and Gantt sheets, is described on the construction schedule page.
How to use it day to day
- Open the project's full bill of quantities and go to the "Execution & finance" group in the tab row.
- Record each purchase order as a row in Orders. When materials arrive, record the note in Delivery Notes, and when an invoice comes in, record it in Invoices.
- At the end of each working day, update the Work Diary.
- For each billing period, update Contractor A/C against the bill of quantities.
- Open Budget Control, read the indicators, and at the end of the month go through the monthly report view.
- When you need to pass the data on, export the table. Downloads need an active subscription.
What these sheets do not do
Construction cost control is only as good as the data that goes into it. These tables are manual, and the amounts in them are the amounts you type. If orders and invoices are not kept up to date, the picture they give is not up to date either. The software does not approve a claim or decide on a variation: approving, deducting and pricing changes stay with the supervisor, the quantity surveyor or whoever the contract names.
Worth knowing: these are tables for recording and tracking, not an accounting system, and the monthly report in Budget Control is view only. Earned value indicators are a snapshot that helps you ask the right questions. The decisions stay with people.
Exporting the bill of quantities itself is covered on the Excel export page, and all the windows of the software are collected on the BOQ software page. I am Yaakov Avital, a quantity surveyor for construction projects, and I build these tools out of my own work.
Frequently asked questions
How is construction cost control different from a progress claim?
A progress claim pays the contractor for the work done so far. Cost control looks at the whole project: how much was planned, how much was done and how much was spent. In the software each has its own sheet, Contractor A/C and Budget Control.
Does data flow into these sheets automatically?
No. Orders, delivery notes, invoices, the work diary and contractor accounts are tables you fill in by hand. That is less convenient than an automatic feed, but every row is known to the person who entered it.
Can I export the tables?
Yes. The five execution tables can be exported, and as with every download in the software, that needs an active subscription.
Are these sheets in the English interface?
Yes. The tabs are called Orders, Delivery Notes, Invoices, Work Diary, Contractor A/C and Budget Control, in the "Execution & finance" group of the full bill of quantities.
Want to see AiN on your own model? The AiN Engine site has the demo video, the pilot for one project and the login. For quantity surveying work in Israel, write to me through the form.
AiN Engine website Contact form* Created with AI for marketing, for illustration only. Not reviewed by Yaakov Avital and not professional advice. Every project must be checked on its own by a professional quantity surveyor and an engineer.