How to Create Allowances in Buildern

Allowances - also known as Provisional Sums or Prime Cost Sums - are placeholder amounts added to an estimate for work or materials that haven’t yet been fully finalized.

For example:

Instead of delaying the estimate, contractors can include allowance amounts to keep the project moving while maintaining budget flexibility.

As real costs become available later, Buildern helps you compare the original allowance against actual spending and automatically calculate any financial differences.

Your work with allowances begins inside the project estimate.

To create an allowance:

This opens the allowance creation form where you can begin defining the placeholder budget item.

Once the Add Allowance form opens, you can begin configuring the allowance item step by step.

Start by entering the allowance title in the Name field. This is the name that will later appear across:

Use a clear and descriptive title so the allowance can easily be identified throughout the project.

Next, use the Group dropdown to place the allowance inside a specific estimate group. Grouping helps organize estimate items into sections such as:

This becomes especially useful in large projects where estimates contain many line items.

Every allowance represents a different type of project expense. Buildern allows you to categorize the allowance so it stays properly organized across your estimate, proposals, and financial reports.

Inside the Allowance For field, you can select one or multiple allowance types, including:

The allowance types you select here will later appear in client-facing proposals and related financial documents, helping everyone clearly understand what the allowance covers.

Next, select the appropriate Cost Code.

Cost codes help:

Buildern also provides a helpful Tips for cost code option directly inside the form for additional guidance.

Inside the Quantity field, enter the required quantity for the allowance item.

Buildern also provides several built-in quantity tools directly inside this field to make calculations faster and more flexible during estimating.

You’ll notice the following options on the right side of the quantity field:

Then choose the appropriate Unit Type depending on how the allowance should be measured.

For example:

These values later affect pricing calculations and reporting accuracy.

You can also define the current Status of the allowance item.

For example:

This helps teams monitor which allowances still require selections, approvals, or finalized pricing.

If needed, assign the allowance item to a specific team member using the Assignee field for better project coordination and accountability.

Once the quantity and unit type are defined, continue configuring the pricing section of the allowance.

1)Configure the Tax Mode

At the top of the pricing section, Buildern displays the currently active tax configuration for the project (for example, GST).

The selected tax mode determines how taxes are applied to the allowance item across:

Tax behavior depends on your company settings, regional tax configuration, and project financial setup.

2) Enter Unit Cost Values

Next, enter the pricing values for the allowance item.

Buildern allows you to define:

As pricing values are entered, Buildern automatically calculates unit tax amount.

3) Configure Markup

Inside the Markup field, define how markup should be applied to the allowance item.

Buildern supports multiple markup configurations, including:

This ensures that profit margins remain consistent even when actual allowance costs later change during project execution.

4) Use the “Allowance on Price” Option

Buildern also provides the Allowance on price setting directly within the pricing section.

Depending on your workflow, this setting helps determine how allowance values are reflected throughout the project’s financial documentation and pricing presentation.

Buildern allows allowances to connect directly with vendor and subcontractor bidding workflows through the Bid Request section.

When working with allowances, this feature is especially useful for collecting real vendor or subcontractor pricing later in the project lifecycle.

After clicking Create Bid Request, Buildern provides two options:

Connecting allowances to bid requests helps contractors gradually replace placeholder pricing with actual vendor quotes as the project develops, improving budgeting accuracy and financial tracking throughout the construction process.

ℹ️ Note - Bid Requests can also be created after the allowance item has already been added to the estimate.

1) Description

Use the Description field to provide additional information about the allowance item.

This section can include:

Descriptions help provide better context for both internal teams and client-facing documents.

2) Internal Notes

The Internal note field allows project teams to add private notes directly to the allowance item.

Internal notes are useful for:

These notes remain internal within Buildern and are not visible in client-facing proposals or documents.

3) Attachments

The Attachments section allows you to upload files directly to the allowance item.

For example:

Keeping attachments linked directly to the allowance helps centralize project information and simplifies future reference during estimating, invoicing, or budget revisions.

Buildern also allows you to connect allowances with the Selections workflow using the Create Selection option.

Selections are especially useful when:

By connecting selections directly to allowances, Buildern helps contractors manage client decisions while keeping estimate values and financial workflows properly aligned throughout the project lifecycle.

1) Configure “Calculate in Total”

Buildern includes a Calculate in total toggle that determines whether the allowance value should be included in the overall estimate total.

This setting is especially useful when allowances should actively contribute to the projected construction budget during the estimating phase.

2) Configure Proposal Visibility

Buildern also allows you to control whether the allowance item should appear in client-facing proposals through the Visible in proposal toggle.

Buildern provides several visibility formats, including:

These visibility options give contractors greater flexibility when structuring client-facing proposals and deciding how much pricing detail should be exposed during the estimating and approval process.

3) Add Labor to the Allowance

Buildern also allows you to add labor directly to the allowance item using the Add Labor option.

This feature is useful when the allowance includes labor-related costs that should later be tracked separately within the estimate.

Before saving the allowance item, Buildern automatically displays a financial summary at the bottom of the form, including:

This section provides a real-time breakdown of the allowance calculations, including:

As pricing, quantities, markup, or tax settings are updated throughout the form, Buildern automatically recalculates these totals in real time.