BOQ Cost Variance

Budget against actual, per cost head, while the job is still running. The BOQ lines carry a cost rate (what you expect to spend) beside the rate (what you bill); material issued, wages settled, subcontract bills and site expenses tagged to the project are the consumed side. The variance tab shows each head's budget, consumed, remaining and percentage, and raises escalation alerts when a head runs past its budget before the work is done.

Switch: Settings > Projects > BOQ Cost Variance. Permission: View Reports.

Where it appears

Construction shell: BOQ Cost Variance in Navigation (pick a project) and the dashboard's alert strip.

Flow

flowchart TD
    B[BOQ lines: costHead · qty x costRate = budget] --> V[Variance per cost head]
    M[Material issued to site
valued at issue cost] --> V
    W[Wages settled
from the muster roll] --> V
    S[Subcontract bills
purchase vouchers · projectId] --> V
    E[Site expenses
expense vouchers · projectId] --> V
    V --> R[Budget · consumed · remaining · % · trend]
    V -->|consumed > budget x progress| A[Escalation alert on dashboard]
    A --> D[Decide: revise BOQ · re-quote · stop]

Reading the tab

• Cost head - from the BOQ line's cost head item (cement, steel, labour, electrical...).
• Budget - quantity x cost rate on the lines under that head.
• Consumed - material at issue cost, wages, subcontract bills and site expenses booked to the head.
• Escalation - a head whose consumed share exceeds its completed share by the alert margin is flagged; the alert clears when the BOQ is revised or the head catches up.

Setting it up

flowchart LR
    A[Settings > Project
BOQ Cost Variance on] --> B[Put a cost rate on every BOQ line
not just the billing rate]
    B --> C[Assign each line a cost head]
    C --> D[Costs accumulate against the project]
    D --> E[Variance tab compares budget and spend]
    E --> F[Alerts when a head runs ahead of progress]