What does each stage carry forward?
Cost control is not a stage of its own. It is what happens when every stage hands the next one something it can check against the estimate.
| Phase | What it covers | What it carries forward |
|---|---|---|
| Tender and estimate | Tendering, estimation, award | Scope, cost basis and approved commitments |
| Plan and prepare | Programme, engineering and supply milestones, mobilisation | Readiness, required dates and resource demand |
| Procure and supply | Procurement, inventory, logistics | Committed cost, material availability and traceability |
| Build and deliver | People, plant, quality, safety, subcontract packages | Measured work, resource use and delivery evidence |
| Control and certify | Change, certification, finance, cash | Reviewed certificates, exposure and cash visibility |
| Handover and close | Commissioning, handover, closeout | A traceable handover and the decision history for the final account |
Read down the right-hand column. If any one of those hand-overs is re-typed into a different system, the line between the estimate and the final cost breaks at that point.
Where does the link between estimate and cost usually break?
At award. The estimate lives in the estimating software or a spreadsheet. The budget is then typed again into the cost system, often with a different structure. Procurement uses its own codes. Three months later, when a package runs over, nobody can say which estimate assumption it came from.
- Different structures: the estimate is built by bill of quantities item, the budget by cost code, the orders by supplier.
- Revisions land in one place: a drawing change updates the quantity in one system and waits to be noticed in the others.
- Finance sees totals, not causes: the ledger shows what was paid, not which change or certificate produced it.
What does one change look like when the estimate stays connected?
Take one line of the estimate and a revised structural drawing. The figures below use the same illustrative example as the project walkthrough on the homepage.
| Step | Structural concrete, STR-04 |
|---|---|
| Tender estimate | 1,200 m³ × SAR 450 per m³ = SAR 540,000 |
| Budget at award | SAR 540,000, carried forward from the approved estimate |
| Drawing revision A | +180 m³, linked to the same line |
| Draft cost movement | 180 m³ × SAR 450 per m³ = SAR 81,000, for review |
| Revised budget, once approved | SAR 621,000 |
| What reads the revised line | Procurement demand, the programme, certification and the cash expectation |
This shows the quantity-times-rate difference only. Taxes, indirect costs, programme effects and commercial terms need their own review. Nothing changes the budget until an authorised person approves it. The draft is prepared across the chain; the decision is made by a person, with an audit trail.
Does it stop at cost control, or reach finance?
Crolle is designed to reach finance. Cost control on its own tells you whether a package is over budget. The rest of the chain tells you what that means for the business.
- Revenue: certified progress on the main contract is read against the same lines, so the margin on a package is visible while it can still be protected.
- Finance: commitments and certificates reach the ledger as the same objects, not as copies to reconcile.
- Cash: the cash expectation follows approved commitments and reviewed certificates.
- Closeout: the decision history is still there for the final account, and for pricing the next tender.
That is twelve stages in one record: tender, estimation, award, planning, procurement, subcontracts, cost, revenue, finance, cash, closeout and documents. For how a subcontract package is paid along the way, see what goes into a subcontractor payment certificate.
Common questions
What is the difference between a tender estimate and a project budget?
The estimate is the priced scope a contractor bids on. The budget is the approved cost baseline the project is controlled against after award, including whatever changed in negotiation. In one ERP the budget is carried forward from the approved estimate rather than typed again, so every budget line can be traced back to the quantity and rate behind it.
Can we keep our estimating software and connect it to cost control?
You can import an estimate into a separate cost system, but then the estimate and the budget are two records. The link usually breaks at the first drawing revision, when the quantity changes in one place and has to be found and changed again in the other. Keeping both in one ERP means a revision moves the line it belongs to. The wider trade-off is covered in one construction ERP or separate tools.
How does a design change reach the cost report?
The revised drawing is linked to the bill of quantities item it affects, the quantity difference is priced at the line's rate as a draft cost movement, and an authorised person reviews it. Once approved, the revised budget line is what procurement, planning and certification read. Nothing reaches the budget without that approval.
Does Crolle stop at cost control, or include finance?
Yes. Crolle is designed to cover tender, estimation, award, planning, procurement, subcontracts, cost, revenue, finance, cash, closeout and documents as one ERP, so the figures that start in the estimate continue into certified revenue, the finance ledger, the cash expectation and the final account.
Crolle is opening early access to a small group of contractors and partners. To see it on your own projects, write to info@crolle.ai.