Renovation Budget & Contractor Bid Tracker

Renovations do not go over budget in one big moment. They go over $750 at a time, through verbal change orders nobody wrote down, until the $40,000 kitchen is a $61,000 kitchen and you cannot point at where it happened.

This workbook makes it visible while you can still do something about it.

What is inside

• Dashboard — your ceiling, what you have spent, what you still owe vendors, contingency remaining, and which phases are over budget. It turns red the moment you cross the line.
• Project Budget — 120 line items across 24 phases, with automatic variance tracking in dollars and percent, plus paid-to-date and still-owed on every row.
• Bid Comparison — three contractors side by side, and not just on price: licence number, insurance verification, years in business, deposit terms, lien waivers and schedule. With cost-per-week so you can see what you are really paying for speed.
• Payments & Changes — a draw schedule with lien-waiver tracking, and a change order log with cost and schedule impact on every one.

The checklist that saves the most money

The Bid Comparison tab ends with the six things to settle before you sign — why the lowest bid is often the most expensive, why you never pay more than 10–30% up front, and why a lien waiver with every payment is the difference between a finished job and a lien on your house from a subcontractor you never met.

Details

• Works in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers and LibreOffice
• Instant download
• Suits anything from a bathroom to a whole-house remodel
• Yours forever, single-user licence

An organizing tool, not legal advice. Deposit caps, lien rules and licensing vary by state, and this does not replace a written contract reviewed by someone qualified where you live.