THE PM JOB COST
SCORECARD.
A PM job cost scorecard shows each project manager's active jobs with actual costs by cost code compared to the original estimate. It is the financial report that converts monthly bookkeeping into field accountability. Without it, the PM knows if the job is on schedule. With it, the PM knows if the job is making money — and where the gap is happening while there's still time to close it.
THE STRUCTURE OF A
PM JOB COST SCORECARD.
The scorecard shows one row per active job per PM. Each job shows actual costs by cost code compared to the estimate, with variance flagged. The PM sees this report monthly — after close, before the owner meeting.
| COST CODE | ESTIMATE | ACTUAL TO DATE | % OF EST SPENT | REMAINING EST | STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material | $84,000 | $79,200 | 94% | $4,800 | ON TRACK |
| Subcontractor | $52,000 | $41,600 | 80% | $10,400 | ON TRACK |
| Equipment | $28,000 | $33,600 | 120% | -$5,600 | OVER — REVIEW |
| Labor | $118,000 | $129,800 | 110% | -$11,800 | OVER — REVIEW |
| Direct Job Expense | $14,000 | $11,200 | 80% | $2,800 | ON TRACK |
| TOTAL JOB | $296,000 | $295,400 | 99.8% | -$10,200 projected | LOSS LIKELY |
This scorecard is 65% complete on the job. Equipment and labor are both over estimate. At current burn rates, the job closes negative. The PM sees this in month four of a seven-month job — when there are still three months to manage equipment usage, tighten labor, and trigger a change order on the scope that drove the overrun. At closeout, this conversation is too late.
HOW THE MONTHLY SCORECARD
REVIEW RUNS.
The scorecard is not a report you email and hope someone reads. It is a meeting. The CFO presents the scorecard to each PM after the monthly close. The meeting runs 30–45 minutes per PM, once a month. It follows a specific sequence.
REVIEW EACH JOB TOP TO BOTTOM BY COST CODE
Don't jump to the total. Work through each cost code. Material: is the remaining estimate realistic given what's left to install? Labor: is the remaining hours estimate consistent with the remaining scope? Equipment: if you've burned 120% of the equipment estimate at 65% complete, what changes in the last 35%? The PM answers each question. The CFO records the responses in the cost-to-complete column.
FLAG ANY OPEN CHANGE ORDERS
Before closing the review, the PM confirms all open change orders. Any scope change with costs hitting the job but no billing event triggered gets flagged. The CFO notes the dollar amount and the PM owns the timeline for converting it to a billing event. Untracked change order work is the single most common cause of jobs that look profitable on the WIP but close negative.
UPDATE THE COST-TO-COMPLETE FROM THE SCORECARD
The cost-to-complete for each job gets updated based on the scorecard review, not submitted separately. Whatever the PM says it costs to finish the job, that number goes directly into the cost-to-complete column. When the WIP runs the next morning, it runs on actuals plus a cost-to-complete that was just verbally confirmed by the PM — not a number from last month that nobody's reviewed since.
