Can I keep the design fee separate from construction costs?

Yes. Give design its own cost code and, if you bill it separately, its own charge on the project. The margin on the build then reads on its own instead of hiding behind the fee.

How do I track selections and vendor deposits?

Log each selection against its allowance line, record vendor deposits as costs the day they're paid with the order confirmation attached, and put the unpaid balance into the forecast's remaining to spend. The expected final cost counts the whole order immediately.

We use a designer's platform for boards and client approvals. Does Obra replace it?

No. Keep the boards and approvals there. Obra is the money side: what each selection actually cost, what the client owes for the overage, and where the job's margin stands.

Can our project manager and our bookkeeper both work in it?

Yes. Roles separate capture, review and finance: a PM confirms receipts to jobs, the bookkeeper exports, the owner sees the forecast. Nobody has to share a login.

Obra for Design-build firms

Job costing for small design-build firms: procurement, selections and the fee that has to cover them

Expense tracking for design-build firms whose margin lives in procurement: vendor deposits, selections against allowances, and the design fee kept apart from the build.

Start free See the sample budget

Design-build firms make their margin in procurement. The labor and the subs behave roughly like any remodel; the difference is the forty selections, the vendor deposits, the freight and the restocking fees, and the fact that the client was in the room for all of it. A design-build job can lose its margin one tile order at a time while every party feels well served.

Obra tracks each project as a ledger where every selection is a cost with a receipt, every vendor deposit is a recorded cost from the day it's paid with the balance in the forecast, and every overage against an allowance is a change order that adjusts the contract. The design fee sits in its own code, so the build's margin reads on its own.

Procurement, as a ledger sees it

A custom closet is quoted at $14,800. The deposit of $7,400 goes out in week one; the balance in week nine. Between those weeks most tools show the job $7,400 richer than it is. In Obra the deposit is recorded and the balance goes into remaining to spend when the order is placed, so the expected final cost is right in week one and the balance invoice only moves money from remaining to recorded. Multiply that by every vendor on the job and the mid-project margin becomes a number you can act on instead of a number you hope for.

Selections over allowances

The client chooses the $11,200 stone against a $6,400 allowance. The right sequence is short: log the selection against the line, write the $4,800 change order with markup the same day, get it signed, order the stone. The change order pricing calculator handles the markup; the change order guide handles the five-minute writeup. Reverse the sequence and the overage becomes a conversation in month four that you lose.

The fee and the build, apart

Most design-build agreements carry a design fee and a construction contract. Obra lets you record the fee as its own charge and code its costs separately, so the question "did we make money on the build" has an answer that isn't blurred by the design phase, and the question "are we charging enough for design" has one too.

Not Obra's job

Mood boards, renderings, client approvals of selections, scheduling. Keep the designer's platform for those. Obra is the money on each project, current from the day a deposit goes out, with the receipts attached and clean exports for the accountant.

Sample budget

Design-build primary suite and closet, Oak Hollow

Line item	Budget
Design and documentation (fee)	$9,000
Demolition and framing	$8,400
Electrical and lighting (sub)	$7,900
Plumbing (sub)	$5,300
Custom closet millwork (vendor)	$14,800
Tile, stone, flooring (materials)	$11,600
Fixtures and hardware (selections)	$8,700
Paint, trim, finish carpentry	$6,100
Permits	$700
Crew labor and project management	$12,900
Direct cost budget	$85,400
Contract value	$121,000
Gross margin budgeted	$35,600

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

01 Design and documentation
02 Demolition and framing
03 Electrical and lighting
04 Plumbing
05 Millwork and cabinetry
06 Tile, stone, flooring
07 Fixtures, hardware, selections
08 Paint and finish carpentry
09 Permits
10 Crew labor
11 Project management
12 Freight, deliveries, storage

The change orders that eat the margin

The selection that changed after the order: A tile that was chosen, ordered and then swapped carries a restocking fee, a second freight charge and a delay. It's a change order with three lines, or it's three invisible costs.
Design hours after the design phase: Revisions during construction are billable design time under most design-build agreements. They only get billed if someone records them against the job as they happen.
The vendor deposit on a discontinued item: A 50% deposit on millwork that gets re-specified is money committed twice. Record the first deposit as a cost, record the reorder net of whatever the vendor credits back, put the new balance into the forecast, and the job stays honest.

Questions people ask

Can I keep the design fee separate from construction costs?: Yes. Give design its own cost code and, if you bill it separately, its own charge on the project. The margin on the build then reads on its own instead of hiding behind the fee.
How do I track selections and vendor deposits?: Log each selection against its allowance line, record vendor deposits as costs the day they're paid with the order confirmation attached, and put the unpaid balance into the forecast's remaining to spend. The expected final cost counts the whole order immediately.
We use a designer's platform for boards and client approvals. Does Obra replace it?: No. Keep the boards and approvals there. Obra is the money side: what each selection actually cost, what the client owes for the overage, and where the job's margin stands.
Can our project manager and our bookkeeper both work in it?: Yes. Roles separate capture, review and finance: a PM confirms receipts to jobs, the bookkeeper exports, the owner sees the forecast. Nobody has to share a login.

Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.