Cost Control · One module of the operating system
Catch the blowout at 2%.
Not at close-out.
Budget vs committed vs actual, live on every job. Oryn™ flags margin erosion at 2%, 5% and 10% so it shows up while you can still do something about it, not in a report you run after the money’s gone. Cost control is one module of the construction operating system, so every figure it reads was entered once, somewhere else, and flowed here automatically.
7 days free · $299 first month · $555/mo after · Month-to-month
01 / What it does
What this feature does
Cost Control is the module in VIABUILD that gives you the live picture of where each job’s money is going, the practical core of job cost tracking for a builder. Three numbers, kept current: your budget, what you’ve committed through purchase orders, and what you’ve actually been billed. Because VIABUILD is one connected operating system, those numbers aren’t re-keyed here. Invoices that Oryn™ reads and codes in accounts payable and POs drawn from the budget update the columns as the job runs, with zero double entry, not when someone finds time to reconcile a spreadsheet.
On top of that sits Oryn’s variance flagging. When committed or actual starts pulling away from budget, Oryn flags it at 2%, 5% and 10%, early enough to act.
02 / Why it matters
Why builders need it
Spreadsheets lag reality
A budget-vs-actual sheet updated “when there’s time” tells you about a blowout weeks after it happened. By then the money’s spent.
Margins erode quietly
Cost creep rarely arrives in one big hit. It’s a dozen small over-runs. You need to see them adding up, early.
Committed ≠ actual
What you’ve ordered matters as much as what you’ve been billed. Tracking committed cost shows exposure before the invoice lands.
Close-out is too late
Finding out a job lost money at handover means you can’t fix it. Real-time tracking moves the discovery forward.
Decisions need live numbers
Approving a variation or a change order is easier when you can see exactly where the job sits right now, in the same system that holds the estimate, the POs and the claims.
Portfolio view for owners
Across every active job, see WIP and margins at a glance, not three tabs and a spreadsheet stitched together. One operating system, one data model, one portfolio view.
03 / The VIABUILD way
How VIABUILD handles it
Live budget vs committed vs actual, with Oryn flagging the drift.
Your budget comes from the estimate you won on. Purchase orders draw down the committed column. Supplier invoices, which Oryn reads, codes and matches in accounts payable, fill in actuals as they arrive. Because every module shares one data model, the three columns stay in sync without manual reconciliation, and the same figures feed your WIP reporting at month end. A number entered once flows everywhere.
Oryn watches every cost line against budget and flags drift at 2%, 5% and 10%. When a line moves, the flag lands against that job, so you’re reacting to a 2% problem instead of explaining a 20% one. Knowing where a job sits also tells you when it’s safe to raise the next progress claim.
- Budget vs committed vs actual, live
- Fed by estimates, POs and Oryn-coded invoices
- Oryn flags variance at 2%, 5% and 10%
- Per-line cost visibility
- Portfolio WIP and margin view
- No manual spreadsheet reconciliation
04 / The workflow
How it runs, step by step
- 01
Budget from the estimate
The estimate you won on becomes the job budget, your baseline for cost.
- 02
Commit via POs
Purchase orders draw down the committed column as you order.
- 03
Actuals from invoices
Supplier invoices Oryn reads and codes fill in actual cost as bills arrive.
- 04
Oryn watches the variance
Oryn compares each cost line to budget continuously.
- 05
Get flagged early
Oryn flags drift at 2%, 5% and 10% before it becomes a blowout.
- 06
Act in time
Adjust scope, chase a variation, or change suppliers while it still moves the number.
05 / FAQ
Common questions.
Budget is what you planned to spend (from the estimate). Committed is what you’ve ordered through purchase orders but may not have been billed yet. Actual is what suppliers have actually invoiced. Tracking all three shows both your current spend and your exposure.
Costs update as work flows through the operating system: POs draw down committed, and invoices Oryn reads and codes in accounts payable fill in actuals as they arrive. Every module shares one data model, so there’s no separate spreadsheet to reconcile and the numbers reflect where the job is now.
Oryn, the intelligence embedded across every VIABUILD module, watches each cost line against budget and flags it when it drifts, at 2%, 5% and 10%. The idea is to catch margin erosion early, while you can still act on it.
Yes. Xero is your accounting ledger. VIABUILD is the construction operating system, and Cost Control tracks job cost in construction terms (budget, committed and actual per cost line, live). Bills sync between the two with tracking categories so the picture stays consistent.
06 / Keep reading
Related features & guides
See where your margins really are.
Start with 7 days free: the whole operating system, real data. $299 for your first month, then $555/mo. Set up a live job and watch budget, committed and actual move together, with Oryn flagging the drift.