Renovation budget spreadsheet
By Stephen Morrison, Editor Last reviewed
A free budget template for any home project. List items, set a contingency, track what you actually pay, and log contractor payments with lien releases. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice.
Download
Free, with no sign-up and no email required. The .xlsx has four sheets: Budget, Payments, Example and How to use.
What's inside
- Budget: 40 lines with category dropdowns. Quantity × unit cost fills in the estimate, and actual minus estimate shows the variance. Subtotal, contingency, total budget, spent so far and remaining are calculated for you, plus a breakdown by category.
- Payments: due date, payee, milestone, amount, date paid and a lien-release column.
- Example: a filled-in patio project so you can see how it works.
- How to use: the short version of this page.
Preview: the example sheet
| Category | Item | Qty | Unit | Unit cost | Estimate | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials | Concrete mix, 80 lb bags | 62 | bag | $6.50 | $403.00 | $403.00 | $0.00 |
| Materials | Form boards and stakes | 1 | lot | $85.00 | $85.00 | $92.00 | $7.00 |
| Labor | Concrete finisher | 1 | day | $600.00 | $600.00 | $650.00 | $50.00 |
| Permits & fees | Building permit | 1 | permit | $120.00 | $120.00 | ||
| Tools & rentals | Plate compactor rental | 1 | day | $95.00 | $95.00 | ||
| Subtotal | $1,303.00 | ||||||
| Contingency (15%) | $195.45 | ||||||
| Total budget | $1,498.45 | Remaining: $353.45 | |||||
Filling it in
- Get quantities from the calculators: concrete, paint, drywall, flooring, decks, fences and more.
- Add a line for each material, the labor (from the quote you chose with the contractor checklist), permits and tool rentals.
- Set your contingency in cell B5.
- As you pay, fill in the Actual column and the Payments sheet.
Common questions
Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. In Google Sheets choose File → Import → Upload and pick the .xlsx file. The formulas, dropdowns and formatting come across. It also opens in Excel, Numbers and LibreOffice.
How much contingency should I put in?
There’s no official figure. It depends on how many unknowns the project has: opening walls in an older house carries more risk than painting. Type your percentage into cell B5 and the total updates.
What’s the Payments sheet for?
Listing each payment to your contractor, when it’s due and whether you’ve received a lien release for it. The FTC advises against paying the full amount up front, and suggests asking the contractor, subcontractors and suppliers for lien releases. Lien rules depend on your state.
Is there an online version?
Yes: the Buildzly project planner does the same budgeting in your browser, takes materials straight from our calculators, and exports a CSV for this spreadsheet.