{"id":10117,"date":"2024-09-12T06:06:03","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T06:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planyard.com\/construction-cost-codes-for-project-managers"},"modified":"2025-05-19T16:35:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:35:40","slug":"construction-cost-codes-for-quantity-surveyors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/planyard.com\/en-au\/construction-cost-codes-for-quantity-surveyors","title":{"rendered":"Construction Cost Codes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What Are Construction Cost Codes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Construction cost codes are a defined list of codes used to track, manage, and report amounts, quantities, budgets, profits, and other job-related data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These codes streamline companywide data management for all stakeholders, including estimators, quantity surveyors, and accounting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They should be used for forecasting and contracting to cost management and accounting, ensuring full project visibility and allowing error detection and data reuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Benefits of Using Construction Cost codes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cost control<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Quick and easy way to identify and analyze how money is spent on the project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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KPIs tracking<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Track and manage KPIs such as estimated cost, cost estimate, current costs and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ideal for companywide use<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Using the same codes companywide makes it easy to track and analyze costs, errors, and forecasts for all stakeholders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Visualize profit centers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

End-to-end analysis for visualizing profit centres and problematic areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Estimating<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Gives structure and access for following the costs in real-time for setting more accurate and realistic estimates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Real-time tracking<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Let management have a clear overview of the job and keep all the stakeholders engaged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Job Broken Down to Smaller Deliverables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Work can be broken down using a project\u2019s construction cost codes to divide tasks into smaller deliverables (e.g., foundations, installations, facades).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planyard recommends following the chronological order of jobs. Structuring costs by on-site activities helps management track profitability in phases. By mid-project, you can see whether the initial phases, like foundation work, were profitable.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Construction budget structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Construction cost codes should link together the project forecast and costs management with the job tasks and structure. The cost codes should have a recognizable structure, from the overall project level to individual jobs and accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the right you can see the External Installations category broken down to account level.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Budget Managed From an Estimate, From Job Costing to Project Income<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, it\u2019s smart to list the budget with the cost paid by the customer to enable job profitability tracking on an article level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To what level should you break down construction cost codes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is no one answer to this question. You should start by tracking the level of detail needed by various stakeholders. Following the costs in too much detail makes reporting a time-consuming task for the quantity surveyors and adds complexity to the cost analysis process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NB! It\u2019s important to keep in mind that there are a number of stakeholders involved in cost code management. All the stakeholders should be involved in selecting the appropriate cost codes structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Important to think about who will be using the cost code information<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Quantity surveyors are interested in getting the work done and should have control over the budget with as little time spent on reporting as possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Accounting is interested in following costs by each account
    Managers should be able to concur with tracking errors, accountability, and profitability<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Estimators for future estimates need to be able to track the real costs of current jobs<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Where to get a list of construction cost codes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    Get construction cost codes for free<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Planyard contractor software helps ambitious teams smash their targets and accelerate their growth.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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