Tracking Estimated vs. Actual Cost

Every maintenance request includes two cost fields that work together to help you manage your repair budget.

Estimated Cost

Enter your best guess for what the repair will cost before the vendor starts work. This is useful for:

• Budget approval: If you manage properties for an investor, they may require cost approval above a certain threshold.
• Vendor negotiation: Having a written estimate in the system gives you leverage if the final invoice comes in significantly higher.
• Cash flow planning: If you know three repairs are pending with combined estimates of $2,000, you can ensure adequate reserves.

Actual Cost

Fill this in after the vendor completes the work and submits their final invoice. This is the real number that matters for your financial reporting.

The Comparison Value

When both fields are populated, you can instantly see cost overruns:

• Estimated: $200 | Actual: $175 → You came in under budget. ✅
• Estimated: $200 | Actual: $450 → The job was more expensive than expected. Investigate why.

Connecting to the Expense Ledger

After recording the Actual Cost on the maintenance request, the best practice is to also create an Expense record for the same amount and link it back to this specific maintenance request.

This ensures the cost appears in both:

1. Your Maintenance analytics (tracking repair frequency and cost per category).
2. Your Expense reports (tracking total operational spending and tax deductions).

The maintenance request tracks the operational story (what broke, who fixed it, how long it took). The expense record tracks the financial story (how much it cost, which vendor was paid, and the attached invoice).