Three numbers run underneath every fit-out job, and most people watch only one of them. The one they watch is actual — the money that has gone out. It feels like the honest number, because it is the money that has truly left.
It is also the number that lies to you, and the lesson explains why.
The three numbers
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Budget
What you planned to spend, before any work began. Set line by line from the BOQ — rate times quantity. The budget is the yardstick every other number is measured against.
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Committed
Money you have promised but not yet paid. Every raised purchase order, every signed subcontract, every agreed variation that has not yet been invoiced. Committed is the cost that is already locked in, waiting to become actual.
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Actual
Money that has gone out. Invoices received, approved, and paid. Actual is real, but it is always lagging — it only counts what has already been billed to you.
The relationship between them is the whole lesson. Committed is the bridge between budget and actual. Ignore it, and you are steering by the rear-view mirror.
Why actual alone is a trap
Picture month two of a fit-out. The joinery PO has been raised, the marble has been ordered, the subcontract for the MEP first fix has been signed. None of it has been invoiced yet, because the suppliers are still delivering.
| Number | Month two |
|---|---|
| Budget | 100,000 |
| Committed | 78,000 |
| Actual | 12,000 |
If you look only at actual, the job looks wonderful. You have spent 12,000 against a 100,000 budget. There is 88,000 of headroom. The temptation is to relax — to agree to an extra, to upgrade a finish, to take on another job assuming this one is flush.
The honest picture is committed. You have already promised 78,000 of that 100,000. The headroom is not 88,000. It is 22,000, and the marble invoice alone will take a chunk of it next month.
A worked example, one line at a time
Take a single BOQ line: marble cladding to the reception feature wall, budget 9,000. Walk it through the three numbers.
| Stage of the line | Budget | Committed | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job starts, nothing ordered | 9,000 | 0 | 0 |
| PO raised to the marble supplier | 9,000 | 9,000 | 0 |
| First delivery invoiced and paid (3,000) | 9,000 | 9,000 | 3,000 |
| Final delivery invoiced and paid (6,000) | 9,000 | 9,000 | 9,000 |
Notice what committed does the moment the PO is raised. It jumps to the full 9,000, even though nothing has been paid. That jump is the point. The moment you raise a PO or sign a subcontract, the money is effectively spent — it is just moving through the pipeline on the supplier’s timeline, not yours.
Actual crawls behind, catching up as each invoice lands. By the end of the line, committed and actual have converged at 9,000. The budget held, because this line went to plan. The numbers told a consistent story throughout.
The number that actually runs the job
Build the habit of reading committed first and actual second. Budget is the yardstick. Committed is where you are. Actual is merely where you have got to in the paperwork.
Once the three numbers are clear, the rest of cost control is mostly bookkeeping — and far less of a surprise.
What this looks like in Taskity
Every cost on a job is shown in all three columns against the budget line it belongs to. The moment a purchase order is raised, committed moves; the moment an invoice is paid, actual moves. You do not have to assemble the picture yourself — the three numbers are kept side by side so that the gap between committed and budget is always visible, not something you discover in month five.
Check what you learned
1. In month two of a job, actual spend is low and committed is high. If you look only at actual, what will you wrongly conclude?
Show the answer
That the job is running under budget, when the money is simply not yet paid
Actual is low in month two because most of the money you have promised — in raised POs and signed subcontract orders — has not yet been paid. It will be. Reading only the actual makes the job look healthy when most of the cost is already committed and simply waiting in the pipeline. Committed is the number that tells you what the job will actually cost once the invoices land.
2. A PO is raised for marble at 9,000, and 3,000 of it has been invoiced and paid. What are the committed and actual figures for that line?
Show the answer
Committed 9,000, actual 3,000
Committed is the value you have promised — the full PO of 9,000 — because that money is owed and will be paid. Actual is the money that has actually gone out — the 3,000 invoiced and paid so far. The two will converge as the remaining 6,000 is invoiced, but until then committed is the honest picture of what the line is costing you.
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