Sample budget

A real budget. Anonymized.

The executive page delivered at the end of phase one on a recent Pacific Northwest engagement. Project identifiers, the architect, and the address have been removed. The value-engineering exercise below shows how the team aligned design intent with budget constraints — informed decisions, not blanket cuts.

Anonymized example — end of phase one

A Pacific Northwest custom home, as designed.

The summary below is the executive page delivered at the end of phase one on a recent engagement. Project identifiers, the architect, and the address have been removed.

Preliminary construction budget — as designed

Illustrative example. All numbers anonymized.

4,965 sqft total · Pacific Northwest

Category subtotal $6,512,689 Hard costs across all divisions
Contingency (10%) $651,269 Risk allowance at this stage of design
Contractor fee (10%) $716,396 Applied to subtotal + contingency
Subtotal $7,880,353 Pre-tax
GST (5%) $394,018
Grand total $8,274,371 All-in, as designed
Total area4,965 sqft
House4,260 sqft
Garage463 sqft
Accessory / sauna242 sqft
Cost / sqft (pre-tax)$1,587
House allocation81%
Landscape allocation6%
Garage allocation5%
Budget validated by trade pricing 40% at presentation · 75% target before shovel
The value-engineering exercise

Informed decisions. Not blanket cuts.

On the same project, the team identified $2.36M of potential value-engineering items and walked through each one. Stakeholders approved or deferred each item against a visible cost impact — protecting design intent where it mattered most.

Grand total — as designed $8,274,371
VE items considered −$2,361,223
VE items selected −$1,892,079
Grand total — revised $6,382,292
Revised cost / sqft$1,224
Cost / sqft excl. contingency$940
VE accepted80%
Design intent preservedYes

Of the $2.36M identified as potential reductions, the stakeholder group elected to take $1.89M. The remaining $0.47M was set aside — not because it was unworkable, but because preserving design intent on those scopes was worth the cost.

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