“You tell them - you tell them there's a cost.....Every decision we make in life, there's always a cost.”Brad Meltzer, Author

 

The cost that the author refers to here is philosophical, but businesses need to do better. They need to find the cost estimates of every new, important project they undertake. If enterprises fail to define a budget, and do not draw up a cost estimate plan, nothing but chaos will follow. This puts into focus the importance of cost estimate templates for businesses.

 

What is a Cost Estimate?

 

Cost estimate refers to the approximate cost involved in manufacture, designing, marketing and distribution of a finished product. A cost estimate is also generated to anticipate expenses during business campaigns, IT projects, constructions, and even when hiring or training people. In business, a cost estimator must perform an early analysis of expenses involved and accurately forecast the same for the stakeholders and team members. 

 

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Once a cost estimate is prepared, the product selling price and profits can be decided and intermediary inventory reports also drafted. Similarly, salaries can be changed based on the amount spent in hiring or training the employees. It is this cost estimate that helps prevent instances of cost overrun. 

 

Having a cost estimate plan will not only allot a budget to your project but will also identify the individual costs of materials, services, and conveyances involved. The result being, if a cost estimate is accurately designed, there will be minimum variations in the budget vs actual expenses.

 

Who Should Use a Cost Estimate?

 

A cost estimate can be distributed among the involved teams such as the production unit, the assembly line, distributors and even marketers, for them to stick to their respective budgets. 

 

Individual cost estimates can also be forwarded by the teams to the finance management team. These departments learn to prepare individual expense reports and ready the final cost estimate.

 

Top 10 Cost Estimate Templates for You

 

Your projects must use cost estimate templates to ensure their viability. Besides, with cost estimate templates, you will know the order of expenditures that is to follow and consequently, the project will run smoothly. 

 

We have catered to this requirement and present this unique set of 10 best cost estimate templates that are editable and compatible with your presentation software. Explore these here:

Template 1: Project Cost Estimate PPT Sample Download

Here is a project cost estimate example that enlists the major costs of a software development project at hand. Right from the major expenses in project management, to the hardware, software, training and reserves, the total amount expected to be a part of the software project under consideration can be listed in this PPT Slide. Download this software project cost estimation example of a template now.

 

Project Cost Estimate Template

 

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Template 2: Construction Cost Estimate Template

Your construction projects need to be justified. For this, here is a construction cost breakdown template to summon the major field expenditures. With this PPT Template, compare and contrast multiple versions of the construction projects that can be used for analogous cost estimates. Record facets of the projects such as their states, average material cost, average required quantity, average labor cost, etc to prepare an all-encompassing sheet of anticipated expenses. Download now.

 

Construction Cost Estimate Template

 

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Template 3: Price Cost Estimate Template

Here is an A4 size template to share an insight into the pricing estimate for a project or task under consideration. Share individual prices of resources, services, or other chargeable elements of your project and add the taxes that apply to it. Compile all individual expenses to give your stakeholders a broader idea of their investment. Get this editable price cost estimate template now.

 

Price Cost Estimate Template

 

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Template 4: Cost Estimate Template for Software Development 

A software project under consideration comprises costs relating to the purchase of premium software, hiring capable developers, outsourcing services from third-party vendors and so on. Create its budget sheet and perform subsequent estimates involved in its functioning and successful completion with this software cost estimation template. Claim this best PPT Design for the effective presentation of your budget reports as well. 

 

Cost Estimate Template for Software Development Project

 

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Template 5: Cost Estimate Template for IT Project 

Quality control and analysis is an important IT activity that in turn has its financial implications. Rally the categories of your day-to-day activities that take a toll on the company revenue with this PPT Presentation and share your budget report alongside. Compare your efficiency over the years and share the benefits of the updated techniques in use that minimize cost as well as yield more rewards. Get all this data under one roof with this PPT Compilation. Get it now!

 

Cost Estimate Development for IT Project

 

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Template 6: Job Cost Estimate Template

Outsourcing relevant candidates for filling company positions is again a costly affair. List your expenses involved to get company interviews started by listing all payments to be made to staffing sources and recruitment portals over the months. You can generate a report after every two months to inform your finance team over your expenses. Grab this excitable PPT Slide from the link below.

 

Job Cost Estimate PPT Template

 

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Template 7: Employee Coaching Cost Estimate Template

It’s not just the salaries that organizations reward their employees with, some of the good ones actually focus on upskilling them. Needless to say that it is a costly affair and requires the company to monitor job cost estimates, all of which can be showcased with this PPT Template. Highlight the aspects of training costs, personnel cost, and other miscellaneous costs levied on you along the way and present the report to the top management. Get this editable framework now.

 

Employee Training Cost Estimation PPT Template

 

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Template 8: Project Cost Estimate With Budget Vs. Actual Analysis

Use this PPT Slide to categorize sources of income of expenditure for your organization. Then using budget vs. actual analysis, find out your profitability or cost overrun circumstances to renew finance management accordingly. This activity needs to be done as a part of project estimation to identify the correct sources of finance and cost sinks for your business. Download this PPT Slide right away. 

 

Project Cost Estimate With Budget Vs Actual Template

 

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Template 9: Project Cost Estimation PowerPoint Templates

Share the detailed report of your anticipated project expenditures with this PowerPoint Collection with special focus on which cost estimation methods used. You could be using any of the four methods of cost estimation. Jot down your previous analysis if you are using the analogous meteor or your statistical models with in depth analysis if you are going for parametric, bottom-up, or three part method using this PowerPoint Presentation. Lastly, summon all anticipated expenses involved along the way. Use this PPT Compilation to share your detailed insights.

 

Project Cost Estimation Methods Template

 

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Template 10: Cost Estimation or Strategy Implementation

Share the expenditure in deploying an effective strategy that involves investing in loyalty programs, establishing a strong social media presence, and personalizing customer experience. All these will require putting in place an excellent sales force, paid advertising, running campaigns, and so on. Add up the total estimated cost of all these services with this dedicated single-slide PPT Template. Download now.

 

Cost estimation for strategy implementation PPT mockup

 

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Pay Attention to Costs

 

Whether it is an IT project estimate, a construction cost estimate, or any other project under consideration, we have served the most searched for PPT Templates in this blog. Download from this collection to ease your finance management starting today!

 

PS: Financial health of a company can be observed from its balance sheet because it lists its profitability and the liabilities. Study yours with our characteristic set of 10 PPT Slides presented in this blog that are structured to record and present your valuable financial data.

FAQs on Cost Estimate
How do you write a cost estimate?

A cost estimate must encompass all details of money spent. This includes the resources, responsibilities and those responsible for delivering tasks in addition to the cost of products and services involved in this process. A cost estimate should, in particular, mention the duration of the project so that planning and budgeting makes the undertaking a jolly ride. Here’s a quick guide to create a cost estimate:

 

  1. Jot down the tasks and resources to be employed
  2. Assign work and responsibilities to the team
  3. Anticipate the duration for which the project runs and create a schedule accordingly.
  4. Make the calculations of costs involved.
  5. You can also track project budgets using real-time cost estimation tools to gain a more accurate understanding of your expenses. 
What are the 4 main methods of cost estimating?

Cost estimation is like predicting the budget for a particular business activity hence it is prone to errors. However, experts have identified four methods to increase the precision of estimated budgets, these are:

 

  1. Analogous: Here project estimate is done based on the stats from a previously undertaken project that resembles the current undertaking. The mode isn't accurate always and is applied when little information is known about the current project.
  2. Parametric: In this mode of cost estimate, both the knowledge of previously conducted projects and statistical modeling is used to predict the cost of the project at hand. It is more accurate than the analogous mode and is commonplace in construction cost estimation and other electronic products manufacturing processes. 
  3. Bottom-Up: Using this mode of cost estimation, the mega project is broken down into simpler tasks and their individual budget report is generated. Then the reports are coalesced to present a full-fledged cost estimate report.
  4. Three Point: In this mode of cost estimation, three individual budget reports are generated that differ by approach: optimistic, pessimistic, and neutral. 
What is an example of cost estimation? 

Since cost estimation is applicable wherever investment is done, we find many examples where the need to create one is felt. From preparing a construction cost estimate, where the cost of raw materials, workers’ wages, and the cost of burning fuel needs to be budgeted, its rough estimate needs to be drawn before the beginning of the project to align all stakeholders and interests. Similarly, in software of IT development, cost of software and third-party services, and salaries including perks need to be jotted down together to create a software/IT cost estimate sheet.

How do I make my own estimate?

To make your own estimate, you need to gather all information about the project/entity at hand. Next, you need a fair idea of processes, resources, deadlines, and manpower required so as to allot value to each contributing factor. Since estimate in itself is an approximation, you need to to create rough analysis of the expenses involved by employing the most relevant cost estimate technique so as to create a fairly overlapping budget vs actual sheet later on.