We all overshoot a few projects; sometimes they are big, and other times they are small. Reports state that 28% of project failures are attributed to inaccurate budget estimates. Therefore, strive to double-check all your budgetary assumptions and preserve your company’s reputation.

 

Cost estimation is tricky. Creating a project budget that works for your customers or organization is an art. Therefore, to meet all the financial needs of your project, follow these five essential tips. 

 

  1. Identify your project scope, timelines, and deliverables by creating a work breakdown structure. 
  2. Determine the resources required for your project’s staffing, equipment, sales & marketing, training, and miscellaneous items. 
  3. Assign amounts to your project’s resource needs.
  4. Include contingency funds and build your budget. 
  5. Obtain approvals from stakeholders and implement the budget. 

 

Along with this, we have shared five approaches that can facilitate the cost and size estimation of your project. You can enforce these hacks accurately by exploring our well-researched project budget templates. These cherry-picked designs are entirely editable, so feel free to customize the text and diagrams with your project budget. 

 

Let’s get started!

1. Bottom-up estimation

With this approach, you can anticipate costs for individual parts of your project, such as tasks, milestones, or phases to calculate the total project cost. If you are sure about every aspect of your project, apply this estimation for creating a statement of work. Besides, check out these three amazing templates to achieve your goals effectively. 

Template 1

Companies can use this template to create a budget utilization report for each department. You can use it to cover parameters including status, budget, actual money spent, and projection. So grab it immediately to determine the budget deviation. 

 

Project Budget Utilization Report with Key Projections

 

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Template 2

This content-specific template can be used to finance your project budget. Besides, you can incorporate it to estimate direct and indirect costs, capital expenditures, operating expenses, and deliverables costs of your project. Download now!

 

Budget Projection PowerPoint Presentation

 

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Template 3

Select this 30 slide project budgeting template to monitor if your actual costs are exceeding set estimates. This projection will help you identify additional budget needs. Therefore, download the template right away!

 

Project Budgeting

 

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2. Top-down estimation

This approach involves estimating the total budget first and then segregating it into smaller chunks. You can use this technique when your project price or budget is fixed. So choose from these impressive templates and add them to your project budget details. 

Template 1

Consultants can use this well-designed proposal template to structure a profitable budget for their clients. They can use different estimation approaches such as bottom-up estimation, top-down estimation, analogous estimation, and more. Therefore, download it instantly and make the desired changes. 

 

Project Budget Proposal

 

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Template 2

Select this well-structured budget template to highlight your project description, process, team information, cost, timeline, breakdown structure, sequence, and more. The design is crafted by our team of professionals. So download it without any second thoughts. 

 

Project Budget Template

 

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Template 3

Choose this visually appealing template to incorporate your project budget in a single cost calculation sheet. You can share it with your team members and warn them to get funding before taking on the project. Download and use it to your benefit. 

 

Project Budget Estimation using Cost Calculation Sheet

 

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3. Analogous estimation

You can apply this approach if you have managed a few projects in the past and experienced their budgeting. Here, you can rely on the budget data and best practices from your previous project. Select from these templates and form an opinion on how much your project will cost. 

Template 1

This amazing budget template can be used to plan your project cost estimation. Besides, you can use it to project your previous project’s budget data. With this, you can evaluate the difference between actual and predicted costs. Therefore, download now and pick the most suitable budget practice. 

 

Project Change Budget PPT

 

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Template 2

Show the estimated budget performance of your project with this timeline template. You can represent the actual schedule by covering pointers like strategic planning, project development, evolution, and more. Besides, you can set the estimation using varied approaches. Download now!

 

Period of Project Budget Performance

 

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Template 3

With this template, you can easily share the list of projects and start estimating costs for them. In addition, you can exhibit the risks and issues causing unnecessary cost deviation. So download it and create your project budget dashboard. 

 

Project Portfolio Budget Team Risk and Issue Dashboards

 

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4. Parametric estimation

In this approach, you can evaluate the cost variables and data points from specific parts of multiple projects. Besides, it is more lucrative than analogous estimation as it uses statistical relationships between historical data sets. So you can apply it to your current project and make decisions based on it. Our templates will surely help you in your endeavors. 

Template 1

Use this template to create a budget for your project. Estimate costs for all the equipment, tools, data, and strategies. Further, you can use the Gantt charts and bar graphs given in the template to depict a comparison between your previous and current budget. Download now!

 

Project Budget Management and Resource Allocation Dashboard

 

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Template 2

Add this template to interpret your project budget and quantify the expectation of revenues. Besides, you can analyze the revenue estimates for previous years and set a future goal accordingly. Download it immediately and illustrate the relationship between historical data sets. 

 

Revenue Forecast

 

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Template 3

Use this template to plan an agile budget allocation for your website development project. It will help you manage the cost change, project needs, external and internal factors, and others. So download it and estimate your budget strategically. 

 

Agile Estimation for Website Development

 

Download Agile Project Budget Estimation For Website Development Template

5. Three-point estimation

You can use this pragmatic technique and take into account weighted averages of the best, worst, and most likely budget scenarios. This technique will help you think from multiple perspectives to figure out a realistic cost. Additionally, delve into the given PowerPoint templates.

Template 1

Use this template to create a persuasive budget schedule for your construction project. Remember, you can also include a contingency fund for misinterpretations. Therefore, download it and model out your project costs. 

 

Construction Schedule

 

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Template 2

Use the three-point estimation method to forecast expenses for your project in 4 different quarters with this change budget template. Moreover, you can share it with your management or team leader, get approval, and oversee the performance. Download now!

 

Plan to Manage

 

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Template 3

This is another invigorating timeline template that can provide a visual overview of your project budget from start to finish. You can use this design to sketch a cost projection for five consecutive years. Download now!

 

Timeline

 

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Now your first project budget won’t be the hardest to build. Also, these handpicked templates will help accelerate your planning process and attain budget specifications more quickly. Till then, enjoy your systematic triumph!

 

P.S: You can ensure adequate preparation, tracking, forecasting, and analysis of your budget with these stunning PowerPoint templates featured in this guide.