For Quantity Surveyors
Spend less time reconciling spreadsheets and more time controlling cost.
Foras holds budget, captured cost, Finance actuals, variations and the forecast in one structure, so the project QS works from a position that is already assembled — and can show where every figure came from.
311Shoring & Formwork
Shared cost code — choose budget line
| Budget line | Budget | CTDCaptured CTD | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|
| 311.1 Piling & shoringSelected | £640,000 | £412,500 | £227,500 |
| 311.2 Formwork & falsework | £385,000 | £196,800 | £188,200 |
| Captured cost £5,000 → 311.1 | Drawn down against the selected line, not split across both | ||
What the week actually looks like
The commercial work happens after the admin
None of this is a competence problem. It is what happens when budget, site cost and Finance sit in three systems that were never designed to agree.
The month starts by rebuilding last month
Cost reports, subcontract records and Finance extracts are pulled together by hand into a workbook that only you fully understand. The analysis happens after the assembly, if there is time left.
Incurred cost and posted cost live apart
What has been done on site, what has been ordered and what Finance has posted rarely line up at the same moment. Reconciling them is manual, and the reconciliation itself is not kept.
Variation cost is reconstructed after the fact
Extra work starts on a verbal instruction. By assessment time the hours, plant and materials are recalled rather than recorded, which weakens the commercial position.
Attribution is done twice
Cost gets coded once on site and again in the commercial workbook. The two do not always agree, and neither carries a record of why a line was coded the way it was.
How Foras helps
The workings are kept, not rebuilt
A budget you control, with a locked baseline
Budget lines carry quantity, rate and value against cost codes — and WBS elements or Work Items where the project uses them. Changing the baseline is explicit: an unlock requires a recorded reason and author.
Captured cost beside Finance actuals
Per cost code, Foras shows captured cost, imported Finance actuals and the difference between them, so you are reconciling against a stated figure rather than reverse-engineering one.
A decision recorded on every difference
Differences are settled with a recorded decision such as Timing or Match Finance, carrying the adjustment, the reason and the author. Adjusted cost to date is the position you report.
Forecast built from your own rates
Cost to complete is quantity × rate × utilisation on each forecast line. Forecast final cost is adjusted cost to date plus cost to complete, with variance against approved budget shown line by line.
Variation cost captured as it happens
Work done under a variation is recorded in the site diary with evidence and occurrence dating, so the commercial assessment starts from a record rather than a recollection.
The position
Captured cost, Finance and the difference between them
Per cost code, with the adjustment and the decision recorded rather than absorbed into a total.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.97m
| Cost code | DiffDifference | CTDAdjusted CTD | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150Project Management | £60k | £1.84m | Timing |
| 210Labour | £262k | £2.96m | Decision needed |
| 311Shoring | −£115k | £1.54m | Match Finance |
| 707Subcontract | £158k | £3.18m | Needs review |
Difference = Captured − Finance. A negative difference means captured cost sits below Finance. Shoring shows a Match Finance adjustment of +£115,000, so adjusted CTD equals the Finance position to date. Values rounded for display.
Actual Foras interface pattern. Values are illustrative demo data from the Northgate Logistics Park demo project.
What changes in practice
A cycle you can run every week
- 01
Set the budget and lock it
Budget lines are built against cost codes and, where used, WBS. The locked baseline is what variance is measured from for the rest of the job.
- 02
Let site capture do the coding
Labour, plant, materials and subcontract activity are classified at capture. Cost that cannot yet be attributed stays visible for review rather than disappearing.
- 03
Reconcile against Finance
When Finance posts, differences surface per cost code. You record the decision and the adjustment rather than nudging a spreadsheet cell.
- 04
Move the forecast deliberately
Update quantity, rate or utilisation on the lines that changed. The forecast moves because you changed an assumption, and the change is attributable.
- 05
Report from the same place next month
This month's decisions become next month's opening position. Nothing has to be reassembled to answer why a number moved.
What you get
Cost control you can show your workings for
Traceability
Every figure in the position can be followed back to the budget line, the captured cost and the recorded decision behind it.
Less assembly
Time moves from collecting and re-keying data to interrogating the position and acting on it.
A defensible forecast
Explicit arithmetic on your quantities, rates and utilisation — not a trend line you have to justify afterwards.
A kept audit trail
Adjustments carry a reason and an author, so the reconciliation survives the person who performed it.
Finance remains authoritative for posted actuals. Foras reconciles the project position against Finance and records the decision; it does not replace your ERP or post back to it.
Explore the solutions
Bring your current cost report. We’ll show you the same job as a live position.
Use your own cost codes, a recent Finance extract and one open variation. We’ll map them into Foras and show how the reconciliation and forecast connect.
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