Use case · Management cost
Tracking management and site overhead cost on a project
Staff, supervision and site establishment are a steady cost that keeps running whatever happens on site. They are often tracked separately from the project cost position, and revisited only when the overrun is already substantial.
Foras records management cost entries against Budget lines, so overheads sit inside the same project cost position as the rest of the job.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Cost position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Approved Budget
£18.42m
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.96m
| Cost code | Captured | Finance | DiffDifference | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 210Labour | £262k | — | ||
| 311Shoring & Formwork | −£115k | Match Finance | ||
| 707Subcontract | £158k | — |
Why this is hard
The cost that nobody measures because nobody builds it
Every other cost stream has an output to reconcile against. Management cost only has time, which makes it the easiest thing to leave to the ledger.
It is time-based, not output-based
Management cost accrues because people are on the project, not because work was measured. There is no quantity to reconcile it against, so it is easy to leave until the ledger reports it.
It runs long and it is recognised late
When a programme extends, staff and site establishment keep accruing. Because nothing on site triggers the entry, the additional cost is often recognised well after it started.
It is owned somewhere else
Staff cost frequently sits with the business rather than the project, so the people who can see it are not the people forecasting the job.
It is treated as fixed when it is not
A preliminaries allowance is set at tender and then assumed to hold, and is not always revisited as the job runs.
How it usually goes
A prelims allowance and a monthly ledger figure
Where a preliminaries allowance is set at tender, it is commonly tracked by comparing the monthly ledger figure against a straight-line drawdown. That works while the programme holds, and stops working once the job extends, because the drawdown assumes an end date that may have moved.
Because staff cost often sits with the business rather than the project, the numbers also arrive at a different cadence from site cost — which is why prelim overrun tends to be recognised as a lump rather than as a trend.
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 | ||
Actual Foras interface pattern. Figures are illustrative demo data from the Northgate Logistics Park demo project.
How Foras handles it
Overheads recorded against the cost structure
Management Costs is a project area
Management cost entries are recorded inside the project alongside subcontract and material supply, rather than in a separate business-level workbook.
Attributed to budget lines
Entries are attributed to Budget lines, so management cost sits against the project cost structure like any other cost stream.
Part of the wider cost position
Attributed management cost participates in the project cost position and the reconciliation against Finance, rather than being added on at the end.
Visible in the Finance comparison
Attributed management cost appears in the project cost position and is compared against posted actuals like any other attributed cost.
Foras is not a payroll or timesheet system. It does not model staff durations, build up preliminaries, calculate resource plans or post accruals, and Finance remains authoritative for what has been posted.
What changes in practice
Month to month
Drift against the budget line is visible each period
Because management cost entries are recorded against budget lines, the difference against the allowance shows in the position each period rather than at the final account.
A continuing programme shows as continuing cost
Management cost recorded each period appears in the position as it is recorded, rather than surfacing only at the final account.
One position, including overheads
The project cost position includes attributed management cost alongside direct cost, so the total does not need a separate mental adjustment.
Bring your management cost budget and a month of staff cost
We’ll show management cost recorded against budget lines and sitting in the project cost position alongside direct cost.
Who this matters to