Cost ranges: build a project budget from your own quotes and allowances

Know what the worksheet does

The Cost Ranges page combines numbers you supply. It is not a price list or an automatic YKCA estimate. Its rows cover contractor work, separately purchased equipment, design and reports, permit and utility fees, access and finish repairs, and other project costs.

Begin with the written scope and identify which rows it already covers. An appliance included in the contractor price should not also be entered as an owner purchase. Conversely, leaving a permit fee out because someone else will apply for the permit does not make the fee disappear from the project budget.

Enter fixed prices and allowances differently

For a fixed quote, enter the same amount in the low and high fields. For an unresolved but bounded allowance, use a defensible range and keep its basis in your notes. The calculator needs both ends of a row or neither. It will flag a high amount below the low amount.

Leave genuinely unpriced categories blank. The result then remains a partial subtotal, with the missing categories identified. Use zero at both ends only when you have confirmed that the category has no separate cost. A blank row and a confirmed zero communicate different information.

Walk through a transparent example

Suppose your entered categories total $20,000 to $24,000 and you choose a 10% owner reserve. The modeled gross range becomes $22,000 to $26,400. If you enter an assumed confirmed $1,000 rebate, the net scenario becomes $21,000 to $25,400. These are arithmetic examples, not typical project prices or YKCA offers.

The reserve is money in the owner’s plan; it does not authorize a contractor to add work. A later scope change still needs its own review and agreement. The rebate deduction also does not establish when the payment arrives or whether an administrator will approve it.

Use the range to decide what to resolve next

Look at which uncertainties create the largest difference between low and high. A pending equipment selection or unknown repair boundary may deserve attention before discussing a smaller finish upgrade. Ask for the missing information that would narrow that specific range.

Save the input assumptions with each revision and recalculate after changing them. Compare the gross funding requirement with the eventual net cost separately. The best outcome is a budget you can explain to another person, including the limits of what it currently covers, rather than a single number that hides unpriced work.

Keep the next steps clear