Your renovation in a free client area
Our clients get free access to their own client area. There they can follow the progress of the works, see photographs, and check what has been spent on materials and which payments have been made. The information is updated as the renovation goes on, and cost changes can be compared with the original estimate.
Behind those figures are specific purchases and decisions. Here is how they find their way into the calculation on a real renovation.
Why adding up the receipts is not enough
Five bags of tile adhesive at €14 each make €70. It looks like a simple expense.
But the estimate named one manufacturer and a different one was bought. Is it a substitute for the same job? Was more material needed? Or did the installation method change?
The answer decides how the estimate is revised. A substitute updates the original line. If the work changes, the new items have to be added and whatever is no longer needed removed. Otherwise a purchase can be counted twice, and a material that was dropped can stay in the final price.
Over several months of renovation, dozens of changes like this add up.
The floor is levelled: time to update the calculation
A self-levelling compound had been planned to prepare the floor. The actual purchase used two Capafloor products for different layer thicknesses: 16 bags of one and 6 of the other.
The materials for that job were already in the estimate. So the purchase has to be matched to the original line and the cost recalculated, keeping the first calculation for comparison.
Every receipt goes into the project records: what was bought, for which job and at what cost. That applies to large purchases and to small spending on primer, fittings or consumables alike.
Subfloor preparation and the cost breakdown are covered in our article on preparing a floor and laying parquet.
Decisions can raise or lower the price
On this renovation the client chose engineered parquet instead of the SPC flooring planned at first. The flooring cost went up by €1,847.72.
Other decisions reduced spending. Dropping the old heating circuit removed €472.05 of materials from the calculation. And the €400 set aside for wall preparation stayed within the original scope instead of becoming an extra charge.
The estimate evolves with the project: new items are added, cancelled ones are taken out, and planned prices are replaced by actual purchases. In this case it went through five versions. The history makes it possible to go back to the first one and explain the difference.
When the client asks for a detailed report
At the client's request we prepared a breakdown of the cost change. The first estimate was €19,532.77, and the interim calculation on 23 September 2026 was €23,144.40.
The difference of €3,611.63 was broken down by cause: material substitutions, changes to the work, deliveries and savings. Amounts still awaiting verification or approval were marked separately. An interim calculation is never presented as the final price.
What this tracking gives you
In your client area you can check where the renovation stands without piecing it together from messages: work completed, photographs, expenses and payments.
If the cost changes, the conversation starts from a specific purchase or a change in scope. When needed, the same data is used to prepare a detailed report.
The tracking also lets you look ahead: materials already bought are counted at their actual cost, and the remaining purchases and work make up the spending forecast. That way you can see both how much has been spent and how much will be needed to finish the renovation.
