Job Costing
How to read and use Job Costing in Brytebuild — the estimated vs actual cost and margin dashboard across every production Works Order.
Getting started
Overview
1 minute
Job Costing is found under Production → Job Costing in the left sidebar. It is a read-only reporting view — there is nothing to create or edit here. All cost data is pulled live from the Cost tab of each Work Order.
Job Costing does not have create or edit buttons. Cost figures are entered on the Cost tab of each individual Work Order and flow through here automatically. To update a figure, open the Work Order directly.
Section 02
Filter & totals count
1 minute
The filter bar sits between the header and the summary stats. Use it to narrow the table and the stat totals to a specific work order status.
| Filter option | What it shows |
|---|---|
| All Statuses | Every work order in the system, regardless of status. The default view. |
| Not Started | Work orders that have been created but production has not yet begun. Costs will typically be estimated only. |
| In Progress | Work orders where production is active. Actual costs may be partially or fully entered. |
| Completed | Finished work orders. All costs should be finalised — ideal for a post-job cost review. |
The "Showing X of Y work orders" counter on the right updates live when you change the filter. The five summary stat cards also recalculate to reflect only the filtered work orders.
Section 03
Summary stats
2 minutes
Five stat cards sit below the filter bar and above the table. They aggregate totals across all currently filtered work orders.
Est. Cost
£240.00
Total estimated across filtered WOs
Actual Cost
£0.00
Total actual costs incurred
Variance
−£240.00
Under budget
Sale Value
£1,050.40
Revenue from linked sales orders
Margin
+£1,050.40
Profitable
| Stat card | What it calculates | Colour signal |
|---|---|---|
| Est. Cost | Sum of all estimated costs entered on the Cost tab of each filtered work order. | Always grey — no colour signal. |
| Actual Cost | Sum of all actual costs entered across filtered work orders. | Always grey — no colour signal. |
| Variance | Actual Cost − Estimated Cost. Negative = under budget. Positive = over budget. | Negative = blue (under budget). Positive = red (over budget). |
| Sale Value | Revenue from all sales orders linked to the filtered work orders. | Always grey. |
| Margin | Sale Value − Actual Cost. Shows overall profitability across filtered jobs. | Positive = green (Profitable). Negative = red (Loss-making). |
The green banner below the stat cards gives a plain-English budget summary. If the total is over budget, the banner turns red.
Section 04
Work orders table
2 minutes
| WO Number | Name | Status | Est. Cost | Actual Cost | Variance | Sale Value | Margin | Margin % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO-2026-0001 | Aston Martin Exhaust | In Progress | £240.00 | £0.00 | −£240.00 | £500.00 | +£500.00 | 100.0% |
| WO-2026-0002 | CNC Bracket — Frame A | Not Started | £0.00 | £0.00 | —£0.00 | — | — | — |
| WO-2024-0013 | Powershot — Customer X | Completed | £0.00 | £0.00 | —£0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | — |
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| WO Number | The work order reference number — e.g. WO-2026-0001. Shown as a blue link. Click to open the Work Order page. |
| Name | The work order name as entered on the Work Order details. |
| Status | The current production status — Not Started, In Progress or Completed. |
| Est. Cost | The estimated total cost for this work order from the WO Cost tab. May be zero if no estimate was entered. |
| Actual Cost | Total actual costs recorded against this work order. Zero until costs are posted to the Cost tab. |
| Variance | Actual Cost − Estimated Cost. Negative (dash prefix) = under budget. Positive = over budget. A dash (—) means no costs present. |
| Sale Value | Revenue from any sales order linked to this work order. Blank (—) if no sales order is linked. |
| Margin | Sale Value − Actual Cost. Positive = profitable (green). Negative = loss-making (red). Blank if no sale value. |
| Margin % | (Margin ÷ Sale Value) × 100. Blank if no sale value. Green when positive, red when negative. |
Clicking the WO Number link opens that specific Work Order directly, so you can jump to the Cost tab to enter or update actual costs without having to search for the record.
Key concept
Understanding variance
1 minute
Variance is the single most important number in Job Costing. It tells you whether a job came in under or over the estimated cost.
Negative variance — under budget
−£240.00
Actual costs came in below the estimate. The job cost less than expected — a positive outcome. Shown in blue in the stat card and as a dash-prefixed figure in the table.
Positive variance — over budget
+£85.00
Actual costs exceeded the estimate. The job cost more than planned — needs attention. Shown in red in both the stat card and the table row.
If no actual costs have been entered on a Work Order's Cost tab, the Actual Cost will be £0.00. The variance will equal the negative of the Estimated Cost — making every job appear under budget. This is expected for Not Started work orders, but if a Completed WO still shows zero actual costs, the Cost tab needs updating.
Section 06
Margin & Margin %
1 minute
Margin columns only populate when a work order has a linked sales order with a sale value. If there is no linked sales order, the Sale Value, Margin and Margin % columns all show a dash (—).
Sale Value
£500.00
Actual Cost
£0.00
Margin
+£500.00
Margin %
100.0%
| Margin % | What it signals |
|---|---|
| Positive (%) | The job is profitable — sale value exceeds actual cost. Shown in green. |
| 0% | Break-even — sale value equals actual cost. No profit, no loss. |
| Negative (%) | The job is loss-making — actual cost exceeds sale value. Shown in red. |
| — (dash) | No linked sales order. Margin cannot be calculated. |
Section 07
Work order statuses
1 minute
The Status column and filter show the current production stage of each work order. Statuses are set on the Work Order itself — they cannot be changed from Job Costing.
Production has not yet begun. Estimated costs may have been entered but no actual costs are expected. Common for newly created work orders.
Production is actively underway. Actual costs should be building up on the Cost tab. Use the WO Number link to check current cost entries.
Production is finished. All actual costs should be fully entered. Filter to Completed to run a post-job cost review against estimates.
Filter to Completed and sort by Variance descending to see your highest-variance completed jobs at the top. These are the jobs that cost significantly more than estimated — worth investigating to improve future estimates.