GuidesBy Kati Byrne

Step 6. On Budget

On Budget cover: "We offer 3 kinds of services: good, cheap, fast — but you can pick only two", with good and cheap won't be fast, cheap and fast won't be good, good and fast won't be cheap

Ideally the budget is set as early as the brief. But many creative projects that use emerging technology need a discovery phase first, researching different options before a more accurate budget can be agreed. Here we look at ways to budget a creative project, and at tools for tracking time and effort.

Here are some typical costs for a small to medium-sized creative project, which should ideally appear in a quote or ‘statement of work’:

Artistic direction
Producer time
Project management time: typically 10–50% of the overall labour cost, depending on how complex the project is, how many stakeholders are involved, and so on
Supplier services
Material costs
Equipment hire
Venue hire or rent
Transport and packaging
Marketing and PR
Travel expenses
Insurance and licences
Contingency: 10% of the overall budget should cover those unknown unknowns

To get subtotals for these costs, break the project down into tasks and subtasks, so you can estimate the time and resources needed more accurately. Here’s what that could look like:

Sample project budget spreadsheet broken down into tasks and subtasks — Sample project budget

If you haven’t come across Smartsheet yet, it’s worth a look. The software itself is paid, but the Smartsheet resource page has plenty of free templates for project budgets, time tracking, timelines and more.

Once you’ve agreed a budget that includes guesstimated times for tasks, start tracking how long they actually take. Next time you’ll have figures based on reality rather than guesswork, or you can warn your project sponsor that more budget is needed. There are various free time-tracking tools. One of my favourites is Toggl: you can track time per task, team, project or client, and create beautiful charts of what you and your team have spent your valuable time on. Here’s an example of a Toggl report, which you can also export as a PDF or CSV and attach to an invoice:

Toggl time-tracking report with charts of time spent per project — Time tracking with Toggl.com

If you’re short of time and would like Developing Dreams to help you put together a project budget or timeline, or even help with some of the deliverables, what are you waiting for? Get in touch!

This is part 6 of a 7-part series. Missed step 1? Read A Jargon Free Anatomy of a Creative Brief. Next up: Step 7: The Grand Finale.

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